Israeli archaeologists discover signs of religion in 9,000-year-old city near Jerusalem

[Major Nikon]

6. Except unlike religion, those things have always gone together with humans

Burial rituals are not evidence of religion which requires doctrine and dogma. It's just evidence humans were sentimental about loved ones who died, which isn't surprising given humans aren't unique in that regard.

Religion didn't appear until humans started gathering in larger groups where more sophisticated means of control were required. As long as you could convince someone your authority to rule came from an invisible higher authority, leadership was less likely to be questioned. It also made things like convincing people to march to their deaths in battle far easier.

Obviously someone is trying to create a narrative that suggests religion has always been a part of humans, but pointing to flimsy evidence that only goes back about 1/50th of human existence is kind of a piss poor way to do that. It also betrays a much simpler explanation that religion was simply an invention of convenience intended to manipulate larger populations.