Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 54 (1) 2026   doi:10.17746/1563-0110.2026.54.1.116-124

Annotation:  A Climatostratigraphy of Pleistocene Deposits in the East Chamber of Denisova Cave Variation of Lithic Assemblages and Lithic Technologies at Late Upper Paleolithic Horizons 6–2Б of K An Absolute Chronology of Mesolithic Sites of the Volga Forest-Steppe Dogs in Funerary Practices of Bronze Age Populations of the Ural-Kazakhstan Steppes: The Case of Sin Karasuk People in the Aley Steppe A Microbiological Study of the Content of Vessels from a 6th Century BC Burial at Nor Armavir, Armen The Ondol Heating Systems in Dwellings on Neukdo Island, Korea, and at the Krounovka Sites in Primor Archaeological and Pedological Studies of the Ust-Tersyuk Fortifi cations, Forest-Steppe Trans-Urals The Technological Analysis of Earrings from a Burial with a Horse Skin at the Koybaly Cemetery, Khak Coins from the Taskeshu Caravanserai Archaeological Sites Under the System of Governmental Audit of Cultural Heritage: The Case of Krasno Possibilities and Limitations of Dendrochronological Dating: The Case of Historical Wooden Buildings From Hare Skin to Silk Scrap: The Origin and Evolution of the Symbolic Design of Traditional Buryat Settlement Pattern of Siberian Tatars and Bokharans of the Irtysh-Osha Interfl uve in the 18th to Mi Diet of the Early Iron Age People in the Novosibirsk Stretch of the Ob: A Case Study from the Bystro Uralians and Yeniseians: The Dialog Between Craniometry and Genomics   

From Hare Skin to Silk Scrap: The Origin and Evolution
of the Symbolic Design of Traditional Buryat Ritual Practices

M.M. Sodnompilova

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

This study focuses on the practical and ritual meaning of scraps of fabric in traditional Buryat culture. The “textile theme” provides a link between the archaic hunting tradition and the rites of nomadic herders belonging to the Buddhist world. Scraps of fabric were common attributes of shamanic and Buddhist rites. The symbolic, magical, and social functions of those artifacts are assessed. Scraps of fabric, or their analogs, were used as gifts or offerings to shamanic and Buddhist deities and spirits. In wedding rites, they symbolized family relations established by marriage. Some of their magical functions were used in esoteric healing rites and in those relating to life and calendar cycles. Specifically Buryat symbolism evidenced by local Buddhist temples is described. The origin of scraps of fabric in traditional Buryat culture is reconstructed. Parallels in their symbolic meaning and functions among the Mongolian, Turkic, and Tungus-Manchu traditions attest to wide-ranging historical, cultural, and linguistic contacts between Buryats (Mongols), Turks, and Tungus-Manchu peoples of Central and North Asia.

Keywords: Buryats, traditional worldview, Buddhism, fabric, scrap, ritual