system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
eli5: How do historians know that ancient people actually believed in things like demons or spirits, and that it wasn’t just like the Boogeyman or Santa to them?
gpt
Mostly through ritual evidence. Believing in Santa is one thing, but sacrificing an animal or part of your harvest to appease him is another. Anthropologists will find alters or walls covered with figures or spirits. At the base they'll find things like animal bones or clay jars with evidence of decomposition in the soil around it. They'll find many layers and many different artefacts that date back decade after decade. All that is evidence of long term ritualistic worship.