prereligious

Prereligious is an adjective used in anthropology, archaeology, and religious studies to describe beliefs, practices, and social forms that are regarded as existing prior to the development of formal organized religion, priesthoods, temples, and codified rituals. The term is often applied to early or preliterate societies where religious life is visible but not institutionalized.

In scholarly usage, prereligious may refer to early animist or shamanic practices, ancestor veneration, or ritual activities that lack a fully developed religious hierarchy. It is not a uniform stage shared by all cultures, and in many contexts what counts as prereligious depends on retrospective labeling and the observer's category schemes. Critics argue that labeling something prereligious risks imposing a Western schema of religion as a discrete, organized system and can obscure continuity between ritual practice and later formal religion.

In archaeology and related fields, evidence such as grave offerings, symbolic artifacts, and ritual sites can point to belief systems preceding established temples or priestly offices, but scholars caution against assuming a linear path from prereligious practice to organized religion. Instead, they stress diverse trajectories and the possibility that religious life exists in parallel with political or social institutions.

See also proto-religion, animism, ancestor worship, prehistory, religion and ritual.