Travelling Through the Rock to the Otherworld: The Shamanic ‘Grammar of Mind’ Within the Rock Art of Siberia

Rozwadowski, Andrzej

doi:10.1017/s095977431700004x

Cited by 14 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…The Late Chalcolithic composite images’ placement on seals means they are not linked to the location of ritual practices, as are many shaman images in other cultures. In rock art, a shaman or composite image on a natural surface may mark a porous boundary via a cave or crack, beyond which is the alternate world into which shamans are able to travel (Lewis‐Williams and Dowson 1990; Rozwadowski 2017). Any possible animating effect of composite images on the efficacy of seals or sealings seems negated by the prosaic imagery on other sealings, such as hedgehogs or rosettes.…”

Section: Composite Human‐animal As ‘Shaman’mentioning

confidence: 99%

Composite Human‐animal Figures in Early Urban Northern Mesopotamia: Shamans or Images of Resistance?

McMahon

2022

Oxford J Archaeology

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Urban growth in northern Mesopotamia in the early fourth millennium BC was accompanied by an increase in clay container sealings, reflecting the intensified movement and management of resources and manufactured items. The diverse imagery impressed into these sealings includes a human-ibex grasping a pair of snakes, a bird-human, and other composite figures. The human-ibex in particular has been identified as a 'shaman', but this is not an appropriate term. The early fourth millennium BC was a period of enormous social and economic upheaval generated by the growth of cities and institutions. Composite figures may have expressed resistance to increasingly structured lived experiences, acknowledging the paradoxes of urban living and affirming the continued presence of the unexplainable.

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Section: Composite Human‐animal As ‘Shaman’mentioning

confidence: 99%

Composite Human‐animal Figures in Early Urban Northern Mesopotamia: Shamans or Images of Resistance?

McMahon

2022

Oxford J Archaeology

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“…Shamanism may have been practiced by the Daur as well as other Indigenous groups in North Asia since ancient times. Archaeological research suggests that shamanic practices might be traced back to the Bronze Age in Central and North Asia (Devlet 2001;Rozwadowski 2017). The first appearance of the word "shaman" is from a Medieval Chinese documentary book Sanchao beimeng huibian 三朝北盟会编 (Collection of documents on the treaties with the North during three reigns) compiled by Xu Mengxin of the Song Dynasty .…”

Section: A Brief History Of Daur Shamanismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Embodiment of Ancestral Spirits, the Social Interface, and Ritual Ceremonies: Construction of the Shamanic Landscape among the Daur in North China

Qiu

2021

Religions

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The case study in this paper is on the Daur (as well as the Evenki, Buriat, and Bargu Mongols) in Hulun Buir, Northeast China. The aim of this research is to examine how shamanic rituals function as a conduit to actualize communications between the clan members and their shaman ancestors. Through examinations and observations of Daur and other Indigenous shamanic rituals in Northeast China, this paper argues that the human construction of the shamanic landscape brings humans, other-than-humans, and things together into social relations in shamanic ontologies. Inter-human metamorphosis is crucial to Indigenous self-conceptualization and identity. Through rituals, ancestor spirits are active actors involved in almost every aspect of modern human social life among these Indigenous peoples.

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“…The mountain mimesis that has been mentioned above is equally reiterated in the architecture of both monuments, as well as in their emplacement at high or panoramic spots. Moreover, both structures have a central pile of stones, which are abundant and available in most areas of Mongolia, but also have important symbolic qualities (Burnakov & Tsydenova 2014;Rozwadowski 2017). Their vertical shape and elevation on the ground could be seen as a cosmological approximation to the sky (tenger), which is symbolically relevant both in the local beliefs and in several Old Turkic and Pre-Classical Mongolian sources (Baumann 2013;Heissig 1980, pp.…”

Section: Ovoos and Ancient Mounds: A Comparative Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

“…43 Moreover, according to Davaa-Ochir (2008, pp. 53-54) Rozwadowski 2017;Vandkilde 2014). Significantly, in several Turkic and Mongolian languages, the funerary transition is linked to an ascension to the sky or to high mountain pastures (Ragagnin 2013).…”

Section: Tsagaan Ovoomentioning

confidence: 99%

Ovoo-cairns and ancient funerary mounds in the Mongolian landscape. Piling up a monumental tradition?

Zovo¹

2021

emscat

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Ovoo-cairns and ancient funerary mounds in the Mongolian landscape. Piling up... Études mongoles et sibériennes, centrasiatiques et tibétaines, 52 | 2021 spirits of the place" (Mo. gazryn ezed) that are associated with the ovoos (Erdenetuya 2005;Humphrey et al. 1993; Tatár 1984) 4 . 5This study, based on landscape archaeology, survey, and surface observations, rather aims to answer to the ethical and methodological challenges posed when working on (past) materiality so closely connected with local rituals and heritage-making practices (see Gazin-Schwartz & Holtorf 1999;Smith 1999;Porr & Bell 2012). In this way, I can explore the intersection of material, spatial, and symbolic elements potentially accumulating at ovoo sites, which can be compared with relevant written sources and linguistic insights, as well as the results of my fieldwork observations and the conversations with the local herders. Through this interdisciplinary approach, I aim to delve into the multi-dimensional character and the potential ancient roots of these Mongol cairns. While a formal architectonic definition of the ovoo might have critically consolidated in the 16 th and 17 th centuries, during the second Buddhist wave, I hypothesise that some essential traits of these structures could be rooted in a much more distant past. Ovoos and written sources 6One of the most cogent arguments in favour of a relatively recent development of the ovoos is their apparent absence in the early written sources (Atwood 2004, pp. 414-416).In The Secret History of the Mongols, the word ovoo (Cl. Mo. oboγa or its variants, oboo, obo, oboγaya) seems to be unaccounted for 5 . Leaving aside the well-known issues about the origin, interpolations, and translation of this text 6 , it is interesting to note that it features no direct correspondence to words such as shrine, altar, or heap of stones, nor reference to the typical action of piling stones or circumambulating around cairns or other stone objects. The same crux apparently applies to the records by foreign travellers who were in the area during the Mongols' rule, or shortly after. Yet, such a vacuum in the sources might not directly imply the material absence of ovoos in the local landscape. Whilst missing in those accounts, cairns could have been so widespread and perhaps so similar to analogous monuments across central Eurasia that they did not deserve a specific description. On the other side, ovoos are presently so tightly embedded in the sacred and pastoral geographies of Mongolia and neighbouring regions that it is difficult to explain why, if already in existence, they could be omitted in those vivid narratives. According to Atwood (2004, p. 415), heaps could be occasionally mentioned, but "only as markers". Marking the landscape for orientation purposes, however, is one of the primary functions of the ovoos (Humphrey 1995, p. 146). They essentially relate to the movement across the landscape, which takes place within the complex system of spatial knowledge of the local mobile and semimobile communi...

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Travelling Through the Rock to the Otherworld: The Shamanic ‘Grammar of Mind’ Within the Rock Art of Siberia

Cited by 14 publications

References 16 publications

Composite Human‐animal Figures in Early Urban Northern Mesopotamia: Shamans or Images of Resistance?

Composite Human‐animal Figures in Early Urban Northern Mesopotamia: Shamans or Images of Resistance?

Embodiment of Ancestral Spirits, the Social Interface, and Ritual Ceremonies: Construction of the Shamanic Landscape among the Daur in North China

Ovoo-cairns and ancient funerary mounds in the Mongolian landscape. Piling up a monumental tradition?

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