An Ethnological Model for Assessing Social Evolution of Siberian Shamans

Abstract

An ethnological model of magico-religious practitioners and their social predictors is presented to assess Siberian shamans, their sociocultural evolution, and their relationships to worldwide patterns. Features of Foraging Shamans found worldwide distinguish them from other types of ritualists whose distinctive features and associated social conditions illustrate the social evolution of religion. Empirical similarities and differences among Siberian ritualists and with respect to other types of ritualists address long-standing questions about the generality and variability of shamans and their changes across socio-cultural evolution. Ethnological data show that the transformation of shamans began with the loss of foraging subsistence and the adoption of intensive agriculture, followed by the consequences of warfare and political integration. Comparison of this sociocultural evolution with Siberian practitioners illustrates parallel transformations from intensification of pastoralism and the dominance of and eventual breakdown of clan structures. The ethnological model provides an interpretive framework for archaeological, historical, anthropological and ethnographic studies and identifies social processes producing changes in Siberian ritual practices.