: Rituals involving dance, rhythmic sound, or hallucinogens allowed people to enter trances. The authors suggest that common "entoptic phenomena" (geometric patterns seen during trances) influenced the spirals and zigzags found in megalithic art.
: Focuses on massive stone monuments (megaliths) and tombs that mapped cosmology onto the physical landscape. Critical Perspective
: The book argues that because all human brains are wired similarly, people naturally developed tiered cosmologies and visionary religions as they transition from hunter-gatherer to agricultural societies.
: Focuses on early mud-brick settlements, plastered skulls, and the transition to social complexity.
