“Shelter My Soul with Your Body” – A Burial Custom Influenced by Shamanism: A Case of Covering a Dead Face with the Right Ribs of a Local Sheep in Inner Mongolia, China
Research Square August 3, 2022 Lin Ban, Xiaohong Lv, Dawei Cai et al.
Death ends all biological functions and is inevitable. To cope with the fear of death, early humans developed concepts of the soul and religion, which led to burial and sacrificial customs. Shamanism, practiced by nomadic groups in northern Eurasia, is one such tradition. At the Nairentoligai Cemetery M17 in Inner Mongolia, China, archaeologists found a corpse whose face was covered with all the right ribs of a sheep. Zooarchaeological analysis identified the sheep's characteristics and, through bone-surface traces, reconstructed how the animal was dismembered. The practice may have been intended to declare the body dead and protect the soul from intrusion, reflecting shamanistic beliefs. This finding aids research into the religious views of northern Mongolian Plateau nomads.