(PDF) The bear in ancient Mesopotamia
About
Press
Papers
We're Hiring!
Outline
Title
Abstract
Key Takeaways
FAQs
All Topics
History
Ancient History
The bear in ancient Mesopotamia
Lorenzo Verderame
2024, Ash-sharq
visibility
description
1 page
Sign up for access to the world's latest research
check
Get notified about relevant papers
check
Save papers to use in your research
check
Join the discussion with peers
check
Track your impact
Abstract
Among the animals documented in archaeological and epigraphic sources from ancient Mesopotamia, the bear has received little or no attention. This contribution aims to fill this gap by providing an overview of all the available sources –textual, archaeozoological and iconographical– and discussing the relationships between bears and the human community.
Keywords: bear, Mesopotamia, lexical lists, literature, personal names, archaeozoology, iconography
Index
Introduction
The terms for bear in Sumerian and Akkadian
The bear in lexical lists
The earliest evidence of bears in written evidence
The bear in literature and other non-documentary sources
The bear in iconography
The brown bear and its faunal remains in the Near East
Bears and human communities: predators, game, entertainment, delicacies
The ambiguity of the bear? From lexicography to sex
Conclusions
Key takeaways
AI
The study addresses the lack of focus on bears in ancient Mesopotamian sources.
Evidence includes cuneiform texts and archaeological findings, primarily in Neo-Sumerian documents.
Bears served multiple roles: as predators, game, royal gifts, and in entertainment.
The research discusses Sumerian and Akkadian terms for bears and their cultural significance.
Ambiguities in bear names and gender representation emerge from the sources.
Related papers
Nature Engaged and Disengaged The Case of Animals in Mesopotamian Literatures
Seth Richardson
Impious Dogs, Haughty Foxes and Exquisite Fish, 2019
The Case of Animals in Mesopotamian Literatures 8 E.g., Foster 2002 divided his treatment according to the appearance of animals in: 1. cuneiform scholarship (lexicography, divination, and [rare] bestiaries); 2. literature and mythology, both thematically (the animal world and civilization, speaking [to] animals, and figural language) and generically (in proverbs, fables, and narratives); 3. the theme of man as hunter, collector, and tamer of animals; 4. animals and human diet; and 5. animals as objects of humor. On animals in the Near East generally, see further Collins 2002. Kienast 2003 and Yuhong 2001 also treat animals appearing in Sumerian and Akkadian as a unified topic. 9 It is to some degree anachronistic to code Sumerian and Akkadian as 'earlier' and 'later' traditions, respectively; where I point to diachronic change, I do so in a historical rather than linguistic sense. But the changes I describe also track very closely with the historical productivities of the two literary traditions, and to this extent some overlap in the senses is unavoidable and even desirable.
Download free PDF
View PDF
chevron_right
Sexual Symbol or Domestic Tool? The Use of Bear Bacula - an Assessment of the Archaeological and Ethnological Record
Liane Giemsch
Susanne C Münzel
S. Gaudzinski & O. Jöris (eds.) The beef behind all Possible Pasts. The Tandem-Festschrift in Honour of Elaine Turner and Martin Street, 2021
The present paper attempts at understanding the background to and possible use of bear bacula in Stone Age contexts. Particular focus is given to the baculum from the Late Palaeolithic site of Bonn-Oberkassel. In order to allow for a more general interpretation of such finds, their meaning and symbolism, we compare the Palaeolithic evidence with ethnographic contexts.
Download free PDF
View PDF
chevron_right
Introduction: encountering animals in the ancient Near East
Laerke Recht
Christina Tsouparopoulou
Fierce lions, angry mice and fat-tailed sheep: Animal encounters in the ancient Near East, 2021
The Fox in Enki and Ninhursaĝa Dumuzi and the Fly Lugalbanda and Anzu Ninurta and the Anzu's chick Inanna, Šukaletuda, and the Raven Conclusions: magical helpers and the metamorphosis human-animal Chapter 3 Canines from inside and outside the city: of dogs, foxes and wolves in conceptual spaces in Sumero-Akkadian texts 23 Andréa Vilela Canines from the 'inside': dogs Canines from the 'in-between': stray dogs Canines from the outside: wolves and foxes Conclusion Chapter 4 A human-animal studies approach to cats and dogs in ancient Egypt: evidence from mummies, iconography and epigraphy 31 Marina Fadum & Carina Gruber Human-cat relationships in ancient Egypt: the cat as an animal mummy Human-canine relationships in ancient Egypt: the dog as companion animal Conclusion Part II Animals in ritual and cult Chapter 5 Encountered animals and embedded meaning: the ritual and roadside fauna of second millennium Anatolia 39 Neil Erskine Deleuze, Guattari, and reconstructing ancient understanding Landscape, religion, and putting meaning in place Creatures, cult, and creating meaning Folding animals in ritual Bulls, boars, birds Folding animals on the road Human-animal interactions Conclusion vi Chapter 6 The dogs of the healing goddess Gula in the archaeological and textual record of ancient Mesopotamia 55 Seraina Nett The dogs of Gula in Mesopotamian art The Isin dog cemetery The dogs of Gula in Ur III documentary sources Conclusion
Download free PDF
View PDF
chevron_right
Bear necessities? On potential uses of the ursine baculum (os penis) in archaeological and ethnological contexts
Liane Giemsch
Forschungen in Franconofurd. Festschrift für Egon Wamers zum 65. Geburtstag. Schriften des Archäologischen Museums Frankfurt 28, 2017
The idea for this paper arose from the exhibition “Bärenkult und Schamanenzauber. Rituale früher Jäger”, which ran at the Archäologisches Museum Frankfurt from December 5th until March 28th 2016 and was initiated by Egon Wamers. It provides an overview of sources relating to the baculum (os penis) of bears in archaeological contexts from the Middle Pleistocene until the Siberian Neolithic, c. 8,000 to 7,000 ago. The paper furthermore includes a survey of ethnological evidence for the use of this special bone amongst the indigenous populations of the circumpolar sphere, amongst whom Brown and Polar Bears play an important role to this day, the hunt for which is accompanied by complex rituals. The study shows that until the later Palaeolithic, the bear baculum was most likely only used as a tool. It is only later that the bone is loaded with a symbolic meaning for humans, as it is found as a grave good in late Palaeolithic and Neolithic contexts. Furthermore, it can be shown that the use of os penis is not gender specific. Amongst indigenous Siberian hunter-gatherer populations it is frequently employed as a fertility symbol amongst women, but can also be linked to male initiation rites amongst the Inuit. A common theme, however, is that the baculum is seen as a symbol of the strength of the bear. Humans generally use it in the hope that this strength may be transmitted to themselves.
Download free PDF
View PDF
chevron_right
Composite animals in Mesopotamia as cultural symbols
Chikako E Watanabe
Composite Artefacts in the Ancient Near East Exhibiting an imaginative materiality, showing a genealogical nature, edited by Silvana Di Paolo , 2018
Composite animals are the product of our thought processes. They are nonexistent in reality but their occurrence is observed universally. They exhibit a body structure that consists of multiple body parts taken from different animals of reality in order to form a single creature. This study focuses on a particular type of composite animal – the lion dragon – to elucidate its symbolic function through artistic and textual descriptions, and also its predecessor, the lion-headed eagle. A peculiar pose held by the creature is examined in order to reveal its specific role associated with an auditory aspect of the thunderstorm. The importance of the creature’s leonine head is indicated by the application of a special material (gold) to the head of the lion-headed eagle in some artefacts manufactured with composite materials.
Download free PDF
View PDF
chevron_right
The "Man-Bull" and the «Master of Animals» in Mesopotamia and in Iran Introduction The mythologies of the ancient Middle East
Alireza Taheri
The Mesopotamian mythology represents a variation of monsters and hybrids. Among them, the fantastic creatures in the composition of the animal and the man are very important; it is about the "man-animal". What attracts our interest; it is the composite creature, the "man-bull", because of its diverse aspect, as well as its symbolic characteristic. On the other hand, we notice one of the very practical figures and very renowned, "Master of animals", it is appreciated as much as all the Mesopotamian regions represented it in their arts. Problematic: what types of the "man-bull" had most importance in Mesopotamia? Which is the relationship enters the "man-bull" and "Master of animals"? What physical evolution arose during the transformation of the "man-bull" to "Master of animals"? Hypothesis: there is doubtless a narrow relation enters the "man-bull" and "Master of animals ", as regards the symbolizing character to be able to it and their appearances in vertical position. Mesopotamia represents a particular character of the real or fantastic animals, which spread towards the other parts of the country; it is about the representation of animals in vertical shape.
Download free PDF
View PDF
chevron_right
A critical note on the identification of horses in third-millennium BCE Mesopotamian iconography
Zainab Albshir
Bioarchaeology of the Near East, 2025
This note reassesses claims that certain late third-millennium BCE Mesopotamian cylinder seals depict horses. The highly schematic rendering of these impressions limits the reliability of taxonomic identification, and their anatomical features may align also with kunga, the hybrid equids produced by mating domestic donkeys with Syrian wild asses. Contemporary cuneiform sources describe kunga as prestigious draught animals, and there is abundant evidence confirming their intentional breeding during this period. Zooarchaeological data indicate that securely identified horse remains are absent from southern Mesopotamia before the early second millennium BCE, and the earliest confirmed specimens derive from northern Mesopotamia. Taken together, these lines of evidence suggest that the late third-millennium seal impressions cannot be securely interpreted as the representations of true horses and should be also considered as depictions of other equids.
Download free PDF
View PDF
chevron_right
The bear image in Western Siberian art of the 2nd millennium bc and its relevance for delimiting the eastern periphery of the Samus culture // Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia. № 3 (35). – 2008. – p. 97-104.
Igor Kovtun
Download free PDF
View PDF
chevron_right
An ox by any other name: castration, control, and male cattle terminology in the Neo-Babylonian period
Michael Kozuh
Fierce lions, angry mice and fat-tailed sheep Animal encounters in the ancient Near East, 2021
The Fox in Enki and Ninhursaĝa Dumuzi and the Fly Lugalbanda and Anzu Ninurta and the Anzu's chick Inanna, Šukaletuda, and the Raven Conclusions: magical helpers and the metamorphosis human-animal Chapter 3 Canines from inside and outside the city: of dogs, foxes and wolves in conceptual spaces in Sumero-Akkadian texts 23 Andréa Vilela Canines from the 'inside': dogs Canines from the 'in-between': stray dogs Canines from the outside: wolves and foxes Conclusion Chapter 4 A human-animal studies approach to cats and dogs in ancient Egypt: evidence from mummies, iconography and epigraphy 31 Marina Fadum & Carina Gruber Human-cat relationships in ancient Egypt: the cat as an animal mummy Human-canine relationships in ancient Egypt: the dog as companion animal Conclusion Part II Animals in ritual and cult Chapter 5 Encountered animals and embedded meaning: the ritual and roadside fauna of second millennium Anatolia 39 Neil Erskine Deleuze, Guattari, and reconstructing ancient understanding Landscape, religion, and putting meaning in place Creatures, cult, and creating meaning Folding animals in ritual Bulls, boars, birds Folding animals on the road Human-animal interactions Conclusion vi Chapter 6 The dogs of the healing goddess Gula in the archaeological and textual record of ancient Mesopotamia 55 Seraina Nett The dogs of Gula in Mesopotamian art The Isin dog cemetery The dogs of Gula in Ur III documentary sources Conclusion
Download free PDF
View PDF
chevron_right
Bear Cults, Bear Worship, Bear Sacrifice, and the Cosmic Hunt
Damien Marie AtHope
“Bear worship is the religious practice of the worshipping of bears found in many North Eurasian ethnic religions such as among the Sami, Nivkh, Ainu, Basques, Germanic peoples, Slavs, and Finns. There are also a number of deities from Celtic Gaul and Britain associated with the bear. The Dacians, Thracians, and Getians in the Eastern Balkans were noted to worship bears and annually celebrate the bear dance festival. The bear is featured on many totems throughout northern cultures that carve them. In an article in Enzyklopädie des Märchens, American folklorist Donald J. Ward noted that a story about a bear mating with a human woman, and producing a male heir, functions as an ancestor myth to peoples of the northern hemisphere, namely, from North America, Japan, China, Siberia and Northern Europe.” “The existence of an ancient bear cult among Neanderthals in Western Eurasia in the Middle Paleolithic has been a subject of conjecture due to contentious archaeological findings. Evidence suggests that Neanderthals could have worshipped the cave bear (Ursus spelaeus), and bear bones have been discovered in several cave sites across Western Eurasia. It was not just the presence of these bones, but their peculiar arrangement that intrigued archaeologists. During the excavation, on-site archaeologists determined that the bones were arranged in such a way that could only have resulted from hominin intervention rather than natural deposition processes. Emil Bächler, a proponent of the bear-cult hypothesis, found bear remains in Switzerland and at Morn Cave (Mornova zijalka) in Slovenia. Along with Bächler’s discovery, bear skulls were found by André Leroi-Gourhan arranged in a perfect circle in Saône-et-Loire. The discovery of patterns such as those found by Leroi-Gourhan suggests that these bear remains were placed in this arrangement intentionally, an act which can only be attributed to Neandertals due to the dating of the site and is interpreted as ritual.” “While these findings have been taken to indicate an ancient bear-cult, other interpretations of remains have led others to conclude that the bear bones’ presence in these contexts are a natural phenomenon. Ina Wunn, based on the information archaeologists have about early hominins, contends that if Neandertals did worship bears there would be evidence of it in their settlements and camps. However, most bear remains have been found in caves. Many archaeologists now theorise that, since most bear species hibernate in caves during the winter, the presence of bear remains is not unusual in this context Bears which lived inside these caves perished from natural causes such as illness or starvation. Wunn argues that the placement of these remains is due to natural, post-deposition events such as wind, sediment, or water. Therefore, the assortment of bear remains in caves did not result from human activities Certain archaeologists, such as Emil Bächler, continue to use their excavations to support that an ancient bear cult did exist.” “This baculum is generally interpreted as a grave good. The grave of a 35-45 year old male and a ca. 25 year old female was discovered in the course of quarry-work in 1914. In addition to the human skeletons and the ursine penis bone it contains early dog remains and two art objects, highlighting the exceptional character of the site. Unfortunately, given the early discovery of the site during quarrying work, there is no map of the location of the skeletons and their grave goods. Martin Street was able to identify a series of cuts along the convex edge of the bear baculum. These were later overlain by haematite and must have been created before their deposition in the grave. This suggests a purposeful deposit in the grave as a grave good. As early as 1919, the original investigator, Max Verworn, interpreted the bone as a grave good and suggested that it had been used as an awl or similar tool. Originating from Gravettian contexts are two other bacula found in cave sites of the Swabian Jura (Germany). One comes from the Gravettian layer AH VII of Brillenhöhle in the Ach Valley near Blaubeuren. The penis bone of a cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) shows six deep notches and dates to roughly between > 29,000 and > 25,000 years ago. The tip of the baculum displays an old fracture; its use as an awl was considered. During an inspection of the baculum in the Württembergisches Landesmuseum Stuttgart by comparing it with a complete cave bear baculum, we recognized that a considerable part of the distal end (in the anatomical sense; in reference to tool orientation, this would be the proximal end) is missing. The distal end shows longitudinal thinning facets towards the tip, implying a re-sharpening of the pointed end. The use as an awl is evidenced by a broken-off flake at the tip displaying the cancellous tissue in the inner part of the baculum. Furthermore, the circular striae at the tip support the interpretation as an awl. The cave site Hohle Fels, also situated in the Ach valley between Schelklingen and Blaubeuren (Germany), yielded several complete and fragmented penis bones of Ursus spelaeus (n = 49) and brown bear (n = 2). One cave bear baculum from the Gravettian layer IIcf is intensively polished on all sides. The polished surface is covered with numerous scratches pointing in all directions.” “In addition, there are longitudinal cut-marks probably caused by defleshing. We suggest the marked polish to be use wear originating from leather working similar to the polish seen on smoothers. Another baculum of Ursus spelaeus comes from the cave site Vindija in northwestern Croatia. The stratigraphic provenience is heavily debated. Karavanić argues that the organic tools, mainly bone points, but also the decorated baculum, from layer G1 are of Upper Palaeolithic character, but produced or traded by Neanderthals. The cave bear penis bone is exceptionally decorated with multiple circumferential scorings – a pattern that we only know from Upper Palaeolithic contexts. It obviously provides no traces of use as a tool, but closer study of the object is needed. Manipulated or decorated ursine penis bones in archaeological context are firstly recognized at Vindija cave. Its potential Middle Palaeolithic age, however, is contradictory and not securely established. Furthermore, the kind of decoration found on this specimen hints at symbolic communication, which is interpreted as an essential feature of modern human behavior and which is thought to first appear with the Upper Palaeolithic. Other specimens from Upper Palaeolithic contexts display different anthropogenic modifications, like longitudinal striations or cuts, as described from Hohle Fels, Teufelsküche, and Bonn-Oberkassel, which most probably relate to skinning of the penis bone or removal of the periost. In a second step, some of these items were used as tools, most probably as awls, as shown by old-fractures and respectively removed tips (distal end), such as in the case of Brillenhöhle, Teufelsküche, and Bonn-Oberkassel. The intensively polished baculum from Hohle Fels is likely linked to leather working. In all these cases, the bacula reflect a chaîne operatoire that informs us on technological choices and sequences of production. In Shamanka II, several modifications are reported, but unfortunately, these are not documented in further detail. Seemingly, at Shamanka II, bacula were used as tools, and a gender related association with male graves appears apparent.” “Against this context, we would like to return to our initial question: did bacula of the archaeological record serve as sexual symbols or as tools? The use of these bones as awls is evidenced in several cases during the Upper Palaeolithic period, however, the penetrating action by working with awls might also have a wider symbolic, potentially sexual, background. These two aspects might have been combined in the contexts bacula were implemented. In relation to this, another observation might also be worth mentioning: The Gravettian layer AH IIcf of Hohle Fels (the same layer that yielded the polished baculum) also contained an elongated pebble shaped and modified by engravings into a phallus and was used as a retoucher. The fact that these items occur for the first time in Gravettian contexts might signal a change in gender roles, at least in the Swabian Jura. The emphasis on females indicated by the oldest Venus figurine in the Aurignacian might have shifted towards male power in the Gravettian. Drawing from ethnographic analogy, we can suggest that penis bones – and probably the Hohle Fels stone retoucher, as well – gave power and strength to the owner. Losey and colleagues emphasize the close relationship between humans and bears, referring to ethnographic sources. Many indigenous societies see bears and humans as belonging to the same family, they may even marry. The perception of ursine bacula as a powerful tool seems to be directly connected to the life of hunter-gatherers or nomadic communities.” “To date, no farming society has been documented in which bear remains and, in particular, bear bacula are of considerable interest. The burial place of Shamanka II provides obvious similarities concerning the use of bacula in present-day indigenous Siberian people, where bacula are gender-related and refer to males. Such gender-related back-ground is also possible for the double burial of Bonn-Oberkassel, although it is not clear, whether the baculum as a grave good and tool covered with hematite was given to either (or both) the male or the female. One may conclude that the use of bear bacula by humans developed from their use as tools towards symbolically charged objects. Most intriguingly, this may be expressed through their integration into human burial contexts, as seen at the Late Palaeolithic site of Bonn-Oberkassel, and also in the extraordinary grave goods of the Siberian burial place of Shamanka II. While at Shama...
Download free PDF
View PDF
chevron_right
Ash-sharq Volume 8 (2024): 107–145
The bear in ancient Mesopotamia1
Lorenzo Verderame
‘Sapienza’ Università di Roma
Abstract: Among the animals documented in archaeological and epigraphic sources from ancient
Mesopotamia, the bear has received little or no attention. This contribution aims to fill this gap by
providing an overview of all the available sources –textual, archaeozoological and iconographical– and
discussing the relationships between bears and the human community.
Keywords: bear, Mesopotamia, lexical lists, literature, personal names, archaeozoology, iconography
Among the animals documented in archaeological and epigraphic sources from
ancient Mesopotamia, the bear has received little or no attention. The evidence for
this animal in cuneiform texts is scarce, although there are important exceptions
such as the hundreds of Neo-Sumerian documents recording the delivery of bears. In
secondary literature, overviews were published almost one century ago,2 while bears
have been dealt with tangentially in articles on iconography (Pittman 2002; StiehlerAlegría 2016), jugglery (D'Agostino 2012) or the history of the Third Dynasty of Ur
(Michalowski 2013). This contribution aims to fill this gap by providing an overview
of all the available sources and discussing the relationships between bears and the
human community in ancient Mesopotamia.
The article consists of two main parts. In the first part, I present evidence for
identifying the presence of the bear in ancient Mesopotamia. I discuss the terms for
bear in Sumerian and Akkadian, their attestations in lexical lists, personal names,
and in literature as well as iconographic and archaeozoological sources. In the second
part, I focus on the different ways the human community perceived and ‘used’ bears:
as a menace, as game, as tributes and gifts to kings, as a tamed animal to be exhibited
in royal menageries, in bearbaiting, and in bear meat consumption.
Before making my final conclusions, I dedicate a paragraph to the ambiguity of the
names and the sex of the bear which emerges from the sources. In the conclusions,
1 My gratitude goes to Gabriella Spada for pointing out the two texts from Mari (ARM 7, 91; A.2931) and
the passage from the Ebla text that is about to be published (ARET XXI, 17). In my research I have
extensively used BDTNS, CDLI, ePSD, eTCSL, DCCLT, and the other projects in ORACC. When possible,
the texts have been collated from the pictures in CDLI or the copies; thus, my transliterations may differ
from those found in previous editions, or on the above-mentioned web portals. All the translations from
Sumerian and Akkadian are mine, when not otherwise acknowledged.
2 Opitz 1932; Landsberger 1934: 80–83; see, more recently, the unpublished dissertation by Lladó
Santaeularia 2019: 122–141.
FAQs
AI
What archaeological evidence supports the presence of bears in ancient Mesopotamia?
add
The study identifies hundreds of Neo-Sumerian documents, including cuneiform texts which record bear deliveries, as key evidence for bear presence.
How were bears perceived by human societies in ancient Mesopotamia?
add
Bears were viewed variably as threats, game, and were used in royal menageries as well as for bearbaiting.
What terms were used for bears in Sumerian and Akkadian literature?
add
The article discusses specific Sumerian and Akkadian terms found in lexical lists and personal names, demonstrating their linguistic significance.
In what ways were bears utilized in the context of royal tributes?
add
Bears were delivered as tributes and gifts to kings, indicating their value in socio-political exchanges during that era.
What are the methodological challenges in translating ancient texts about bears?
add
Translation discrepancies arise from multiple sources, necessitating careful collation from projects like CDLI and ORACC to ensure accuracy.
October 11, 2025
Lorenzo Verderame
Università degli Studi "La Sapienza" di Roma, Faculty Member
Papers
227
Followers
5,212
View all papers from
Lorenzo Verderame
arrow_forward
Related papers
Wild fauna in Upper Mesopotamia in the fourth and third millennia BC
Anne Devillers
2021
Laerke Recht & Christina Tsouparopoulou Animal agency and human-animal interactions Animals in ritual and cult Blurred lines: humans as animal, animals as humans Managing animals Animals in society and as a resource Symbols of power: birds Companions and working animals: equids and dogs Avenues for future research Part I Animal agency and human-animal interactions Chapter 2 Animal agents in Sumerian literature 15 Lorenzo Verderame The Fox in Enki and Ninhursaĝa Dumuzi and the Fly Lugalbanda and Anzu Ninurta and the Anzu's chick Inanna, Šukaletuda, and the Raven Conclusions: magical helpers and the metamorphosis human-animal Chapter 3 Canines from inside and outside the city: of dogs, foxes and wolves in conceptual spaces in Sumero-Akkadian texts 23 Andréa Vilela Canines from the 'inside': dogs Canines from the 'in-between': stray dogs Canines from the outside: wolves and foxes Conclusion Chapter 4 A human-animal studies approach to cats and dogs in ancient Egypt: evidence from mummies, iconography and epigraphy 31 Marina Fadum & Carina Gruber Human-cat relationships in ancient Egypt: the cat as an animal mummy Human-canine relationships in ancient Egypt: the dog as companion animal Conclusion Part II Animals in ritual and cult Chapter 5 Encountered animals and embedded meaning: the ritual and roadside fauna of second millennium Anatolia 39 Neil Erskine Deleuze, Guattari, and reconstructing ancient understanding Landscape, religion, and putting meaning in place Creatures, cult, and creating meaning Folding animals in ritual Bulls, boars, birds Folding animals on the road Human-animal interactions Conclusion
Download free PDF
View PDF
chevron_right
In the company of bears: The role and significance of the bear from the perspective of the Holocene hunter-gatherer-fishers of the East European Plain forest zone (10 th -3 rd millennium BC)
Ekaterina Kashina
Anastasia Khramtsova
Bear and Human Facets of a Multi-Layered Relationship from Past to Recent Times, with Emphasis on Northern Europe, 2023
The bear was the constant neighbour of prehistoric hunter-gatherer-fishers of the East European Plain forest zone (10th-3rd millennium BC) and also a part of their hunting prey. Nevertheless, scholars usually emphasise its special spiritual role, as it was quite different from the roles of other species of the boreal forest animal realm for both ethnographically-known Siberian indigenes and Holocene hunters. Here, we have made an attempt to put together and analyse all groups of the material culture sources which can give us some hints about the status, significance and symbolic meaning of the brown bear in the Holocene East European Plain forest zone - portable art, rock art, and osseous bear remains in settlement and burial contexts. These data show the significant presence of bear bones in kitchen waste and among bone tools, the sporadic presence of bear images in petroglyphs and cemetery materials, and the complete absence of them in Mesolithic/Neolithic portable art up until the start of the Final Stone/Bronze Age, around 3000 cal BC, when its presence increases.
Download free PDF
View PDF
chevron_right
Hunters and bears throughout the Stone Age of Eastern Europe and the Urals according to archaeological data
Ekaterina Kashina
O. Grimm (ed.), Beast and Human Case Studies for Northern Europe from Prehistoric to Early Modern Times. LEIZA Publications., 2025
This paper presents a review of the archaeological sources that allow the investigation of the place of the cave/brown bear in the life of hominids and human populations during the Stone Age and up to the Early Bronze Age. Based on the bear bone find data we discuss hunting issues, tool making and ritual aspects connected with bears. The topic of Prehistoric rock art and portable art is discussed as well. We conclude that although the value of the bear as hunting prey was higher in the Holocene than in previous eras the bear definitely had some constant role(s) in the spiritual life of hunters in both epochs. The absence of bear images in the portable art of the eastern European Neolithic is of particular interest, whereas those images are met from time to time in northern rock art. At the turn from the Stone to the Early Bronze Age, bear effigies became visible in the material culture as portable art, which can be connected with the rise of new beliefs brought by the first herders.
Download free PDF
View PDF
chevron_right
The myths of the Bear
Elio Antonello
arXiv: Popular Physics, 2013
Following previous works on ancient myths in Greek and Latin literature regarding Ursa Major, and the possible relation with the ancient shape of the constellation, we discuss further this case in the light of the evolution of Homo sapiens and the ethnographic records of populations of Eurasia and North America.
Download free PDF
View PDF
chevron_right
Bears and Meanings among Hunter-fisher-gatherers in Northern Fennoscandia 9000–2500 BC
Knut Helskog
Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 2012
An examination of meanings associated with bears among early hunter-gatherer-fisher populations in northern Fennoscandia, based on beliefs and ritual practices in the ethnohistoric record, indicates that they were an animal attributed multiple meanings in prehistoric as well as historic times. They were clan ancestors, spirit masters and symbols of power and reincarnation such as rebirth and the change of seasons. The evidence indicates a pattern of local variation and identities rather than a uniform regional pattern, and some large-scale differences from the coastal area of Norway in the west to Karelia in the east.
Download free PDF
View PDF
chevron_right
(Book Review): Animal Symbolism in Mesopotamia - A Contextual Approach.
Chicako E. Watanabe
Pauline Albenda
Archiv fur Orientforschung, 2006
Download free PDF
View PDF
chevron_right
Bears in the scene: Pleistocene complex interactions with implications concerning the study of Neanderthal behavior
Pablo Arias
Quaternary International, 2017
The evidence of modern and complex behavior is a key debate in human evolution. Neanderthals have been excluded from this debate from many years, until new insight have provided a new conception of the Neanderthal behavior. Nevertheless, although archaeological data of complex and modern behavior has been inferred, this is not a generalized scenario in Middle Paleolithic sites. In the present paper, we point taphonomical issues as the responsible for this misconservation of cognitive markers. Furthermore, we highlight the action of ursids as one of the agents that has most modified the archaeological record. Nevertheless, bears not just erase behavioral evidences, their action may also generate material realities that can be misinterpreted by archaeologist as Neanderthal behavioral markers. In the present paper we analyze issues related to organized use of space and symbolic behavior such as inhumation practices and graphical expression. We approach this issue from a multidisciplinary research based mainly in actualistic, experimental, paleontological and ethological observations.
Download free PDF
View PDF
chevron_right
Humans and Animals: Descriptions of Wild Mammals in Akkadian Literature
Joonas Hirvonen
Humans and Animals: Descriptions of Wild Mammals in Akkadian Literature, 2024
This dissertation investigates the manner in which animals are treated, respected, and thought about In ancient Mesopotamia. The animals are seen in every level of culture and in a variety of roles. The dissertation tries to unravel how humans thought about animals as seen through Akkadian literature. The Akkadian literature is an excellent source of information since it has a long literary tradition with a conglomeration of text genres providing an opportunity to observe the attitudes, emotions, and beliefs Babylonian and Assyrian cultures had towards wild animals.
Download free PDF
View PDF
chevron_right
The Bear-able Likeness of Being: Ursine Remains at the Shamanka II Cemetery, Lake Baikal, Siberia
Robert Losey
Download free PDF
View PDF
chevron_right
The Kainsbakke bears and changing patterns in the human-bear relationship through the Danish Mesolithic and Neolithic
Lutz Klassen
Kristian Murphy Gregersen
Bear and Human: Facets of a Multi-Layered Relationship from Past to Recent Times, with Emphasis on Northern Europe, ed. by Oliver Grimm (Turnhout: Brepols, 2023), pp. 351–386, 2023
With a point of departure in the major discovery of ritually deposited bear bones at the Pitted Ware culture site of Kainsbakke on Djursland, Denmark, this paper sets out to investigate the human-bear relationship in Denmark during the Mesolithic and Neolithic (c. 9500–2400 cal BC). Studies of the abundance of bear bones in the archaeological record demonstrate a decreasing tendency throughout the entire Mesolithic and earlier parts of the Neolithic, followed by a rise in the early 3rd millennium BC (i.e. the Pitted Ware culture). Additional investigations of the treatment of the bones, the selection of specific bone elements and the contexts in which they were found indicate changing patterns in the human-bear relationship. These are interpreted as being due to a combination of environmental change and shifting contacts and interactions with societies in especially the eastern Baltic region.
Download free PDF
View PDF
chevron_right
Related topics
Sumerian Religion
Assyriology
Animal Studies
Ancient Near East
Explore
Papers
Topics
Features
Mentions
Analytics
PDF Packages
Advanced Search
Search Alerts
Journals
Academia.edu Journals
My submissions
Reviewer Hub
Why publish with us
Testimonials
Company
About
Careers
Press
Content Policy
580 California St., Suite 400
San Francisco, CA, 94104