Dropping Ecstasy? Minoan Cult and the Tropes of Shamanism

Abstract

Cult scenes illustrated in miniature on administrative stone seals and metal signet rings from Late Bronze Age Minoan Crete are commonly interpreted as "Epiphany Scenes" and have been called "shamanic." "Universal shamanism" is a catch-all anthropological term coined to describe certain inferred ritual behaviours across widely dispersed cultures and through time. This study reexamines evidence for Minoan cultic practices in light of key tropes of "universal shamanism," including consumption of psychoactive drugs, adoption of special body postures, trance, spirit possession, communication with supernatural beings, metamorphosis and the journey to other-worlds. It is argued that while existing characterisations of Minoan cult as "shamanic" are based on partial, reductionist and primitivist assumptions informed by neoevolutionary comparative ethnologies, shamanism provides a dynamic framework for expanding understandings of Minoan cult.

Like a Duck to Water – Birds and Liquids in the Aegean Bronze Age

“…Morris and Peatfield (2004; 2012) and Tully and Crooks (2015) further argued for the presence of shamanic practices in Minoan cult, based on the identification of trance-inducing postures adopted by people in several Cretan depictions. This theory also received support from experimental approaches (Morris and Peatfield 2012, 240–2; also McGowan 2006).…”

“…In recent years, ontologies/worldviews in general and human–animal relationships in particular have increasingly been discussed by scholars studying the Aegean Bronze Age. The topic has been approached from various different angles, focusing either on iconography (Herva 2006a; 2006b; Shapland 2009; 2010; 2013; Goodison 2012; Tully and Crooks 2015), animal remains in funerary contexts (Goodison 2011), or studying both iconographical sources and material remains such as figurines (Morris and Peatfield 2004; 2012; Crooks, Tully and Hitchcock 2016). Most studies have concentrated on the evidence from Minoan Crete, and scholars have identified a strong animist element in Cretan ontology.…”

“…Shamanism is usually seen as an integral part of animism, but shamanic practices may occasionally be found in other contexts (cf. Tully and Crooks 2015, 130–1).…”

Minoan Lapland: fieldwork, spirituality and connecting across time and space

“…There is a substantial body of literature on the topic 'sacred' stones and trees today in Minoan Crete and beyond (e.g. Warren 1990;Herva 2006;Goodison 2010;Tully and Crooks 2015;Arukask 2017;Tully 2018) and I certainly did not think that my casual thoughts had anything substantial to add to that research. Yet they nonetheless suggested associations between the worlds spatially and temporally distinct from one other.…”

“…Sámi views of the landscape have been of an interest in Cretan Bronze Age archaeology because Minoan ritual practice, spirituality and art revolve very prominently around nature (e.g. Marinatos 1993;Herva 2006;Hitchcock 2007;Tully and Crooks 2015). There is, for instance, a 'spiritual interest' in mountains (Lapland fjells are very old and eroded mountains), in both Minoan and Sámi cosmologies.…”