Tatuajes y acrobacias. La imagen del chamán en la América precolombina
Martín Mac Kay Fulle, Julio Rubacado Yong, Martín del Carpio Perla
En Líneas Generales August 2, 2023 DOI: 10.26439/en.lineas.generales2023.n009.6511 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that scholarship on central Andean shamanism has relied mainly on contemporary shamans and brief Spanish conquest-era chronicles, and proposes that archaeology, through pottery, lithic carvings, and rock art, is needed to understand the origins of these healers, oracles, and priests. |
Abstract
Both anthropology and ethnohistory have addressed shamanism for a long time. In the five continents, especially in Asia and Africa, shamans and shamanism have been important subjects and have generated extensive academic literature on the origins of culture and especially of religion. Unfortunately, in the case of the central Andes, these studies have focused much more on contemporary shamans or on the brief pieces of information that chroniclers left us during the Spanish conquest. To know more about the origin of these individuals who connected the living, the ancestors, and the divinities, we must resort to another science: archaeology. Material remains of the past, be them pottery, lithic carvings, or rock art, will shed light on the life of these men who acted as healers, oracles, and priests.