12,000-Year-Old Shaman Unearthed in Israel

[cali]

By Ishaan Tharoor
Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2008

A new figure in humanity's history emerged last week when archaeologists announced the discovery of what could be one of the world's oldest known spiritual figures. After years of meticulous excavation just miles from Israel's Mediterranean coast, scientists from the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem unearthed a 12,000-year-old grave that held the remains of a diminutive "shaman" woman. Buried alongside the woman's small, huddled corpse were selected pieces of animal bone, a cowtail, an eagle wing, the foot of another human, and, most curiously, some fifty tortoise shells deliberately arranged around the woman's body — all tell-tale signs, experts say, of her lofty social status at the time. "This is something very special; it stands apart," says Leore Grosman, the project's lead archaeologist.


How mankind emerged from Paleolithic prehistory into a world of alphabets and cities is still a story riddled with questions. Even the first settled agriculturalist communities from which our records begin seem far removed from the cave-dwelling, fur-clad hunter-gatherers whom we imagine to be mankind's ancestors. The discovery of a shaman this ancient offers a startling glimpse into this little-known past, a portrait of prehistoric ritual belief and of clear lines of social hierarchy taking shape.

The grave is thought to belong to the Natufian culture, a nomadic society which existed along the eastern Mediterranean roughly between 11,500 and 15,000 years ago. Located near other burial sites, the woman's body was distinctly encased in a limestone enclosure, a tomb sealed by a rock slab that Grosman's team managed to lift in 2006. The following two years were spent painstakingly analyzing the remains found within. Pieces of jewelry, ornamental seashells, or the odd tool have been found in other Natufian graves, but the careful arrangement of the woman's body — her back rested against a wall, legs spread and bent inward from the knee — as well as the surrounding ring of tortoise shells piqued the archaeologists' interest. "This kind of assemblage is different from everything you find elsewhere," says Ofer Bar-Yosef, a Harvard anthropologist who has worked on previous Natufian excavations. "It's the sign of a sort of elite emerging among hunter-gatherers."

Shamans are mystics whose common function in traditional cultures was that of a healer. Analysis of the woman's remains date her as being 45-years-old, a significant age at a time when life was nasty, brutish and short. She was under five feet tall and deformities in her spinal and pelvic bones give the impression that she may have walked with a limp, or dragged her feet. The presence of the hollowed-out tortoise shells, combined with intact bone pieces of leopards and other creatures — the complete forearm of a wild boar, for example, was placed under the woman's own arm — suggest that those living around her believed she had some sort of animist power.

<snip>

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1858121,00.html?imw=Y

[ben_meyers]

1. Why did I think of Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks?

Now I have to go find some of their bits.

[cali]

3. That was my first thought too, but I blanked on their names

and the name of the piece. million year old man? No, that doesn't sound right.

[ben_meyers]

5. 2000 year old man. n/t

[TechBear_Seattle]

4. My first thought was "The Mummy," actually

"Whoever it was must have been very important. Or VERY naughty."

[tekisui]

2. Very cool!

knr!

[rucky]

6. God put her there last week to test our faith. n/t

[lildreamer316]

7. My first thought was of the book The Chalice and The Blade..

I think she was probably more than a shaman to her people.

[librechik]

8. Fine, fine--did she have any pot?

otherwise I question her credentials.

Unless she had mushrooms.

[Deja Q]

9. How much does she charge per hour?

[sohndrsmith]

10. one tortoise shell, apparently... : ) n/t

[rosesaylavee]

11. This find supports the theories presented in

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_God_Was_a_Woman

Merlin Stone's book When God was a Woman which explores what else was going on the Middle East and Northern Africa prior to the emergence of the Israelites.

[JuniperLea]

12. Animist Power!

This is pretty exciting! The ancient mystics were usually held in very high regard in most cultures. I always found it interesting that the Christian Bible warns against association with "soothsayers" and such. I've always found this sort of thing fascinating, from a socio-cultural anthropological POV. In today's society, it seems the high regard has waned, and such people who fancy themselves Shamans are look upon as kooks. I know a few hogan dwelling American Indians who still hold such people in high regard... I find it all very interesting.

Great find, cali.

[semillama]

13. Technically, she probably wasn't a shaman

"Shaman" is (or at least it used to be) a specific term for the spiritual practitioners of a group of trans-polar hunter-gatherer cultures. But it's been bastardized so much that it has lost it's specific meaning, so that any spiritual practitioner in any non-Western culture is now called a "shaman".

But apart from my pet peeve, very interesting article!


(Speaking of shamanism, a young boy at our midwives' office last night elucidated us all about Santa Claus and his shamanistic aspects, and how he related to Lapp shamanism. Then he went back to drawing pictures of tanks.)

[TechBear_Seattle]

17. The word comes from a Siberian language, but the worldview is pretty widespread

Shamanism is pretty widespread, with shamanic beliefs and practices found in many cultures around the world and throughout history.

Basically, there are two (possibly more) worlds: one inhabited by material beings and one inhabited by spirit beings. It is exceedingly dangerous to cross from one world to another, but often necessary to do so, as the beings in the spirit world can hold knowledge that must be retrieved and/or must be petitioned to make the crossing themselves and influence events in the material world. Shamanism is distinct from animism, which holds that the spirits inhabit the material world, and theism (I don't recall the correct word, but "theism" is close), which holds that the spirits inhabit their own world but communication and even travel between the worlds is relatively safe and simple. The spiritual practices of individual cultures will often contain elements from several of these groups: Shinto is mainly animistic with aspects shamanism, while Santeria is both shamanistic and theistic.

Within a shamanic worldview, the role of the shaman is to make the crossing into the spirit world, retrieve the knowledge or make the petition, and then return successfully. Commonly, the shaman will use some combination of drugs or self-hypnosis (often dancing and drumming) to induce a trance state, during which the journey occurs.

We have no knowledge of the culture in which she lived or any idea as to why she was important, though. To call her a shaman is, at best, a blind and unscientific guess.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

14. "Brothers and Sisters, please be generous when Brother Bungo passes the Holy Tortoise Shell."

No doubt, some of the congregation had to wakened to contribute to whatever God(s) were fleecing them.

[roguevalley]

15. part of my masters was on the Natufians. They are a remarkable

peope. I wonder if they buried her inside a home? they did that often.

[dipsydoodle]

16. Did they mention any apple pips ?

Maybe it's Eve. :shrug:

[proud patriot]

18. My first thought was of Ayla in Jean Auel's Earth Children series

:hi:

[Mike 03]

19. 12,000 years. That is astounding, and fascinating. NT

[Jack_DeLeon]

20. and he is really PISSED OFF!!!

lol

[malaise]

21. This cannot be true

Sarah Palin says the world is six thousand years old. They didn't find the Shaman's dinosaur so I'm not buying it. I can hear the grifter now - in what regard Charlie? You betcha this is a hoax.

[applegrove]

22. LOL!