Supernatural Gamekeepers and Animal Masters: A Cross-Cultural Perspective

DOCUMENT Citation Only David Dye.

This is an abstract from the "Supernatural Gamekeepers and Animal Masters: A Cross-Cultural Perspective" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In this presentation I discuss beliefs that focus on "supernatural" animals and associated charter myths, regalia, and ceramic effigies. Three forms of transcendental animals are evident in eastern North America: animal masters, guardian animals, and masters of animals. Animal masters control the availability and...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Alexandre Tokovinine.

This is an abstract from the "Supernatural Gamekeepers and Animal Masters: A Cross-Cultural Perspective" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper explores a set of mythical narratives on Classic Maya pottery (550-800 C.E.), which involve Huk Si’ip, the divine keeper of animals, and Itzam Kokaaj, the celestial creator of animals. Most of these narratives form part of a larger theogony cycle where the elderly gods of animals, sky, earth, and fire...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Linda Brown. Kitty Emery.

This is an abstract from the "Supernatural Gamekeepers and Animal Masters: A Cross-Cultural Perspective" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In various contemporary Maya communities, hunting involves careful negotiations among various active agents – human and other-than-human – involved in the hunt. A pivotal actor in these negotiations is the deity known as the Lord of Wild Animals, the supernatural gamekeeper of the wild species in the forest....

DOCUMENT Citation Only Shelly Tiley.

This is an abstract from the "Supernatural Gamekeepers and Animal Masters: A Cross-Cultural Perspective" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Large animals are particularly prone to human overexploitation for both biological and cultural reasons. Relatively rare and slow to reproduce, these populations are naturally sensitive to predation. For the hunters, evolutionary and cultural forces conspire to make these animals highly desired. This paper...

DOCUMENT Citation Only John Johnson.

This is an abstract from the "Supernatural Gamekeepers and Animal Masters: A Cross-Cultural Perspective" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Native peoples along the Pacific Coast of North America exploited stranded whales that washed ashore, providing abundant meat and oil for consumption. Many rock art sites along the coast between Alaska and Acapulco contain images of whales and other cetaceans, and portable effigies also depict these marine...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Silvia Tomaskova.

This is an abstract from the "Supernatural Gamekeepers and Animal Masters: A Cross-Cultural Perspective" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Siberian Indigenous communities have been used for centuries as a stand-in for various western categories, mostly as a contrast to civilized, developed or familiar groups. This paper will consider the importance of history when archaeologists contemplate the role of the supernatural and the centrality of game...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Diana Stein.

This is an abstract from the "Supernatural Gamekeepers and Animal Masters: A Cross-Cultural Perspective" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. What evidence is there for the existence of Animal Masters and their rituals in the ancient Near East? This paper ranges from Mesolithic/Epi-Palaeolithic to Chalcolithic times (ca. 15,000-4000 B.C.) and spans the transition from hunter-gatherer to agricultural societies. It surveys the iconography and material...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Bettina Schulz Paulsson.

This is an abstract from the "Supernatural Gamekeepers and Animal Masters: A Cross-Cultural Perspective" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Sperm whales played a central role in the cosmological world view of early megalithic societies (4700-4200 cal BC) in the Bay of Morbihan, Brittany, France. The whales were engraved as iconic signs on colossal standing stones, some of which were re-used to build megalithic graves. The largest of these standing...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Hitoshi Yamada.

This is an abstract from the "Supernatural Gamekeepers and Animal Masters: A Cross-Cultural Perspective" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Supernatural gamekeepers of the Ainu appear in yukar divine songs. Mainly as master of deer (yuk kor kamuy) or master of salmon (cep kor kamuy), they have controlled the main suppliers of animal protein. On the one hand, they were believed to keep the animals in a storehouse or a bag, or to multiply them from...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Álvaro Fernández-Llamazares. Victoria Reyes-García.

This is an abstract from the "Supernatural Gamekeepers and Animal Masters: A Cross-Cultural Perspective" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. We examine the traditional beliefs on supernatural gamekeepers by the Tsimane’ hunter-gatherers of Bolivian Amazonia. As other Amazonian Indigenous groups, the Tsimane’ believe in the existence of supernatural spirits (known as a’mo in Tsimane’ language) who own much of the natural world, including wildlife and...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Richard Chacon.

This is an abstract from the "Supernatural Gamekeepers and Animal Masters: A Cross-Cultural Perspective" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper investigates the belief in Supernatural Gamekeepers/Animal Masters of wildlife in three South American indigenous societies: the Tukano of Colombia, the Embera of Colombia, and the Achuar of Ecuador. Findings show that Supernatural Gamekeepers/Animal Masters are believed to grant success to hunters who...