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Shamanism in the Ancient World
2 September @ 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
Shamanism has long been a popular theme among anthropologists. Now, with the growth of cognitive archaeology in recent decades, a new conversation has begun connecting past and present in Neolithic societies. When this extends into the Palaeolithic, evolutionary psychology and genetics can also join this conversation about the advent and distribution of shamanism. The road less travelled, however, is to extend these enquiries forward in time, through Neolithic cultures into Bronze Age and Axial Age civilisations.
This talk will reconsider evidence from more familiar cultures and their key texts, attempting to connect these with the conversations about shamanism. Classic texts from Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic Greece, contemporary texts from India and China, and some from the Bronze Age civilisations will be examined in the light of these investigations. In what sense could all ancient cultures be described as shamanistic?
