While researching this topic for discussion I found a reference on the web
to an interesting book on the subject. It seems that in 1993 someone named
M.S. Alvard set out to test the so-called "Noble Savage Hypothesis". This
hypothesis is essentially the same hypothesis advanced by some members of
this mailing list -- that paleolithic HG'ers embraced and lived in a manner
consistent with an idealistic "mother earth" kind of religion or philosophy.
According to Alvard, our esteemed noble savages fail to live up to that
ideal. The Noble Savage is, in his view, a myth.

I do not have the book but here is a quote that references it.

"...one might suppose that they [primitive HG peoples] live in a "natural"
state of peaceful coexistence and harmony with their environment.

A recent study (Alvard 1993) casts doubt on this view. After citing a number
of earlier studies which demonstrate that aboriginal peoples do not function
with an attitude towards the conservation of nature, Alvard examined the
Piro Indians of Amazonian Peru. He found that their hunting is guided, not
by any pre-Christian reverence for nature, but only by their immediate
practical needs.

Furthermore, Alvard warns against confusing one's relative inability to harm
the environment (because of primitive technology) with a deliberate choice
to avoid harming it:

That these groups live within the limits of their environment is evidence
that some sort of apparent equilibrium has been achieved. However, as
discussed above, such a circumstance does not rate the hunters the label of
conservationists. . . . [T]he appearance of balance between traditional
native groups and their environment has more to do with low population
densities, lack of markets, and limited technology than it does with any
natural harmonious relationship with nature. (p. 384).

We should ask whether the notion of "reverence for Mother Earth" is a
genuine phenomenon of anthropology, a true "natural state"--or a hopeful
myth that can become a form of idolatry.

Alvard, M. S. 1993. Testing the "Ecologically Noble Savage" Hypothesis:
Interspecific Prey Choice by Piro Hunters of Amazonian Peru. Human Ecology
21: 355-387.

-gts