Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 40 (4) 2012

Annotation:  The Paleolithic of Dzungaria (Xinjiang, Northwest China) Based on Materials from the Luotuoshi Site Excavations at the Bairaki Lower Paleolithic Site, Trans-Dniesteria, in 2011 Upper Paleolithic Rock Crystal Artifacts from the Southeastern Shore of Lake Bolshiye Allaki, the So The Use of Animal Hair in Ceramic Manufacturing at the Tytkesken-2 Neolithic Site, Western Siberia Kyordyughen Site, Ymyiakhtakh Culture, Yakutia: An Interpretation of Burial Rite An Analysis of Mitochondrial DNA from the Pakhomovskaya Population of the Late Bronze Age, Western S Kozlov Mys-2 Burial Ground and Issues of Chronology for the Early to Late Iron Age Transition in the New Early Iron Age Statue from Sary-Arka “Horse-Headed” Staffs and the Cult of the Horse Head in Northwestern Asia in the 2nd Millennium BC Ceramics of the Ulakhan-Segelennyakh Culture, Early Bronze Age, Yakutia Scythian Burial Mound of the 4th Century BC at Kremenevka, Northeastern Azov Region A Carnelian Cabochon from Tashara-Karier-2, the Upper Ob Basin: Technological Issues Soils of an Early Medieval (4th–6th Centuries) Settlement in the Middle Tobol Region and their Paleo Folklore Parallels Between Siberia and South Asia and the Mythology of the Eurasian Steppes   

Folklore Parallels Between Siberia and South Asia and the Mythology of the Eurasian Steppes

Yu.E. Berezkin.

According to the myth about the origin of man recorded among the people of Eastern Europe and Siberia, the creator set a dog to guard the half-made human fi gures, but the antagonist bribed the guard and spoiled the creation, making humans vulnerable to disease. The creator told the dog to become the servant of man. Texts recorded in India (mostly among the Munda-speaking groups), the Dards of the Hindu Kush and the Abkhasians, though partly similar to the Northern Eurasian ones, do not share some important details: the antagonist is a horse, it tried to destroy man but a dog drove it away. In the Mongolian (more precisely, the Oirat) version, a cow acts instead of a horse, but in other respects this variant is similar to the Abkhasian ones. Negative associations related to the horse are rather widespread in Europe and Central Asia. Stories about the creation of man recorded in northern and southern Eurasia stemmed from the anthropogenic myth that was known to the Indo-Europeans of the Bronze Age. South Asia and the European–Siberian zone also share other tales, in particular the Earth-diver myth. Their analysis opens possibilities for reconstructing the early mythology of the inhabitants of the Eurasian steppe.

Keywords: Indo-Europeans, Munda, mythology, Eurasia, myth about the origin of man, Earth-diver myth.