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187
ARCHAEOLOGIA BALTICA 7
THE CULT OF THE DEER AND “SHAMANS”
IN DEER HUNTING SOCIETY
NATALIE MIKHAILOVA
Abstract
The cult of the deer was widespread in traditional societies of deer hunters. This cult was connected with the worship of
the deer or man-deer, the ancestor of people and deer, and a cultural hero, the teacher of deer hunting. The most important
evidence supporting a deer cult in traditional societies are the totemistic mysteries connected with the reproduction of the
deer, and magic hunting rituals. The most important participant in these rituals is the shaman.
Key words: cult of deer, shaman, Mesolithic, Neolithic.
the ideology of primeval peoples of the Eurasian forest
zone. This cult includes myths and rituals connected
with the worship of the deer or man-deer, the ancestor
of people and deer, and a cultural hero, the teacher of
deer hunting. The most important evidence supporting
the cult of the deer in traditional societies are totemis-
tic mysteries connected with the reproduction of deers,
and magic hunting rituals. The most important partici-
pant in these rituals is the shaman.
Some investigators have touched on aspects of the
cult of the deer. The ethnographers A.D. Anisimov,
G.M. Vasilevich, L.P. Potapov and others studied
questions of shamanism which were connected with
to reconstruct the earliest studies of the cult of deer.
In particular, A.P. Okladnikov made interpretations of
Siberian deer rock paintings. He paid great attention to
-
lysed evidence of the cult of deer in hunting and agricul-
-
the cult of the deer in his investigations of Starr Carr
-
sue have not been studied enough, particularly the gen-
esis of the cult of the deer and the existence of shamans
in ancient deer hunting society.
This article is devoted to one of the aspects of the cult
of the deer, the genesis and development of the institu-
tion of shamans as cult executors in ancient deer hunt-
ing society. It is necessary to mention that the term
for peoples connected with religious activity in pristine
society. For example, L. Levy-Brull enumerated seven
names of cult activity executors in the Baronga tribe
is traditionally used in investigations of primeval so-
ciety. We hold the opinion that a shaman is a religious
specialist whose power centred on healing, sorcery and
prophecy, and who has the ability to associate with
we shall address only the category of shamans con-
nected with deer hunting.
We shall try to reconstruct the phenomena of primi-
tive spiritual culture on the basis of an interdisciplinary
synthesis of ethnographic and archaeological sources.
Using the comparative-typological method and meth-
od of survivals, we create a model of spiritual cultural
phenomena. With the help of systematic analysis, we
The cult of the deer was widespread in traditional so-
cieties of deer hunters. The behaviour of the deer as a
biological indication is identical in all areas it inhab-
ited. It demands the same methods and terms for hunt-
deer provides his great ideological role. Using ethno-
graphic evidence of the cult of the deer, we can try to
create a model of this cult in deer-hunting societies,
and compare them with archaeological artefacts. We
can probably assume the existence of a similar cult in a
certain historical period.
For the reconstruction of the primeval cult of the deer,
we have to investigate its remains in Eurasian and
American traditional cultures.
An important part of the cult was the myth about the
man-deer, a cultural hero, and a teacher of deer hunt-
188
NATALIE
MIKHAILOVA
The C ul t of t he D ee r an d
“Sham an s” i n De er H un ti ng
Socie t y
ing. He had conjugal relations with man and became an
ancestor of certain tribes. The Kyrghiz, Saami, Geor-
gians and other peoples have elements of similar myths
Rituals are the actualisation of myths. Siberian peoples,
the Saami, Osettians, Bulgarians and Britons all have
rituals such as deer offerings, the burial of deer antlers
and bones in sacred places, the imitation of deer cou-
“shaman”, the executor of totemic and magic ceremo-
nies. In our article we address only white shamans of
rituals connected with the cult of deer. The black sha-
and had small iron antlers on the shoulders, a general
element of the costume. Firstly, there were real deer
-
costume was the headdress, with little iron antlers, a
Only the mightiest shaman, who had six or seven years
of practice, received such a crown. By putting on this
crown, the shaman acquired the mystical qualities of a
heavenly deer. A prominent illustration of such a trans-
-
vun, which ensured both success in hunting and deer
fertility. During the ceremony, the shaman, appearing
as a deer, entered the spiritual world, where a giant
female deer, hostess of the world, gave him pieces of
deer hide, which became real animals later on. Some
The embodiment of the deer-ancestor or spirit-helper
of a shaman is the tambourine, the most important at-
reproduced on the tambourine or the handle. In making
this tambourine, the shaman usually reincarnated into
a deer, which was specially killed for that ceremony
Not only Siberian peoples connected the tambourine
with the deer. The South American Huichol tribe has
the same subject. In ancient times, the primordial First
So, the white shaman was connected with the deer-
defender, who was incarnated in his tambourine, and
periodically reincarnated into a deer himself, putting
on a deer skin and antlered crown.
Some scientists think that shamans initially used a bow
and arrows for a musical accompaniment. Later, the
tambourine received a name and replaced the functions
of the bow. There is much linguistic evidence of these
phenomena. The name of Altai and the tambourine is
evidence for the use of the bow instead the tambourine.
After the bow was replaced by the tambourine, the
shaman used the model of a bow as a garment on his
other populations in South America, Asia and Africa,
there survives an apparently very ancient example of
the latter, the custom of using the hunting bow as a
stringed instrument for casting a kind of musical spell
to “charm” the intended prey. The Huichol shaman did
this at the beginning and the end of a pilgrimage to a
antlers.
is a low chest of boards, which are strengthened by six
stakes. The cross-beams are decorated with the nicely
branched antlers of a wild deer, as a symbol of the last
funeral repast, as an offering. The chest is covered by
a red cloth. Stones are lying on the cloth, to hold it
So, the attributes of a white shaman, a bow and arrows,
-
tivity. Many ethnographic peoples used a deerskin and
on knowledge of the physiology and behaviour of a
deer, its short-sight and trust. Firstly, the hunter dis-
guised smells, and then dressed in a hide and antlered
breast with white paint and imitated deer sounds. Hunt-
ers in Siberia and North America used the same meth-
ods. K. Birket-Smith described the hunting by Cari-
the hunter sometimes carries above his head a pair of
antlers, and at the same time imitates the grunting of
of Bothnia imitate the appearance of the deer (rein-
ARCHAEOLOGIA BALTICA 7
executed a sacral activity for the attraction of game.
Such hunting practices are known from the Zulus: “Be-
fore the hunt began, the chief of the hunters knelt, put
grass into his mouth and imitated a deer eating the pas-
Speaking generally about the primeval mentality, we
have to take into account the phenomena of “participa-
tion” described by L. Levi-Brull. Using a deer mask
during the hunting, the hunter not only changed his ap-
pearance, he reembodied himself as the animal. He had
to feel like a deer in his subconscious. The collectivity
of rituals, rhythmic music (the rhythm of a tambourine
-
NATALIE
MIKHAILOVA
The C ul t of t he D ee r an d
“Sham an s” i n De er H un ti ng
Socie t y
in his subconscious his reembodiment as a deer.
An important method of the primeval systematisation
of the world is the idea of binary opposition between
worlds could cross the frontier from one to another in
order to transform themselves from the status of a man
to the status of an animal. For this transition, they had
The hunter in a deerskin “transformed” from the world
of people to the animal world. He became a creature
with a double status. He took the independent power of
mediator between worlds.
The opposite mediator was the mythological totemic
ancestor, the mutual ancestor of peoples and animals.
He was a representative of the “other” world, an am-
bivalent creature, with the features of peoples and ani-
So, we can surmise that white shamanism, connected
-
ciety. Probably, every man-hunter could execute some
sacral activity to succeed in the hunt and to increase
deer herds. During the ceremony, he put on a deerskin
and antlers as a hunter, and imitated deer behaviour. He
prayed for success, using a bow and arrows for an ac-
companiment. Later, the most successful and talented
hunters attained the rights to productive and imitative
magic ceremonies. The bow and antlers became sym-
bols of their magic power. The connection of a shaman
with his totemistic ancestor, the deer, was formed si-
world in the guise of a man, whilst the shaman entered
With the appearance of classic forms of shamanism,
obsession, the totemistic ancestor transformed into the
A deer was drawn on the handle. Ritual deer offerings
-
ready in prehistoric deer-hunter society, the category of
people authorised for cult activity connected with the
formed. “Shamans”, performing their sacral functions,
looked zoomorphic, dressed themselves in deer antlers
and skin, and used zoomorphic cult instruments.
-
ence of shamans in prehistoric deer-hunting societies.
They are depictions, cemeteries and deer frontlets.
There is a well-known Palaeolithic painting depicting
a supernatural creature with deer antlers in the Trois
Frères cave in Ariege, France. Traditionally it is called
this interpretation. But we have doubts about the verac-
ity of this title. Really, this being has a human body,
deer antlers and bear paws, similar to a Tungus Sha-
the other hand, the face of this creature is not human,
of a wolf. The creature has both human and animal
features. We can compare this depiction with other
Palaeolithic syncretic depictions. Some of them look
creatures, like the ivory Lion-Man from Baden-Wur-
temberg, the Little Devils depicted on the Chiefs Staff
from Teija, the anthropo-ornithomorphical being from
-
cerer is not a “masquerading shaman”, it is a mythical
being, an ancestor, a mediator of worlds, a patron of
peoples and animals. Probably, it is a prototype of an
antlered deity, which appeared in the Bronze Age (Val-
-
helper of an ancient shaman.
Archaeological artefacts which can be interpreted as
evidence of shamanistic existence appear in early Me-
place, there are well-known deer masks from Starr Carr
They were made from stag frontlets with antlers and
skin. The frontlets were smoothed and intended to be
worn on the head. They had specially drilled holes for
the straps to attach them to the head.
There are two hypotheses about the use of deer front-
lets. G. Clark supposed that stags frontlets were used
both for hunting and for ritual dances, designed to
the deer, or to promote a natural increase in general.
He also connected masks with burials with antlers.
He mentioned Cernunnos, the depiction of Tungus
Shaman and the horn dance in medieval Staffordshire
M. Street, the investigator of Bedburg-Konigshoven,
ARCHAEOLOGIA BALTICA 7
-
headdresses and depictions of “antlered man” (Trois
Frères, Hohle-les-Espelugues and Astuuvansalmi in
L. Zalizniak and O. Yanevic hold an alternative opin-
ion, also formulated by G. Clark, that deer frontlets
We think that deer frontlets did not have a single mean-
ing. Probably, the frontlets were items of changeable
semantic status. In primitive societies the difference
between utilitarian objects and sacral ones is very rela-
tive. Everything could be used, or was a ritual symbol
NATALIE
MIKHAILOVA
The C ul t of t he D ee r an d
“Sham an s” i n De er H un ti ng
Socie t y
masks during the hunting, and as cult
attributes during hunting magic rituals
and deer reproduction rituals. Men in
deer masks and skins were the proto-
types of shamans.
The second category of archaeological
graves. Investigators of Siberian sha-
manism have distinguished some fea-
are burials in caves (or under stone
-
dismemberment, the bones of animals,
L. Levi-Brull wrote that people who
were held in high esteem received very
independent additional powers after
-
ies, to protect themselves against the
Now, let us consider the cemeteries
The cemeteries of Teviec and Hoedic are located on
what are now small islands in Brittany, off the Atlan-
tic coast of northwest France. They are dated as Late
Mesolithic. The ten graves found at Teviec held the re-
-
als. In addition to the graves themselves, other features
at Teviec included a series of stone-lined hearths show-
ing varying degrees of burning. The Pequarts classify
these into three types: domestic, featuring and ritual.
Structures of red-deer antlers are associated with two
Teviec, and with four adults (two males and two fe-
appear to have formed small tent-like arrangements
over the heads of these individuals. Grave goods found
-
plements, ornamented bone pins, “daggers”, bi-points,
boar tusks, perforated red-deer teeth, and an abundance
of perforated marine shells of various species.
Teviec includes nine individual and collective burials
in the pits, covered with stone plates, with the remains
-
etons of a man and a woman, covered with red deer
antlers. In burial D there were skeletons of a woman
and a baby, covered with antlers. On the island of
of a woman with a child, covered with fragments of
antlers. The authors of the excavations suppose that the
presence of antlers on the burial allows us to assume
that the dead people were connected with religious ac-
A small test excavation at another site located between
Teviec and Hoedic, revealed a pit surmounted by three
We believe that some features of cemeteries with ant-
The unusual richness of grave goods (in comparison
the deceased, especially ornamented bone pins, which
were found in three cemeteries with antlers, look like
features of shaman burials.
ARCHAEOLOGIA BALTICA 7
The Mesolithic cemetery at Ved-
baek, Denmark, belongs to the Late
Kungemosian culture and the Early
Ertebølle Culture. There 22 graves
were excavated. Three of them had
unusually well-preserved skeleton of
blades to the right and just above the
pelvis were found as grave goods. The
deceased was laid to rest on a pair of
red deer antlers, one placed under the
shoulders and the other under the pel-
vis. Five big stones were placed on the
was surrounded by ochre.
Undisturbed grave 11 was of the same
type as all the others. At the bottom
were a red deer antler, a bone awl and
a core-axe. The bottom was coloured
by ochre, but there were no traces of
the interred person. The explanation by
the authors was found in the detailed
that the body was disinterred shortly
after the burial. The composition of
the grave goods suggests that grave 11
originally contained a man.
Undisturbed grave 22 contained the
year-old female. There was no ochre
in the grave, but below the head and
shoulders of the deceased lay a pair of
deer antlers.
The antlers were from slain animals.
It was noted that the graves containing
antlers were the deepest in the ceme-
The deceased with antlers were an old man and woman.
They had some distinguishing features. Their graves
were deeper than the others, but the grave goods were
poorer than in the other graves. The man had only two
The deep pits and the stones indicate that the deceased
were people of high status. The absence of other grave
goods might indicate their old age (according to the
analogies from Middle Dnieper Mesolithic cemeter-
astonishing. In connection with this, we should men-
his clothing. They saved the pendants in a special bag,
Probably, the “shamans” from Vedbaek were deprived
of pendants too.
features of shamans. Deep pits and stones indicate that
the deceased were dangerous to people. The absence
of pendants can be evidence of saving them specially
in a sacred place.
The Scateholm site in Sweden contained a combina-
tion of settlement area and cemetery, both of Late Me-
-
NATALIE
MIKHAILOVA
The C ul t of t he D ee r an d
“Sham an s” i n De er H un ti ng
Socie t y
solithic. Twenty-two graves were examined at Scate-
holm II.
Grave XI, with a young adult male in a supine position,
featured a veritable network of red deer antlers placed
still attached to a cranial fragment.
Grave XV contained a
young male placed in
a sitting position. Two
antlers of red deer lay
while a large antler
lay by his feet. A row
of perforated teeth of
red deer ran across the
top of the cranium, evi-
dently the remains of a
more elaborate head-
lay by the hip and a
core-axe to the left of
the thigh. Several teeth
of wild boar lay below
the right underarm.
Grave XX contained a
young female in a su-
pine position. A row of
perforated tooth beads
extended around the
waist, including teeth
from aurochs. Tooth
beads also occurred
behind the head. A dog
was found in a pit be-
hind grave XX, with
a red deer antler lying
along its back. In addi-
and an ornamented
hammer of red deer
antler were found on
A pit with no traces
of a skeleton was re-
corded, and three large
deer antlers were found
in the pit. This feature
has, with some res-
ervations, been inter-
preted by the author as
a cenotaph (L. Larsson
The deceased at Scateholm had “shaman” features:
The “cenotaph” phenomenon, as in Vedbaeck, is very
interesting.
Alberthsen and Petersen explain the empty grave as
ARCHAEOLOGIA BALTICA 7
We can propose another hypothesis. There was a cus-
tom among East Slavic people to exhume the dead
bodies of sorcerers and other dangerous diseased peo-
ple, and to bury them in another place, or to drown
antlers but without dead bodies could probably be in-
direct evidence of the existence of shamans.
The existence of some categories of peoples who had
the right to sacral activity connected with the cult
presence of deer masks, as well as burials with deer
antlers.
In Neolithic times, after the migration of reindeer to the
north, the elk became the main traded animal. There
were very interesting burials of a category of people
the bones of animals. Another six burials had the same
The same staffs are very common in northern and parts
them with rock drawings of peoples with zoomorphic
objects in the hands from northern Europe (Helskog
Probably, the staff became an incarnation of the elk-to-
tem, the sacral animal-ancestor, as tambourine was an
incarnation of the deer-ancestor. Perhaps, peoples with
elk-formed staffs could be associated with the totemic
ancestor.
After the transition to reproductive forms of economy,
the cult of the deer was transformed, acquiring a new
sense. The main function of the deer became as a sym-
bol of fertility and prosperity. The deer symbolised the
sun, life, power. Important attributes of the deer were
solar symbols, trees of life and phallic symbols. Maybe
the stimulating properties of young deer antlers could
-
formed into a fertility cult, and antlers became a sym-
At the Bronze Age burial in Warren-Hill in Britain, in a
complex of three round graves, was a female skeleton.
It was covered by 18 red deer antlers. There was a rich
ornamented pot near the skull. The deer antlers and re-
mains of offerings allow us to suppose that it was the
burial of a sacral woman. Clark connected female buri-
als with antlers with the idea of fertility, because the
long-term growth of antlers could be associated with
Burials with deer antlers were known in Roman Brit-
ain. The skeletons of two people which were put on
-
The remains of the deer-hunter cult were known on
the American continent. In the mounds of Adena and
Hopewell cultures were wooden antlered masks and
helmets, with wooden or copper deer antlers. Deceased
people were richly decorated, probably they were
Evidently, the cult of the deer had such an important
role in social ideology that it survived in the ideology
of modern agricultural societies. Huichol mythology
in Mexico is an excellent example. The population
of that tribe was occupied in the cultivation of maize,
cattle breeding and hunting. The totemistic cult of the
ideas about Mother Earth, the Sea, Rain and the Fa-
ther-Sun. The deer is associated with Peyote (a psy-
-
tons, collected while on the hunt, are attached to the
tines of the deer antler carried by the shaman on the
peyote pilgrimage. On the peyote hunt, the peyote is
hunted, like a deer, with bow and arrow. Once the sha-
man has found the peyote-deer while on the hunt, he
takes aim and shoots it with an arrow” (Boyd, Dering
with the deer and received information from the gods
A depiction of an antlered anthropomorph with a black
dot at the end of each antler tine is known at the White
Shaman site along the River Pecos on the Texas-Mexi-
co border. Boyd and Derind believe that the depictions
We have considered the numerous ethnographic and
archaeological evidence of the cult of the deer in Eura-
sian cultures. On the basis of these dates, we can as-
sume the conditions for the appearance, development
and survival of the cult of the deer. Archaeological
evidence of a totemistic cult of the deer was found in
the Late Palaeolithic and Mesolithic sites of the forest
zone. These sites were established in the period when
a cultural-economic type of deer hunter was formed.
Reindeer and red deer became the main animal of
very important. Deer supported primitive hunters with
meat, skin, antlers and bones for making tools, and sin-
ew for tying. Probably, the important role of the deer in
NATALIE
MIKHAILOVA
The C ul t of t he D ee r an d
“Sham an s” i n De er H un ti ng
Socie t y
for treating the animal with respect.
During the hunting ceremonies, people used deer hide
and antlers for making masks. Before beginning hunt-
-
ments to bring successful hunting. Considering the
features of primeval totemistic thinking, we can as-
sume that people dressed as deer, felt like deer, and
so realised their special relationship with deer. They
became beings of a double status, mediators between
people and animals, alive and dead. They gained ac-
was the time when myths about man the deer, the com-
mon ancestor of people and deer, began.
-
ARCHAEOLOGIA BALTICA 7
This ancestor could be depicted in a cave, like the fa-
mous Sorcerer from Trois Frères.
Mesolithic deer frontlets could be used as hunting
The totemistic rituals for the reproduction of deer were
formed gradually. During the ceremonies, participants,
dressed as deer, imitated deer coupling, killed and ate
a sacral animal, and buried bones and antlers in special
places for the future regeneration of the deer. The per-
Mesolithic age. His function was to provide success in
hunting, and to secure the fertility of deer and peoples.
These shamans had the monopoly on communication
were marked with deer antlers.
After the transition to reproduction forms of economy,
saved and transformed. Now it had to provide for the
fertility of cattle and harvests. The deer became the
Its majestic antlers were associated with the tree of life.
-
panied powerful deceased people in their graves.
ethnographic material and documents.
Re f er e nc e s
-
ic cemetery at Vedbaek, Denmark. Acta Archaeologica,
Midcontinent and Britain, Northern France. In: Prehistoric
Hunter-Gatherer. London.
Excavations at Star Carr. Cambridge.
The roots and continuities of shamanism.
Stones, bones and skin. Toronto.
Cambridge 8. Papers presented at the meetings of the
Cambridge Antiquarian Society. No XV. Cambridge.
years of rock carvings from Arctic Norway and their rela-
tionship to the Saami drum. In: Archaeology as Long-Term
History. Cambridge.
-
Mecklenburg. Schwerin: Museum fur Uhr- und Fruhges-
chichte Schwerin.
Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology.
In: Bull.78. Washington, D.C.
-
ies at Scateholm, Southern Sweden. In: The Mesolithic in
Europe. Edinburgh.
Journal of Prehistoric Religion, vol. IX.
XVIII.
Pagan Celtic Britain. London.
Hohen Vicheln. Berlin: Academie Verlag.
Mesolithic cemeteries of Teviec and Hoedic, Brittany. An-
tiquity
Jager und Schamanen. Bedburg-Konig-
shoven ein wohnplatz am Niederrhein vor 10000 Jahren.
Mainz.
Schamanismus. In: Schamanen. Mittler zwischen Men-
schen und Geistern. Duisburg.
Bolletino del Centro Camuno Pre-
historici, vol. XXXIII.
Киргизы и их этнографические и
историко-культурные связи
Происхождение театра
Религия эвенков
Кеты
Проблемы
истории общественного сознания аборигенов Сибири.
In: ВДИ
Этнографическое
изучение знаковых средств культуры
Фольклор
и этнография. Проблемы реконструкции фактов
традиционной культуры
Зулусcкий народ до прихода
европейцев
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Грузинський охотничий миф и
поэзия
Доламаистские верования бурят.
МИА
МИА
Народная культура средневековья.
NATALIE
MIKHAILOVA
The C ul t of t he D ee r an d
“Sham an s” i n De er H un ti ng
Socie t y
Дніпропетровський краєвий історико-археологічний
музей
Большой иллюстрированный атлас
первобытного человека
Изыскания по мезолиту и
неолиту СССР
Археологія,
Население Полесья в мозолите
Избранные труды. Очерки русской
мифологии: Умершие неестественной смертью и
русалки
Иши в двух мирах
Первісне мислення
Традиционные верования и обряды
эвенков-орочонов
МИА, No 18.
Мифы, культы и обряды народов Зарубежной Азии.
In: СЭ
ТИЭ, 1.
In: СМАЭ, XI.
Этнографо-археологические комплексы:
Проблемы культуры и социума
Неолитические могильники
мариупольского типаю.
Этнографическое изучение знаковых средств
культуры
Проблемы
истории общественного сознания аборигенов Сибири.
Легенда об олене-человеке
Водители фрегатов
Шаманизм. Архаические техники
экстаза
Каменный век на территории Украины.
Труды Института
этнографии
Scha-
manen. Mittler zwischen Menschen und Geistern. Duis-
Язычество древних славян
Natalie Mikhailova
Institute of Archaeology
Ukrainian Academy of Sciences
Bul. Heroiv Stalingradu 12
EL NI O K ULTA S IR „ ŠA MA N AI “
Natalie Mikhailova
Sa n tr a uk a
-
heln, Plau, Berli-Birsdorf, Bedburg-Konigshoven
-
-
paminklais.
