Definition of "primordium"

It is thus vain to hope that the history of the primordia can be reduced to the progress of archeological investigation.

1997 , Alexandre Grandazzi, translated by Jane Marie Todd, The Foundation of Rome: Myth and History, page 33

Attempts have been made by historians of religion to distinguish between mythic orientations in time concerned with the repetition of a primordium and those concerned with the anticipation of an eschaton.

2003, David Chidester, Salvation and Suicide: Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple, and Jonestown, 2nd edition, page 106

[Joseph Smith] did not think of himself as going back to a primordium of true Christianity, as the Puritans did. In his view, there never was a golden age when religion flourished to perfection.

2008, Richard L. Bushman, Mormonism: A Very Short Introduction, page 5