Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 46 (3) 2018   DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2018.46.3.114-121

Annotation:  The Discovery of a Bifacial Industry in Vietnam Technological Development of the Neolithic Pottery at Göytepe (West Azerbaijan) Reconstruction of Extreme Paleoclimatic Events in Northwestern Siberia Using Ancient Wood from Fort On the Construction Features of Wheeled Vehicles in Iran and Mesopotamia (Third to First Millennia B The Adaptation of the Seima-Turbino Tradition to the Bronze Age Cultures in the South of the West Si A Half of a Metal Bipartite Mold of the Seima-Turbino Period from the Upper Irtysh Region Zotino III: An Early Iron Age Metallurgical Center in the Trans-Urals Middle and Late Bronze Age House-Building in the Steppe and Forest-Steppe Altai Artistic Metalwork Found Near the Tomskaya Pisanitsa Cultural Ties Across Taiga and Steppe: Material Culture from the Medieval Lower Angara River and Pro Bronze Plaques from Northern Kyrgyzstan with Representations of Horsemen Kimak and Chu-mu-kun 處木昆: Notes on an Identification Traditional Buryat Burials: Changes and Stereotypes Substitute Offering: An Ob Ugrian Ritual Tradition Surviving in the 20th and Early 21st Century Seventeenth Century Siberia as a Land of Opportunity: Social Mobility Among the Russian Pioneers Deciduous Human Teeth from the Upper Paleolithic Site of Yudinovo, Western Russia Realism of Face Depiction in Portraiture   

Traditional Buryat Burials: Changes and Stereotypes

S.G. Zhambalova

Institute of Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan Studies, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Sakhyanovoy 6, Ulan-Ude, 670047, Russia

Buryat burials are described with regard to the age and social status of the deceased. Changes and conservative features are evaluated, and cultural stereotypes are discussed. Certain novel traits are due to a recombination of traditional elements; others are caused by external stimuli. Environmental adaptations and the role of cultural factors are assessed. There are two traditional types of low-rank burials: above-ground under cover with accompanying goods; and cremation. Both were practiced throughout the Buryat ethnic area. The latter’s inclusion in the Russian Empire and the spread of Buddhism resulted in the emergence, in the Baikal region, of two major religious groups—shamanists in the Cis-Baikal region, and Buddhists living east of Lake Baikal. The changes affected burial practices as well. Under the impact of the Russian tradition, inhumation burials in coffins emerged. Under Buddhism, only members of the clergy (but not lay persons) had been cremated. Cremation became the principal rite west of Lake Baikal, while disappearing east of it. Above-ground burials from that time on may be divided into two subtypes—shamanistic and Buddhist, the latter being predominant in the Trans-Baikal region. Burials of children fall in several categories: air burial, cremation, both types of above-ground, and inhumation. Burials and commemoration practices relating to shamans and the Buddhist clergy are described. One evolutionary line demonstrates changes in burial practices concerning ordinary people, and contributing to the integration of the traditional culture into the outside world; another line highlights the sacral stereotypes, preserving the core of the traditional culture. Both opposing lines maintain the integrity of the Buryat ethnic tradition in both space and time.

Keywords: Buryats, burials, memorization, cultural stereotypes, cultural changes.