Supernatural Gamekeepers and Animal Masters: A Cross-Cultural Perspective

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Supernatural Gamekeepers and Animal Masters: A Cross-Cultural Perspective," at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This session will investigate the implications of the belief in the existence of supernatural gamekeepers/animal masters of wildlife. The belief in supernatural gamekeepers/animal masters is widespread among traditional societies. Typically, these supernatural entities grant hunting success to those who faithfully perform specific rituals and who adhere to various prescribed restrictions. This session will identify and review the geographical distribution of these beliefs and survey the various manifestations of this cosmology cross-culturally. Particular attention will be placed on specific types of petroglyphs/pictographs, and other forms of material culture in relation to their concomitant magico-ritual gamekeeper/animal master component. The environmental impacts of these rituals and prescribed foraging restrictions will be addressed by analyzing how such traditional belief systems foster sustainable game harvests. Conversely, the session will also explore how such traditional belief systems may encourage the overharvesting of targeted game animals.