Evidence of sectarian worldviews in the Paleolithic era can be demonstrated by the existence of various beliefs in an afterlife, thus demonstrating that some paleolithic people made a clear distinction between the profane and the sacred. Crucial to this notion is the funerary customs of some paleolithic tribes. The inclusion of various goods within the graves of the deceased suggests that the dead were being prepared for another life. The view that the world of quotidian existence is not the only world thus clearly delimits an approach to life that is not based on purely empirical and animal principles. Another example of such a belief is the discovery of certain burial sites, in which the skeleton has been discovered in a crouched position, lying on ts side, reminiscent of the foetal position. While the academic literature remains inconsistent regarding the contingency or delibarteness of this type of burial, the planning of the skeleton’s position in this manner infers a specific sectarian belief in what may be termed a return to the previous life that existed before the terrestrial life.

Possible incidents of animal sacrifices demonstrate a further example of  sectarian attitudes. Within the academic literature, evidence of possible animal sacrifice in the paleolithic remains contested. For example, the only evidence discovered in this period of such sacrifice is bear sacrifice. The restriction of sacrifice to an animal such as a bear has been interpreted as unlikely. From another perspective, however, the sacrifice of a rarer animal as opposed to a commonplace animal would be consistent with the sacred nature of sacrifice. Accordingly, the non-pragmatic expenditure of valuable items is consistent with a belief in a form of non-earthly deity that one attempts to appease through the sacrifice of prominent earthly goods to a higher law. The veracity of special incidents of sacrifice in the Paleolithic thus becomes a clear index of possible religious beliefs.