Shamanic Rock Art and the Living Context of Literature
Mi Chen
Religion and the Arts March 31, 2026 DOI: 10.1163/15685292-03001008 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Shamanism |
| Key points | Argues that literature can serve as a "living context" that supplements archaeology and anthropology, and that rock art functions as a dynamic medium of faith and art rather than a static trace, reanimated through narrative and collective memory. |
Abstract
This paper examines shamanic rock art through Chi Zijian’s The Last Quarter of the Moon , a Mao Dun Prize-winning novel that portrays the spiritual world of the Evenki people. The novel’s depictions of reindeer, shamans, hunters, celestial bodies, and rivers are interpreted as religious symbols and aesthetic forms that encode ritual practices, cosmological beliefs, and spiritual communication. Using textual analysis in dialogue with ethnographic comparison and a semiotic approach to visual culture, the study argues that literature can serve as a “living context” that supplements archaeology and anthropology. By situating rock art within narrative, ritual aesthetics, and collective memory, the article highlights its dynamic role as a medium of faith and art rather than a static trace. This interdisciplinary perspective demonstrates how the literary imagination reanimates sacred imagery and offers new ways of understanding the convergence of religious experience, artistic form, and cultural identity.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on shamanism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ayahuasca Shamanism in the Amazon and Beyond | 2014 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Shamanism as the Original Neurotheology | 2004 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Cognitive Neuroscience, Shamanism and the Rock Art of Native California | 1998 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| From Culture to Experience: Shamanism in the Pages of the Soviet Anti-Religious Press | 2020 | Historical analysis | |
| Anthropology, Shamanism, and Alternate Ways of Knowing–Being in the World: One Anthropologist's Journey of Discovery and Transformation | 2010 | Reflective essay or personal narrative |