The study of religious or heroic legends and tales. One constant rule of mythology is that whatever happens amongst the gods or other mythical beings was in one sense or another a reflection of events on earth. Recorded myths and legends, perhaps preserved in literature or folklore, have an immediate interest to archaeology in trying to unravel the nature and meaning of ancient events and traditions.
I'm more than happy to answer questions about shamanism and how it is practised today, but not on this board. Here, we should just be confining ourselves to how it was practised in the past.
But if any of you would like to talk to me about shamanism today, how it is practised and so on, please feel free to PM me any time and we can take it from there.
Once again, you are misunderstanding me, Manystones.
Before the board was divided into the different categories, quite a few people would ask me about my own experiences of shamanism and the shamanic journey, and so I would answer them. This, however, annoyed some other people on the board, and I began to see that they were right to be annoyed, as discussions of this nature were not the aim of this forum.
Whether or not shamanism is a real experience of travelling into other dimensions, or just an imaginery, religious one that invents a pantheon of strange gods, is not a proper matter for discussion on an archaeology board.
All we should be concerning ourselves with is: was shamanism a way of life for Palaeo and Neolithic man, and was what he left behind - his art and architecture - driven by shamanistic beliefs?
In other words, did HE believe in it. What WE believe here matters not a jot.
And that is why I asked those who still wanted to hear about my own experiences with shamanism to PM me, so we can keep all such discussions off the board.
No dice, Manystones. You've quoted me from three weeks ago, when I was discussing these matters publicly and before the rules changed. It's a PM now or nothing, I'm afraid.
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed.