Shamanism at the transition from foraging to farming in Southwest Asia: sacra, ritual, and performance at Neolithic WF16 (southern Jordan)

Shamanism, a ritual practice found worldwide in hunter-gatherer and farming societies, may explain unusual archaeological finds at the early Neolithic settlement WF16 in southern Jordan. Large quantities of bird bones, zoomorphic artifacts, and architectural features at the site are most compellingly interpreted as evidence of shamanic thought and practice permeating daily life. The paper argues that shamanism played a key role in the Early Holocene transition from hunting and gathering to farming in Southwest Asia by providing a means to cope with uncertainty from climate and economic change.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Shamanism is a pervasive form of ritual practice documented within hunter-gathering and farming societies throughout the world, and continuing within some present-day urban communities. Despite exhibiting considerable variation, shamanism has several recurrent features, notably the role of the shaman as a mediator between the spirit and human worlds. Shamanism has been cited to explain aspects of the Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic archaeological records in Southwest Asia and Anatolia. Building on that work, this contribution explores whether shamanism might account for intriguing finds from the early Neolithic settlement of WF16 in southern Jordan, notably a large quantity of bird bones, zoomorphic artefacts and architectural features. A range of interpretations for the evidence are considered with shamanism emerging as the most compelling, suggesting that shamanic thought and practice pervaded daily life at WF16. The paper concludes by proposing that shamanism played a key role in the Early Holocene transition from hunting and gathering to farming in Southwest Asia, as it provided a means for coping with the uncertainty arising from climate and economic change.