SHAMANS IN THE DEER HUNTING SOCIETIES
Journal Title: Матеріали і дослідження з археології Прикарпаття і Волині - Year 2016, Vol 20, Issue
Abstract
The cult of the deer had very important significance in the ideology of primeval peoples of Eurasian forest zone. This cult included myths and rituals, connected with the worship of a deer or man-deer – the ancestor of peoples and deer, and a cultural hero, the teacher of deer hunting. The most important evidence, supporting a deer cult in the traditional societies were the totemistic mysteries, connected with the reproduction of a deer, and magic hunting rituals. The most important participant in these rituals were shaman. The attributes of shaman – bow and arrows, deer’s skin and crown with deer’s antlers – point to the connection of shamanism with hunter’s activity. There are archaeological evidences of the existence of shamans in prehistoric deer hunting societies. They are Palaeolothic and Mesolithic depictions of antlered men (Trois Freres, Bhimbetka. Algodonales), Mesolithic deer frontlets (Star Carr, Hohen-Viheln, Plau, Berlin-Birsdorf and Bedburg-Konigshoven), Mesolithic cemeteries of people with deer antlers (Teviek, Hoedic, Vedbaek, Skateholm) and Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age Nothern Eurasian elk-shaped staffs (Oleniy Ostrov cemetery at Kolsky Peninsula, Zveinieku in Lithuania, Ciklodrom in Syberia).
Authors and Affiliations
Nataliya Mykhailova
Keywords
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