>I still think my argument stands...
>
>(lack of) belief in no deities exists before any belief IN
>them..

I think it is impossible for you to say for certain unless you have a direct reference. I personally don't know, we are both speculating about the time period that came right after the supposed awakening of man's consciousness from the grip of total animal instinct. If we are to go by the theory that people came from primates, than we are speculating about the beliefs primates have/had. There are thousands of relics from the ancient past and there are many ones depicting death and far more depicting life.

Personally, I think its really impossible to separate, I think the fear of death brings an immediate response of what comes after death. Is it natural to assume that something or someone is waiting for us? I have looked at countless volumes of text on this from all over the world and there are written records of high priests performing out of body rituals to initiate members into their schools. People were doing things that most consider impossible. Men who have traveled beyond the veil of death and come back. From every corner of the world there have been spiritual masters who taught that life and death are illusions, 2 expressions of one process.

Today, I think people fear leaving their loved ones behind more than death itself.