Empirical Re-Examinations of the Concept 'Mother Earth' in the History of Religion

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20H01193
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 01030:Religious studies-related
• Research Institution: Ancient Orient Museum
• Principal Investigator: Tsukimoto Akio (財)古代オリエント博物館, 研究部, 館長 (10147928)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 高橋 原 東北大学, 文学研究科, 教授 (30451777) ; 田澤 恵子 (財)古代オリエント博物館, 研究部, 研究員 (30598587) ; 津本 英利 (財)古代オリエント博物館, 研究部, 研究員 (40553045) ; 平藤 喜久子 國學院大學, 神道文化学部, 教授 (50384003)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 地母神 / 先史時代 / 人類宗教 / Anthropomorphism

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The belief in "the Mother Goddess" has been generally recognized as the oldest phenomenon of human religion and evidenced by the prehistoric female figures in which the breasts and sexual organ are very much exaggerated. However, the size of all the figures are so small (about 10cm high) that one can hold them in a hand. They could hardly be the objects of worshipping. Adding to that, in ancient Mesopotamia where the oldest human civilization was developed, the deity was represented in human form in the Early Dynastic period of Sumer (2900-2400 BCE) and after. Before that period the deity was not expressed in a human figure. The facts mentioned here should suggest that the identification of the prehistoric naked female figures and "the Mother Goddess" is very dubious

Free Research Field

宗教史学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

上に述べたように、19世紀中葉以来、人類最古の宗教形態とみなされてきた「地母神」信仰は、その証拠なるものが正しい解釈に基づいていないことが明らかになった。したがって、「地母神」概念の意義は再考されねばならず、それをもって人類宗教史ひいては精神史を語ることは適切ではない。その点を公けにしてゆくことに学術的意義があると認められる。