Indigenous peoples of Siberia

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This article is based solely on territory; the peoples listed here do not belong to a single language family or ethnicity: they are Finno-Ugric, Turkic, Eskimo-Aleut, and other groups. Many of these groups are now extinct or almost so, or assimilated.

Many of these peoples live in Siberia, and their names here are transliterations from Cyrillic, rather than self-names. In some cases this creates difficulty in providing the plural form, because the Cyrillic letter Ц is transliterated as 'ts'. These cases are marked by the asterisk (*).

1 Linguistic classifications
2 Geographic distribution
3 References
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Linguistic classifications

Classifying the diverse population by language, it includes speakers of the following language families:

Uralic.
Turkic, Mongolian, Tungusic.
Many languages are regarded as a standalone family, because no other languages are proven to be relative (Yukaghir). Although Eskimo languages form a branch of a larger family (Eskimo-Aleut), but their only (proven) relatives are the Aleut dialects.
Nowadays, the majority of the Siberian population consists of Russian people. Their language is Indo-European.

This article discussess classical examples, peoples, where living shamanistic practices were recorded also in the modern times. Thus, discussion of the first three of the above list, sometimes termed as

Neither Altaic nor Paleosiberian has been proven to be a language family, a phylogenetic unit. Some approaches regard Altaic as an example of Sprachbund. It would be even more problematic to regard Paleosiberian as a genealogical unit. Here, these two terms are listed just to serve as portal-like starting points — without suggesting genetic considerations.

[edit] Geographic distribution

In this article, only some peoples are shown on maps, because of the lack of an overall map.

See Yakut (Sakha) people below, and also other — South Siberian, Central Asian, etc. — Turkic peoples. Only Turkic peoples are shown. Not all colored areas denote shamanistic cultures. Most important examples for shamanism are North Siberian Turkic peoples (Yakuts and Dolgans, but Dolgans are omitted), and South Siberian Turkic groups (e.g. Tuvans etc). Some shamanistic elements are remained also at some Central Asian Turkic peoples.

Turkic languages, including also North Siberian Yakuts (but Dolgans are omitted), South Siberian areas, and also Central Asia

Special features of Siberian and some other Asian peoples (and also some common features which could be termed as “shamanistic”) are described in ^[1] — it can serve for both an overview and a rather detailed description.

See also ^[2] ^[3] ^[4] ^[5] for detailed folkore examples of Eskimo shamanism, and ^[6] for a good summary work because this people (even Siberian Yupik) is mentioned only shortly in ^[1].

Distribution map of Finno-Ugric languages

[edit] References

^ ^a ^b
^ Rubcova, E.S.: Materials on the Language and Folklore of the Eskimoes, Vol. I, Chaplino Dialect. Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moskva * Leningrad, 1954. Original data: Е.С. Рубцова: Материалы по языку и фольклору эскимосов (чаплинский диалект). Академия Наук СССР. Москва * Ленинград, 1954.
^ Menovščikov, G.A.: Popular Conceptions, Religious Beliefs and Rites of the Asiatic Eskimoes. Published in Diószegi, Vilmos et Hoppál, Mihály: Folk Beliefs and Shamanistic Traditions in Siberia. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 1968, 1996.
^ Barüske, Heinz: Eskimo Märchen. Eugen Diederichs Verlag, Düsseldorf and Köln, 1969.
^ Merkur, Daniel: Becoming Half Hidden / Shamanism and Initiation Among the Inuit. Acta Universitatis Stockholmiensis / Stockholm Studies in Comparative Religion. Almqvist & Wiksell, Stockholm, 1985.
^ Kleivan, I. and Sonne, B.: Eskimos / Greenland and Canada. (Series: Iconography of religions, section VIII /Artic Peoples/, fascicle 2). Institute of Religious Iconography • State University Groningen. E.J. Brill, Leiden (The Netherland), 1985. ISBN 90-04-07160-1.