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Kyss, a Shaman girl from the ice.

Chamane. Kyss, jeune fille des glaces.

Author(s) : CRUBÉZY E., ALEXEEV A.

Type of monograph: Book

Summary

An 18-year old girl who died in 1728 was buried in all her shamanic finery in Siberia. The state of preservation of her tomb, due to extremely cold temperatures in the region, enabled researchers to access precise information on an original religious system and its related rituals, and on the original adaptation of an ethnic group to extreme climatic conditions. In July 2006, a Franco-Russian expedition discovered the perfectly preserved frozen tomb of a shaman, between Lake Baikal and the Bering strait. Transported by helicopter to Yakutsk, the capital, she underwent a scientific study associating forensic scientists, archaeologists and historians. Using this exceptional historical discovery as a starting point, the authors brought an international team together and attempted to define shamanism and place the discovery in its historical and ethnographical context: the population of Siberia and its conquest by Russians during the XVIIth century, when Europeans opposed China and Mongolia within the context of the international fur trade. Archaeological investigation of over 60 tombs, with frozen bodies and extraordinary furniture, provides an astonishing insight into this region where horses were bred at temperatures down to -50°C, and into the people who lived there, subsequent to an original adaptation to the surroundings. The unprecedented international implementation of research technologies on this scale sheds new light on the relationships between Central Asia and these confines of Asia which still hold secrets to this day.

Details

  • Original title: Chamane. Kyss, jeune fille des glaces.
  • Record ID : 2009-0941
  • Languages: French
  • Subject: Environment
  • Publication: Errance - France/France
  • Publication date: 2007
  • ISBN: 9782877723558
  • Source: Source: 167 p. (19 x 28); fig.; phot.; ref.; EUR 26.
  • Document available for consultation in the library of the IIR headquarters only.

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