ARCHAEOLOGY AND SHAMANISM - Jutta Leskovar

JUTTA LESKOVAR Archaeologist

LIMITS OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL METHODS

Archaeology faces methodological problems when trying to determine how long shamanism has existed, because of the long periods of time the discipline covers and the limited sources it has to rely on. The archaeology of prehistory deals with finds in various contexts, such as graves, settlements, and deposits, as well as places that were used for other purposes. In (Central) Europe, prehistory is understood as the period from the beginning of the development of mankind until the birth of Christ, or rather the beginning of the Roman period (15 BC in Austria), which is clearly an enormous period of time. As far as the issue of shamanism is concerned, the time frame since the emergence of anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens) around 40,000 BC is especially interesting (...)

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https://issuu.com/fsse/docs/fsse_shamanism_and_science