Introduction

Researchers of Buryat shamanism in the first half of the last century believed that the main funeral rite of shamans was their burning. This process was described in sufficient detail by the outstanding Buryat ethnographer M. N. Khangalov [1958, pp. 385-400]. There is also a report about the cremation ceremony by Professor B. E. Petri of Irkutsk State University (1928, pp. 71-73). Both descriptions are based on ethnographic data and, obviously, therefore repeat each other. According to researchers, the burial place of shamans is shamanic groves belonging to the same clan or ulus. These groves are located in the steppe, visible from afar. They are forbidden to cut down trees under the fear of serious retribution and even death, which corresponds to the Polynesian taboo [Khangalov, 1958, p. 389-390; Petri, 1928, p. 72]. This is probably why the literature of the first half of the last century, presumably even earlier, does not contain archaeological data on the funeral rites of shamans. However, in the course of intensive archaeological work in the Baikal region and Transbaikalia in the second half of the XX century. researchers found not only cremation sites, but also burials performed according to a ritual that was not typical for the total mass of graves under study, including medieval ones: the buried were laid face down in the grave [Khamzina, 1970, p. 11-12; Aseev, 1985, p. 161-171]. Apparently, the people buried in this way, for some reason, deserved special treatment. Researchers believe that they were servants of a cult, i.e. shamans. Therefore, there is a need to compare archaeological facts with ethnographic data and identify the types of funerary rites of shamanic burials.

Artifacts and ethnographic data

Archaeological studies in 1973-1974 showed that shamans were buried not only in shamanic groves, but also in taiga hard-to-reach places, as evidenced by archaeological materials reflecting the burning rites of cult ministers in the Baikal region (Aseev, 1985). But the conclusion that these are the burials of shamans is purely empirical. To study the problem in this aspect, a critical analysis of archaeological sources is necessary - the location of the cremation, comparable with ethnographic information, and the accompanying inventory, which determines the social status of the buried. To do this, we will take a closer look at such monuments.

The first cremation site was discovered in 1973 on Olkhon Island, 5 km northeast of the village. Khuzhir is located in a remote part of the mountain range on the slope of one of the hills with rock outcrops. The fire pit area is approx. 3 m 2. It is marked by burnt fragments of human bones, baked with sand melted from high temperature, remnants of unburned wood and fine coals. A pair of natural-sized iron stirrups and a pair of miniature ones were found at the burning site.,

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1. Artefacts from the shaman's cremation site found in 1973 on Olkhon Island. 1-natural size stirrup; 2, 3-miniature stirrups-pendants; 4-bell; 5-natural size bits.

2.5 - 3 cm in diameter, two bells, iron bits with large rings, a harness buckle (Fig. 1). Iron objects have experienced thermal effects at very high temperatures, as evidenced by light red scale and partially burned out plate shelves of stirrups.

A year later (exploration in 1974), five more cremation sites were identified and examined in this ravine on the top of a rocky hill. On one of them, along with calcified bone remains, cone-shaped metal rattle pendants were found - indisputable attributes of shamanic costume. On the area of another fire pit, approx. 2,5 - 3 m2, coins were found in denominations of 2 kopecks.issued in 1822, 1837, 1839. According to them, the approximate time of cremation was determined-the first half of the XIX century [Ibid., pp. 167-168]. At the site of one burning, a heavily melted copper smoking pipe, bracelets, and rings were found. A narrow single - edged petiole knife, arrowheads (Figs. 2, 1, 2), suspensions consisting of stirrups with a diameter of 2.5-3 cm and rings of the same size with three cone-shaped rattle suspensions (Figs. 2, 3) are found among the iron objects. cone-shaped rattle pendants were found lying separately in the remains of the fire pit (Figs. 2, 4) - 21 copies. Similar pendants are found on shamanic cloaks in the collections of museums in Khakassia [Alekseev, 1984, photos 18, 19], Tuva [Ibid., photo 22], and Yakutia [Ibid., Fig. 2]. They were sewn on the cloak in the chest and shoulder blades. Apparently, Olkhon shamans also used similar attributes for their clothing. Interesting in this regard are the statements of M. N. Khangalov, referring to the first quarter of the last century: "At present, the shaman's costume, both everyday and special for the administration of shamanic mysteries, does not differ in any way from the ordinary Buryat one, and only particularly respected and elderly shamans are better dressed, while most shamans are often very poor" [1958, p. 365]. The researcher noted that shamanic clothing was a fur coat, or orga, the peculiarity of which was "metal figures of a person, horse, bird, etc.hung to it" [Ibid.]. Given this, obviously, we can talk about the presence of cone-shaped metal pendants in the attributes of the Buryat shamanic clothing.

2. Artefacts from the shaman's cremation site found in 1974 on Olkhon Island. 1-knife; 2-arrowhead; 3 - pendant with a miniature stirrup and conical rattle pendants; 4-rattle pendant.

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To decipher the semantics of miniature stirrups and bells found at the cremation sites of Buryat religious servants, we will turn to ethnographic data. An indispensable working tool of the shaman was a tambourine. According to M. N. Khangalov, among the Baikal shamans it could have been replaced by one or two so-called horse canes. They were made of wood and iron. Wooden canes were made for each shaman on the eve of the first initiation. Bars for them were cut out of live, i.e. growing, birch, and they tried not to damage the core of the trunk, " since the drying of the tree after cutting the bar is considered a bad omen for the shaman." Birch trees were chosen for this purpose in the grove where shamans were buried [Ibid., p. 366].

At the top of the "horse" cane was depicted the head of a horse, approximately in the middle was indicated the knee, and at the very end was carved the likeness of a horse's hoof. According to M. N. Khangalov, wooden canes are no different in shape from iron ones, except for the image of the head: in the first case, it forms the upper part of the stick, like a knob, in the second - it moves away at a right angle. But the shaman received the iron cane along with the crown cap only after the fifth initiation.

Bells and cone pendants were tied to the" horse "canes, and miniature stirrups were used to make them more similar to a horse (Fig. 3, 1). Cone pendants were hung from the crown caps, and horns made of twisted iron were attached to the center of the connection of the plates denoting the hemisphere (Fig. 3, 2). Similar in the case of the "horse" canes. N. A. Alekseev, analyzing the traditional religion of the latter, notes among the attributes of the shaman a cane with the image of a horse's head on the end of the handle. Such a cane served the shaman as a tambourine, a horse on which he could "ride" to any world [1975, p. 143-145]. But there is another feature: the "horse" cane replaced the tambourine, if one of the bells suspended from it was large. The same function could be performed by the big bell itself. In the ethnographic literature, there is a term hese ("tambourine"). M. N. Khangalov wrote: "At the Kudinsky shamanshese is called the big bell, which replaced the tambourine for the sake of great convenience, I did not meet tambourines among Olkhon shamans, except for one case when a newly initiated shaman who knew nothing and was completely inexperienced found the tambourine" [1958, p.367].

Thus, if our interpretation is correct with regard to bells and miniature stirrups, then the cremated person (we are talking about the cremation site found in 1974) was initiated into shamanism and had a "horse" cane made of wood, the skeleton of which was burned.

It is noted above that at one of the cremation sites, large stirrups were found along with small ones. Apparently, the shaman who had passed the first initiation was also cremated here. He had two wooden "horse" canes, since two miniature stirrups were found, and one is tied to the cane.

According to M. N. Khangalov, when a dead person is burned, they put a saddle under his head (obviously with stirrups), a bridle, a quiver with eight arrows and a bow next to it. It was believed that the shaman would hit evil spirits threatening living people with arrows and save eight good people from death [1958, p. 387]. According to the beliefs of shamanists, in the other world they continue to use everything that they had during their earthly life.

In total, six cremation sites were marked in a remote mountain ravine on Olkhon Island. Three of them, discussed above, are considered shamanic by the presence of cult attributes. The ritual of burning is obviously dictated by the fact that fire occupied an important place in the system of shamanic beliefs. As T. M. Mikhailov notes in his monograph, "the role of fire in the organization of shamanic prayers was exceptionally great" [1980, pp. 228-230]. As long as-

3. Iron shamanic walking stick (1) and crown cap (2) (according to Khangalov, 1958).

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ku shamans in the performance of all religious functions turned directly to the fire, we must assume that this is why they were cremated in order to move to the celestials as soon as possible. But the funeral doesn't end there. According to ethnographic observations, on the third day after the burning ceremony, the shaman's closest relatives collect the bones in a specially sewn bag. It is made of white calico, if it was a white shaman, and blue silk, if it is black. The bag with the bones is placed in a hollow-shaped recess (our interpretation) in the trunk of a thick pine tree. This process of funeral of a shaman is considered in detail by M. N. Khangalov [1958, p. 389]. However, on Olkhon Island, despite the fact that six cremation sites were found there, the fact of placing bones in a niche in a living tree has not been established. But we have examined one burial site of the shaman's remains, which, obviously, was associated with the final stage of the funeral rite. It was found south-west of the village. Elantsy is located on the top of one of the hills covered with mixed forest (pine, larch, birch, aspen, shrub).

In a growing (live) larch tree (height approx. 35 m, width in girth 1.82 m), a niche was cut out on the south side at the level of 62 cm from the coml (Fig. 4). Its height is 42 cm, width 20, depth 23.5 cm. The lid that had once covered the niche lay a meter away from the tree on the east side. It is made of a larch block 6 cm thick, possibly chipped from the same tree when preparing a place for hollowing out the niche; the bark is preserved on the outside. The ceiling of the niche was sloped inward to the top of the tree; the lid with overlays on the side edges of the niche with the upper end entered there, as in a groove. On the threshold of the niche, a nail is driven in, fixing the once tightly pressed lid. The walls of the niche and the lid around the perimeter are covered with resin. At the time of our examination, the niche was empty, but at the foot of the tree opposite it were scattered small fragments of burnt bones and pieces of decayed silk cloth of a dirty green color with a bluish tinge. This indicates that the remains of a black shaman were immured in the niche.

A 20-kopeck coin made in 1916 was found among small fragments of burnt bones near a tree near the lid in moss and pine needles. This indicates the earliest burial date. The presence of money in the burial is another evidence of the Buryats ' belief in an otherworld with a social structure similar to that existing in earthly life.

In addition to cremating the shaman and burying his bones in a living tree, other rites were also practiced in the Olkhon district of the Irkutsk region. In 1979, on the west bank of Lake Baikal. Baikal (Kurkut Bay) a burial site with an unusual position of the backbone was investigated. On the surface, it was represented by a flat gravestone masonry made of rock. In the central part of the masonry, fragments of ribs, apparently sacrificial sheep, and an iron petiole knife with a broken end were found. A chisel-shaped arrowhead and an animal bone fragment were found under the floor slabs near the southern wall of the grave pit. There was a wooden deck in the grave, which had been badly damaged by rot at the time of the excavation. Wood dust remains from the side walls and bottom in some places. But the half-rotted remains of the ends of the deck were recorded, representing pieces of wood with a length of approx. 30 cm thick and approx. 50 cm thick, and between them was the skeleton of a person buried face down (Fig. 5). At the eastern end of the deck, the tibia of a sheep was stuck vertically into the head of the buried person - a clear sign of the buried person's belonging to the nomad world. A similar position of the skeleton in the burial was found by Ye. A. Khamzina during the excavation of a burial ground on the Taphar hill in the Khorinsky district of Buryatia. But in the case she described, the buried man's hands were wound up

Рис. 4. Погребальная ниша в растущей лиственнице, где находились кремированные останки шамана (Прибайкалье).

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behind my back and obviously tied up. Based on this, E. A. Khamzina came to the conclusion that "the buried person occupied a special position among his relatives, perhaps he was a shaman." The burial is dated to the 13th-14th centuries [1970, pp. 96-99].

The explanation of the atypical funeral rite is recorded by ethnographers. In the 19th century, there were cases of violent killing of some shamans and shamanesses among the Buryats. As M. N. Khangalov noted, " if a rumor spread that some black shamans or shamanesses caused illness on people or ate someone's soul, they were subjected to a people's court, which rarely acquitted them. The accused was executed in the following way:" The shaman or shamaness was placed upside down in a deliberately dug hole, pressing her face to the ground, and covered with earth so that none of the shaman's or shaman's souls would break free and get the opportunity to harm people" " [1958, p.93]. Given this, it can be assumed that the person buried face down in the burial site on the shore of Kurkut Bay was a shaman.

In addition to the above-described burials of servants of the cult of ethnographic time and the Middle Ages, in the Olkhon district, archaeologists have studied the burial of a shaman belonging to the Bronze Age. Researchers of this monument have described in detail the funeral rite and accompanying equipment, including the symbolism of the shamanic attribute-a cast bronze openwork plaque with a horned anthropomorphic figure inside a solar circle (Goryunova and Weber, 2003), so there is no need to repeat. But it should be noted that, despite the preservation of the skeleton, the position of the buried person on the back, it was covered with three intra-grave masonry and one over-grave. This, obviously, can also be interpreted as a deliberate protection of living tribesmen from the activities of the shaman's malevolent souls.

In 1979, we investigated a Neolithic burial site in the Elgen Bay according to the rite of corpse immolation. It was located on the top of a rocky hill of a mountain spur facing the floodplain of the Elgen River, on the gentle slope of which there was a Neolithic site (its excavations were carried out in 1979-1980, 1982 and 2002-2005). The masonry of the burial was blackened and found on individual stones protruding at the foot of the rock canopy. It consisted of small stone slabs laid in the form of an oval mound in the plan. On the western and northern sides, the masonry is contoured with blocks of rock that collapsed before the grave was built. The lower part of the burial chamber was hollowed out of the bedrock. Its side walls are decorated with slabs of rock placed on a longitudinal rib with a slope to the outside, forming a box (Fig. 6, A). At its northern side, at a depth of 0.8 m, there was a pole with a length of approx. 1 m, at an angle to it - another one of the same, and under it was a pole with a length of 1.8 m and a thickness of 8 cm (Fig. 6, B). The filling of the grave pit, on which the charred tree lay, is pale yellow in color, saturated with charcoal. Fragments of a very poorly preserved human skull and lower jaw were found outside the fire pit at the eastern end of the grave pit. Below the charred poles, a slab measuring 1.20 x 0.8 m was found. Immediately below it lay a charred wooden block 0.8 m long, 0.45 m wide, slightly concave trough-shaped. Its end, located near the fragments of the skull, is rounded. The bones of the skeleton are mixed with charcoal-probably the remains of this block. A knife-shaped plate of chalcedony was found in the south-western half of the fire pit at the level of a burnt tree, and a flake of gray flint with a greenish tinge was found in the south - eastern half.

5. Position of the backbone in border 1 on the shore of Kurkut Bay (Baikal region). 1-a sheep bone at the head of the buried person; 2-the remains of a birch bark quiver; 3-the central lining on the bow.

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6. Diagram-section (A) and plan (B) of a Neolithic cremation burial under a rock canopy in Elgen Bay (Baikal region).

The small skull was initially mistaken for an infant's. But a row of half-erased molars on the lower jaw testified to a rather old age of the buried person. Judging by the gracefulness of the skull, it's female. Many historians have written about the fact that among the peoples of Siberia the first ministers of the cult were women. Evidence of the leading role of women in the ancient cult of Yakuts, Evenks and other peoples is given in his work by A. F. Anisimov [1958, p. 180-184].S. Purevzhav, considering the stages of development of ancient Mongolian shamanism, singled out mass female shamanism as the initial stage of worship of supernatural forces [1975].

Artefacts attest to the epochal identity of the burial in question. Directly under the masonry and in the filling of the burial chamber, about 20 fragments of a vessel with a straight corolla slightly thickened to the end, ornamented with impressions of a netting, were found. Several fragments of smooth-walled ceramics with semilunar depressions were also found. Ceramics with similar ornaments are found in cultural deposits of the nearby Neolithic site (Aseev, 2003a, p. 64). No shamanic attributes were found here. However, the rite of corpse immolation indirectly indicates that the buried person belongs to a shamanic cult. Neolithic cremation burials are extremely rare in this area of the Baikal region. In more than 30 years of research, we have recorded only one case of burials in addition to the one described above - in a collective burial site on the Shaman Cape of Olkhon Island, which was investigated in 1976. It contained the remains of three people. Two charred skulls, together with the broken but anatomically correct shoulder bones of the arms, were placed on two stone slabs. In the layer at the level of the skulls were fragments of burnt bones mixed with charcoal. Below this layer lay a third skeleton that had not been cremated. There is no doubt that two people were sacrificed to a third. These are clear signs of the ancient population's custom of sending a master and servants to the other world. The burial site belongs to the Serov group of monuments [Ibid., Fig. 55, 2, pp. 85-88]. Perhaps the uncredited interred person was a leader or a cultist. In any case, it must be assumed that this person was a representative of the power of the clan or tribe and was buried, unlike ordinary members of the community, with proper honors. Echoes of such a rite of outstanding tribesmen are covered in the ethnographic literature: "If the deceased was rich or strong..., then according to custom, he should have had his servant with him, who was forcibly killed and burned along with the deceased; this servant should serve the soul of the deceased in the next world" [Khangalov, 1958, p.224]. Obviously, this evidence from ethnographic observations can also be extrapolated to the primitive communal system.

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Conclusion

The funerary rites we examined in the Baikal region (Olkhonsky district, Irkutsk region) indicate the separation of shamans into a separate social group. These rites clearly differ from those generally accepted for ordinary members of the Baikal tribes for many millennia. Atypical funerals of cult members are probably connected with the ideas about the abilities of deceased shamans to exert psychological and, possibly, physical influence on living people. I. this tendency to distinguish shamans from the general mass of their fellow tribesmen, presumably, appeared with the birth of religious views in ancient times. According to archaeological data, in the Baikal region, and in particular on the territory of the Olkhon district, shamanic rituals existed already in the Neolithic era. This is evidenced by all the above and the altar and sanctuary studied at the Neolithic site of Elgen (Aseev, 2002, 20036, 2004), for which dates were obtained by radiocarbon dating from coal samples (2003, analyst cand. geol. L. A. Orlova, Institute of Geology SB RAS): 6 130 ±± 115 bp (SOAN-5121) and 6 790 ± 85 bp (SOAN-5122) [Aseev, 2003a, p. 66]).

List of literature

N. A. Alekseev, Traditional religious beliefs of the Yakuts in the XIX-early XX centuries, Novosibirsk: Nauka Publ., 1975, 200 p.

Alekseev N. A. Shamanism of the Turkic-speaking peoples of Siberia. Novosibirsk: Nauka Publ., 1984, 233 p. (in Russian)

Anisimov A. F. Religion of the Evenks in the historical and genetic study and problems of the origin of primitive beliefs. - Moscow; L.: Publishing House of A. N. SSSR, 1958. - 253 p.

Aseev I. V. Otrazhenie nekotorykh aspekty shamanizma v arkheologo-etnograficheskom materialy Predbaikal'ya i Zabaikal'ya [Reflection of some aspects of shamanism in the archaeological and ethnographic material of Pre-Baikal and Transbaikalia]. Novosibirsk: Nauka Publ., 1985, pp. 161-172.

Aseev I. V. Orudiynyi kompleks stoyki epokhi kamena v bukhte Elgen (Pribaikalie) - raskopki 2002 g. [Tool complex of the Stone Epoch site in the Elgen Bay (Baikal region) - excavations of 2002]. Problemy arkheologii, etnografii, antropologii Sibiri i sopredel'nykh territorii. Novosibirsk: Izd-vo IAEt SB RAS, 2002, pp. 26-31.

Aseev I. V. South-Eastern Siberia in the era of stone and metal. Novosibirsk, IAEt SB RAS Publ., 2003a, 207 p. (in Russian)

Aseev I. V. Artefacts from the exploration excavation in the Elgen Bay (Baikal region) / / Problems of Archeology, Ethnography, and Anthropology of Siberia and adjacent Territories. Novosibirsk: Izd-vo IAEt SB RAS, 20036, pp. 30-36.

Aseev I. V. Novoe v neolite Pribaikal'ya - predvaritel'noe posledenie [New in the Neolithic of the Baikal region-a preliminary message]. Novosibirsk: Izd-vo IAEt SB RAS, 2004, pp. 25-31.

Goryunova O. I., A.V. Weber. A complex with an openwork plaque from the burial of the Bronze Age burial ground Kurma XI (Lake Baikal) / / Archeology, Ethnography and Anthropology of Eurasia. - 2003. - N 4. - p. 110-115.

Mikhailov T. M. Iz istorii buryatskogo shamanizma [From the history of Buryat shamanism]. Novosibirsk: Nauka Publ., 1980, 320 p. (in Russian)

Petri B. E. Staraya vera buryatskogo naroda [The Old Faith of the Buryat people]. Irkutsk: Vlast truda Publ., 1928, 78 p. (in Russian)

Purevzhav S. K voprosu o stagiyakh razvitiya ideologicheskikh kontseptsii drevnemongolskogo shamanizma [On the question of the stages of development of ideological concepts of Ancient Mongolian shamanism]. Trudy mongol'skikh istorikov (1960 - 1970). Ulaanbaatar: Institute of History of A. N. MNR, 1975, pp. 113-114.

Khamzina E. A. Archaeological sites of Western Transbaikalia (late nomads). Ulan-Ude: Bur. kn. izd-vo, 1970. - 140 p.

Khangalov M. I. Sobr. soch. - Ulan-Ude: Bur. kn. izd-vo, 1958. - Vol. 1. - 551 p.

The article was submitted to the Editorial Board on 15.06.06.

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