Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 40 (3) 2012

Annotation:  Vegetation and Climate Changes in the Bolshoe Inyaptukskoe Lake Basin (North Baikal Plateau) in the Levantine Perspectives on the Middle to Upper Paleolithic “Transition” The Importance of Changes to microRNA in the Evolution of Homo Neanderthalensis and Homo Denisova Upper Paleolithic Portable Art in Light of Ethnographic Studies Statistical Analysis of Spatial Distribution of Ceramics from Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age Sites i Ornaments Made from Animal Teeth in Human Burials at Tuzovskiye Bugry-1 and their Relevance to Ethni The Bronze Age Rock Art of Malye Arbaty A 2367-year Tree-Ring Chronology for the Altai–Sayan Region (Mongun-Taiga Mountain Massif) Cultural Contact and Cultural Transfer in Medieval Western Eurasia Camisoles in the Traditional Male Costume of the Bukharan Jews (Part of the History of Clothes Cut f Western Siberian Folk Art: Northern Russian and Ural Traditions in Distaff Decoration Ethnic and Cultural Aspects of Nanai Healing Ritual Sculptures Ethnic and Cultural Identity of the Belorussian Migrants in Western Siberia Prehistoric and Recent Populations of Chukotka: A Paleophenetic Analysis Armenia in the Eurasian Ethnic Context of Late Classical Antiquity: Craniometric Evidence Dental Wear Patterns and Subsistence Activities in Early Nomadic Pastoralist Communities of the Cent   

Ethnic and Cultural Aspects of Nanai Healing Ritual Sculptures

O.V. Maltseva.

The present study discusses the ethnic and cultural aspects of ritual healing sculptures – sevhens, used by the Nanai people. The tradition of producing and using healing sculptures was common in shamanism. The practice encompasses certain archaic beliefs held by the Amur peoples which also resonate with various ecological, historical, and cultural themes. An analysis of the form and function of the sevhens points to their dual role as embodiers of disease and shaman’s assistant. The study is based on literary and archival sources as well as the author’s fi eld materials generated by a survey carried out among the Gorin and Amur Nanai people.

Keywords: Ritual sculpture, Nanai people, shamanism, soul, spirits, diseases, images of predators, tree species, transformation.