Article
Article name Images of the Universe, Deities and Shamans on the Petroglyphs of the Middle Lena
Authors Vasiliev V.E. Candidate of History, valera305@mail.ru
Bibliographic description Vasiliev V. E. Images of the Universe, Deities and Shamans on the Petroglyphs of the Middle Lena // Humanitarian Vector. 2019. Vol. 14, No. 3. PP. 80–88. DOI: 10.21209/1996-7853-2019-14-3-80-88.
Section CULTURE AND HISTORY
UDK 902.2(571.56)
DOI 10.21209/1996-7853-2019-14-3-80-88
Article type
Annotation This article discusses the rock paintings of the Middle Lena, which are witnesses of the centuries-old life activity of people, ranging from the Neolithic and Paleometal to the late Middle Ages. A. P. Okladnikov, who studied the writings on the banks of the Lena River and its tributaries, came to very remarkable and substantiated conclusions about the evolution of the development of ideological views of ancient hunters and herdsmen. According to him, moose, hunters, priests and deities are depicted on the rocks. These petroglyphs were imbued with the idea of honoring the forces of nature, totems and sorcerers shamans. Developing the thoughts of A. P. Okladnikov, the author of the article comes to the hypothesis that not only objects of culture in the form of images of ancestors, spirits and deities were endowed with supernatural properties, but the rocks themselves acted as protectors of the clan and tribe. This tradition was also deeply inherent in the southern ancestors of the Sakha, who inherited the horse-breeding culture of the nomads of Central Asia. Adaptive processes in the Far North led to the addition of a peculiar symbiosis of religious beliefs of the Yakut people, in which the southern and autochthonous elements were closely intertwined. These features played a big role in the addition of two layers of shamanism Sakha: Tungus (northern, “alien”) and proper Türkic-Mongolian (southern, “native”). The archaic idea of the pairing of the forces of nature and man (patrons and society) lies at the heart of the system of Siberian shamanism. Therefore, the symbolic codes of the Petroglyphs of Lena are easy to “read” on the ethnographic materials of the Sakha people.
Key words Yakutia, Lena, Central Asia, petroglyphs, deer stones, balbals, serge, shamanism
Article information
References 1. Bravina, R. I. Shamans are chosen by Heaven and spirits. Yakutsk, Bichik, 2018. (In Rus.) 2. Vasiliev, V. E. The origins of Tengriism: from the cult of the mountains to the cult of the Sky. Northeastern Humanitarian Journal, pp. 40–48, no. 2, vol. 19, 2017. (In Rus.) 3. Vasiliev, V. E. On the genesis of the cult of blacksmiths, shamans and warriors: the triad of sacred power. Northeastern Humanitarian Journal, pp. 17–24, no. 1, 2019. (In Rus.) 4. Golovnev, A. V. The anthropology of the movement (antiquities of Northern Eurasia). Yekaterinburg: Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Volot, 2009. (In Rus.) 5. Dugarov, D. S. The historical roots of white shamanism (on the material of ritual folklore of the Buryats). M: Nauka, 1991. (In Rus.) 6. Dyakonova, V. P. Religious ideas of Altaians and Tuvans about nature and man. Nature and man in the religious ideas of the peoples of Siberia and the North (the second half of the nineteenth – the beginning of the twentieth century). L: Nauka, 1976: 268–291. (In Rus.) 7. Egorov, P. I. Russian writers about Yakutia. Part 1. Yakutsk: Prince. publishing house, 1983. (In Rus.) 8. Konovalov, P. B. Ethnic Aspects of the History of Central Asia (Antiquity and the Middle Ages). Ulan-Ude: Publishing house BNTS SB RAS, 1999. (In Rus.) 9. Ksenofontov, G. V. Shamanism: Fav. works: (Publications 1928–1929). Yakutsk: North-South TPF, 1992. (In Rus.) 10. Kubarev, V. D. Ancient sculptures of Altai (Olennye stones). Novosibirsk: Nauka, 1979. (In Rus.) 11. Kulakovsky, A. E. Scientific works. Yakutsk: Kn. publishing house, 1979. (In Rus.) 12. Okladnikov, A. P. History of the Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. M; L: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1955. V. I. (In Rus.) 13. Okladnikov, A. P., Zaporozhskaya, V. D. Petroglyphs of the Middle Lena. L: Nauka, 1972. (In Rus.) 14. Popov, A. A. Dolgan site. In the name of the revival, preservation and development of the culture of the peoples of Siberia. The Russian ethnographic tradition. All-Russia Scientific Symposium (on the 100th anniversary of A. A. Popov and the 125th anniversary of V. N. Vasiliev). Yakutsk: IHI AS RS (Y), 2003: 31–39. (In Rus.) 15. Khudyakov, I. A. Brief description of Verkhoyansk district: (Selected chapters). Yakutsk: Bichik, 2002. (In Rus.)
Full articleImages of the Universe, Deities and Shamans on the Petroglyphs of the Middle Lena
0
23