The Appearance of Shamanism in Soltanieh

Subject Areas : Prehistoric Archaeology

Iraj Rezaei ¹ (Ph.D. in Historical Archaeology, Department of Archaeology, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.)
Mahdi Khalili ² (M.A. in Archaeology, Department of Archaeology, Islamic Azad University, Central Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran.)

Received: 2023-05-01 Accepted : 2023-05-01 Published : 2015-08-23

Keywords: Soltanieh, Shamanism, Mongol, Ilkhanid period, Shaman,

Abstract :

With the help of ethnologic and linguistic researches and archeological discoveries in the last century, our knowledge today about shamans and shaman’s rituals are relatively more comprehensive and inclusive than before. Researcher’s attribute the precedence of such cults to prehistoric and even Paleolithic times. Most scholars believe that Central Asian region and its surrounding areas have been the origin of the shamans. Mongol tribes are one of the most wellknown inhabitants of these regions which have had a culture mixed with shaman beliefs for long times. After Mongol’s conquest of Iran in the seventh century, despite their trend to Islam, there was seen some gradual return to their ancestral beliefs the traces of which is evidenced in remaining materials related to them. In this paper, we analyze the symbols and traces of shamanism in Soltanieh, one of the most important capitals of Mongol’s Ilkhans, and show evidences of such beliefs reflected in Soltanieh dome and other areas of this city.