The great French sociologist Emile Durkheim once wrote: “Religion is above all a system of ideas by which men imagine the society of which they are members and the obscure yet intimate relations they have with it.” In this talk, Jiang Xueqin explores the origin and purpose of Paleolithic cave paintings. He argues that these paintings expressed pre-historic religious beliefs and practices, and they demonstrate that humans have a religious imperative that is just as important as the economic and biological imperatives.