The Proto-Yeniseian ‘Mammoth’ and the Iconography of Okunevo
DOI: 10.23951/2307-6119-2024-4-127-142
The article examines the ideas of the mammoth in the traditions of the Siberian peoples, with special attention to the image of the mammoth-horned fish known to the Kets, Selkups, Ob-Ugrians, and Evenkis. The word for ‘mammoth fish’ has been reliably reconstructed for the Yenician proto-language (*čer), and the Yeniseian name of this mythological being has been borrowed into the Turkic languages of Southern Siberia and the Evenks. This root has a deeper Proto-Sino-Caucasian etymology with parallels in the meaning ‘worm,’ ‘lizard,’ ‘snail,’ etc. In the mythology of the Sino-Caucasian peoples who are linguistically distantly related to Yeniseian (Chinese, Burish, and their neighbors, etc.), a mythologeme is known about the transformation of an animal from the fish-lizard-snake class into a dragon-like creature. These data are used to reconstruct the appearance of the mammoth-fish image among the speakers of the Proto-Yeniseian language after their advance into Siberia on the basis of older Sino-Caucasian mythological traditions. In the iconography of the Okunev archeological culture, there are images of ichthyomorphs that are structurally, compositionally, and in detail similar to the images of the mammoth fish among the peoples of Siberia, which shows parallels with the above-mentioned mythologems and the development of the image of the mammoth fish in the spiritual culture of the speakers of the Proto-Yeniseian language. In addition, the overall composition of Okunev’s stelae shows striking structural similarities with the composition of the sacred iconography of Ket, including images of lizards, grave signs, and shamanistic symbols. These parallels have no equivalent in the culture of other peoples of Siberia and should be explained in the context of the development of the Proto-Yeniseian language and mythology. Some iconographic parallels exist in the Ket tradition and in the art of other Siberian cultures in the Okunevo region (especially the Samuś culture). In this respect, there is reason to believe that speakers of the early Proto-Yeniseian language were involved in the formation of the Okunevo culture. The data from physical anthropology and genetics confirm the latter thesis.
Keywords: ethnic history, etymology, comparative linguistics, mythology, iconography, Yeniseian languages, Sino-Caucasian languages, Kets, Siberian peoples, archeological culture of Okunevo, mammoth
References:
1. Starostin S. A. Sravnitel’niy slovar’ eniseyskih yazykov [A comparative dictionary of the Yenissean languages]. In: Ivanov V.V., Toporov V. N., Uspenskiy B. A. (eds) Ketskiy sbornik. Lingvistika [Ket collection. Linguistics]. Moscow: Nauka Publ., 1995.
2. Werner H. Die Welt der Jenissejer im Lichte des Wortschatzes. Zur Rekonstruktion der jenissejischen Protokultur / Veröffentlichungen der Societas Uralo-Altaica, 69. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2006. 200 p.
3. Alekseenko E. A. (ed.) Mify, predaniya, skazki ketov [Myths, legends, fairy-tales of the Kets]. Moscow: Vostochnaya literatura Publ., 2001.
4. Napol’skikh V. V. Hakassko-altayskiy mifonim ker i praeniseyskoe nazvanie mamonta. I [The Khakas-Altai mythonym ker and the Proto-Yenissean name for mammoth. I]. Voprosy onomastiki – Onomastic questions, 2022, vol. 19, no. 3.
5. Starostin S. A. Praeniseyskaya rekonstrukciya i vneshnie svyazi eniseyskikh yazykov [Proto-Yenissean reconstruction and the external connections of the Yenissean languages]. In: Alekseenko E. A. (ed.) Ketskiy sbornik. Antropologiya, yetnografiya, mifologiya, lingvistika [Ket collection. Anthropology, ethnography, mythology, linguistics]. Leningrad: Nauka Publ., 1982.
6. Dyrenkova N. P. Materialy po shamanstvu u teleutov [Materials on the Teleut shamanism]. In: Tolstov S. P. (ed.) Sbornik Muzeya antropologii i etnografii [Collection of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography]. Moscow–Leningrad: AN SSSR Publ., 1949. Vol. 10, pp. 108–190.
7. Novikov A. I. Nekotorye analogii k mamontu iz oblasti altajskoj etnografii [Some analogies to the mammoth from Altaian ethnography] In: Tolstov S. P. (ed.) Sbornik Muzeya antropologii i etnografii [Collection of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography]. Moscow–Leningrad: AN SSSR Publ., 1949. Vol. 10, pp. 160–161.
8. Burnakov V. A. Shhuka v verovanijah i fol’klore khakasov (konets 19 – seredina 20 veka) [Pike in the beliefs and folklore of the Khakas (late 19th – mid 20th century)]. Vestnik Novosibirskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. «Istorija, filologija» – Bulletin of Novosibirsk State University. Series "History, Philology", 2019, vol. 18, no. 7. pp. 177–186 (in Russian).
9. Napol’skikh V. V. Hakassko-altayskiy mifonim ker i praeniseyskoe nazvanie mamonta. II [The Khakas-Altai mythonym ker and the Proto-Yenissean name for mammoth. II]. Voprosy onomastiki – Onomastic questions, 2023, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 29–42 (in Russian).
10. Cincius V. I. (ed.) Sravnitel’niy slovar’ tunguso-man’chzhurskikh yazykov: v 2 t. [A comparative dictionary of the Tungus-Manchu languages: in 2 vols]. Leningrad: Nauka Publ., 1975 (in Russian).
11. Menges K. H. Drei Schannanengesange der Ewenki-Tungusen Nord-Sibiriens / Abhandlungen der Nordrhein-Westfalischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Bd. 89. Opladen, 1993. 340 p.
12. Ivanov S. V. Mamont v iskusstve narodov Sibiri [Mammoth in the art of Siberian peoples]. In: Tolstov S. P. (ed.) Sbornik Muzeya antropologii i etnografii [Collection of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography]. Moscow – Leningrad, 1949. Vol. 11.
13. Zaika A. L. Obraz mamonta v iskusstve drevnih i tradicionnyh kul’tur Severnoj Azii [The image of mammoth in the art of ancient and traditional cultures of Northern Asia]. Vestnik Omskogo universiteta. Seriya «Istoricheskie nauki» – Bulletin of Omsk University. Series "Historical Sciences", 2014, no. 2 (2), pp. 95–103 (in Russian).
14. Mazin A. I. Tradicionnye verovanija i obrjady evenkov-orochonov (konec XIX – nachalo XX v.) [Traditional beliefs and rites of the Orochon-Evenkis (late 19th – early 20th century)]. Novosibirsk: Nauka Publ., 1984. 201 p. (in Russian)
15. Helimskiy E. A. Komparativistika, uralistika: lekcii i stat’i [Comparativistics, uralistics: lectures and articles]. Moscow: Yazyki russkoy kul’tury Publ, 2000.
16. Starostin S. A. Sino-kavkazskaya etimologiya [Sino-Caucasian etymology]. In: Starostin S. A., Starostin G. S. (eds) Vavilonskaya bashnya: proyekt etimologicheskoy bazy dannykh [The Tower of Babel. Etymological database project]. URL: https://starlingdb.org/cgi-bin/query.cgi?basename=\data\sinocauc\sccet&root=config&morpho=0 (accessed: 16.01.2023).
17. Pol’akov A. V. Khronologiya i kul’turogenez pamyatnikov epokhi paleometalla Minusinskikh kotlovin [Chronology and culturogenesis of the monuments of old metal age from the Minusinsk depression]. Saint Petersburg: IIMK RAN Publ., 2022. 364 p. (in Russian)
18. Vadeckaya Ye. B. Izvayaniya okunevskoy kul’tury [Sculptures of the Okunevo culture]. In: Vadeckaya Ye. B., Leont’ev N. V., Maksimenkov G. A. (eds) Pamyatniki okunevskoy kul’tury [Monuments of Okunev culture]. Leningrad: Nauka Publ., 1980. pp. 37–87 (in Russian).
19. Leont’ev N. V., Kapel’ko V. F., Esin Ju. N. Izvayaniya i stely okunevskoy kul’tury [Sculptures and stelae of the Okunevo culture]. Abakan: Khakasskoye knizhnoye izd-vo, 2006. 236 p. (in Russian)
20. Duvakin E. N. Ketskie shamanskie bubny iz sobraniy Kunstkamery i Etnograficheskogo muzeya Kazanskogo universiteta [The Ket shamanic drums from the collections of Kunstkamera and the Ethnographic museum of the Kazan university]. Sibirskie istoricheskie issledovaniya – Siberian Historical Research, 2019, no. 1, pp. 144–173 (in Russian).
21. Anuchin V. I. Ocherk shamanstva u eniseyskikh ostyakov [An essay on the Yenissei Ostyaks’ shamanism]. In: Bogoraz V. G. (ed.) Sbornik Muzeya antropologii i yetnografii pri Imp. Akademii nauk [Collection of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography at the Imperial Academy of Sciences]. Saint Petersburg: Imp. Acad. nauk Publ., 1914. Vol. 2(2).
22. Kas’yan A. S., Starostin G. S. Avtomaticheskoe sravnenie eniseysko-burishskoy bazisnoy leksiki i veroyatnostnaya otsenka shozhdeniy [Automatic comparison of the Yenissean-Burushaski lexicon and the probabilistic estimation of parsallels]. URL: https://starlingdb.org/confer/Kassian-2017.pdf (accessed: 24.02.2024)
23. Chlenova N. L. Sootnoshenie kul’tur karasukskogo tipa i ketskikh toponimov na territorii Sibiri [The correlation of the cultures of Karasuk type and the Ket toponyms in Siberia]. Proishozhdenie aborigenov Sibiri i ikh yazykov [The origin of the aborigines of Siberia and their languages]. Tomsk, 1969.
24. Napol’skikh V. V. Nazvaniya soli v ural’skikh yazykakh [Names for salt in the Uralic languages]. Saint Petersburg: Mamatov Publ., 1922.
25. Starostin G. S. Dene-Yeniseian: a critical assessment. Journal of Language Relationship, 2012, no. 8.
26. Kozincev A. G. Proishozhdenie okunevskogo naseleniya Yuzhnoj Sibiri po dannym fizicheskoy antropologii i genetiki [The origin of the Okunevo population of Southern Siberia by the data of anthropology ang genetics]. Arheologiya, etnografija i antropologiya Evrazii – Archaeology, Ethnography and Anthropology of Eurasia, 2020, vol. 48, no. 4, pp. 135–145 (in Russian).
27. Kozincev A. G. Dene-kavkazskaya makrosem’ya: leksikostatisticheskaya klassifikaciya i prarodina [Dene-Caucasian macrofamily: lexicostatistical classification and the original home]. Etnografija – Ethnography, 2023, no. 3 (21), pp. 45–67 (in Russian).
28. Krasnoyarskiy kraevoy kraevedcheskiy muzey. Kollektsii muzeya: etnografiya korennykh narodov Sibiri [Krasnoyarsk State Museum. Collections: ethnography of the Siberian aborigenes]. URL: https://www.kkkm.ru/o-muzee/kollekcii/ kollekcii-muzeia/etnografiya-bytovye-predmety/etnografiya-severnyh-narodov (accessed: 12.06.2024)
( 1.79 MB ) 
( 1.7 MB )
Issue: 4, 2024
Series of issue: Issue № 4
Rubric: ANTHROPOLOGY
Pages: 127 — 142
Downloads: 2