The Shamanic Paradigm: Evidence from Ethnology, Neuropsychology and Ethology, Michael Winkelman

8/7/2019 The Shamanic Paradigm: Evidence from Ethnology, Neuropsychology and Ethology, Michael Winkelman

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Time and Mind Volume 3Issue 2July 2010, pp. 159182

Time and Mind:The Journal of

Archaeology,Consciousness

and CultureVolume 3Issue 2

July 2010

pp. 159182

DOI

10.2752/175169610X12632240392758

Reprints available directlyfrom the publishers

Photocopying permitted bylicence only

Berg 2010

The ShamanicParadigm: Evidence

from Ethnology,Neuropsychology andEthology1

Michael Winkelman

Michael Winkelman, Ph.D. (University of California-

Irvine), M.P.H. (University of Arizona) recently retired

from the School of Human Evolution and Social Change

at Arizona State University where he served as Head of

Sociocultural Anthropology. He has served as President of

the Anthropology of Consciousnesssection of the American

Anthropological Association, and was the founding President

of its Anthropology of Religion section. Winkelman hasengaged in cross-cultural and interdisciplinary research on

shamanism for the past 30 years, focusing principally on

the cross-cultural patterns of shamanism and identifying

the associated biological bases of shamanic universals and

altered states of consciousness. His principal publications

on shamanism include Shamans, Priests and Witches (1992),

Shamanism: The Neural Ecology of Consciousness and Healing

(2000), and (with John Baker) Supernatural as Natural: ABiocultural Theory of Religion.

Abstract

Cross-cultural findings establish the empirical evidence for

a common form of worldwide hunter-gatherer shamanism,

as well as differentiating these shamans from other

types of shamanistic healers. These diverse practitioners

have contributed to a confusion regarding the nature

of shamanism because they share similarities in their

common biogenetic foundations. These involve a cultural

universal involving community ritual in which the induction

of altered states of consciousness (ASC) is seen as a tool

for engaging in interaction with spirits for the purposes

of divination and healing. The relationship of various

types of shamanistic healers to subsistence, social, and


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160 The Shamanic Paradigm Michael Winkelman


political characteristics provides evidence

of the evolutionary transformation of ahunter-gatherer shamanism into other

types of religious practitioners. The deep

evolutionary origins of shamanism are

illustrated through biogenetic approaches

that identify the biological bases of

shamanic universals and their deeper

phylogenetic origins. The homologies of

shamanic rituals with the displays of thegreat apes provide a basis for identifying

the ancient foundations of hominin

ritual. These ritual commonalities are

described by reference to the maximal

displays of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

The homologies implicate hominin ritual

activities as involving similar individual

and group activities involving vigorousbipedal displays by alpha males which

included drumming with hands, feet, and

sticks and emotional vocalizations. Their

adaptive foundations are illustrated by the

many functions of these threat displays in

chimpanzee society: greetings, hierarchy

maintenance, group integration, intergroup

boundary maintenance, and releaseof tension and frustration. Biogenetic

approaches to the origins of human

ritual provide an additional empirical and

theoretical foundation for understanding

the nature and origins of shamanism in the

human and hominid past.

Keywords: shamanism, evolution, hominid

religiosity

Eliades Concept of the ShamanThe concept of shamanism entered into

Western academic discourse in the

seventeenth century (Flaherty 1992) and

became a standard feature of comparative

religious analysis with the work of Eliade

(1964). Based on a reading of materials

from around the world and across time,

Eliade proposed that the shaman was

a cross-cultural phenomenon. Eliade

characterized the shamanic ritual as an

unparalleled activity in the lives of the

community, with the entire local residential

group expected to attend. Shamans are

charismatic social leaders who engage inspirit-mediated healing and divination for

the local community. The shaman was

core to all aspects of lifedivining the

meaning of the universe, prophesying the

future, healing, helping hunters find animals,

communicating psychically about lost family

members, directing the groups movement,

funerals, and virtually all major activities ofthe community. Shamans also led raiding

parties, organized communal hunts, and

directed group movement. Shamans engaged

in activities on behalf of a client, but generally

with the entire local community (the band)

participating.

The shamanic ritual was typically a

nocturnal event in which the entire localcommunity congregated around a fire,

clapping and singing while the shaman

danced for hours while drumming or rattling.

The shamans vocalizations also engaged a

dialogue with the spirits, exhorting them

through ancient songs and chants. The

shaman would call for spirit allies or exhort

evil spirits to leave and cease their afflictions.

The shamanic ritual involved imitating power

animals and acting out struggles with the

spirits, and the enacting of the journey

through the spirit realms.

A core aspect of shamanism identified

by Eliade was ecstasy, an altered state

of consciousness (ASC) that was used


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Michael Winkelman The Shamanic Paradigm 161


to enter the spirit world. The ASC was

induced through the effects of drumming,

singing, chanting, dancing, and a variety of

other procedures, including in some cases

the use of psychoactive substances. These

ASC are thought to enable them to enter

the spirit world and acquire supernatural

powers through a vision quest experience.

Other procedures used to induce these

experiences included fasting and waterdeprivation, exposure to temperature

extremes, extensive exercise and painful

austerities, sleep deprivation, sleep and

dreams, and social and sensory deprivation.

A central aspect of the shamans ASC

involved a soul journey in which some

personal mental aspect of the shaman

departs the body and travels to other places.Other shamanic ASC involved journeys

to the underworld, and/or transformation

into animals. Shamans were not normally

possessed by spirits; rather, they controlled

spirits and were believed to accomplish their

feats through the actions of their spirit allies.

Shamans generally are identified as

descending from shaman families whoseancestors provided spirit powers. In most

cultures, shamans are predominantly males;

however, most cultures also allow females

to become shamans, but typically limit their

practice to before or after child-bearing

years. Shamans selection may result from the

desires of a deceased shaman relative who

provides spirit allies, but in most shamanic

cultures anyone may become a shaman if he

or she is selected by the spirits, undergoes

training, and is successful in practice.

Shamans are selected through a variety of

procedures, including involuntary visions,

receiving signs from spirits, and serious

illness. Shamans developmental experiences

included being attacked by the spirits,

producing a death-and-rebirth experience.

This dismemberment and reconstruction

by the spirits embues shamans with powers,

especially animal allies that provide assistance

in healing, divination, hunting, and the ability

to use sorcery to harm others.

A characteristic feature of shamans

development involved visionary experiences

during which they contacted the spiritworld, particularly in the form of the

animal spirits that were central to shamans

powers. Animals were often thought to

provide the shaman with skills specific to

the animals own strengths. They were

also the vehicles through which shamans

accomplished a variety of actions, including

acquiring information, healing, and killing.Shamans therapeutic processes involved the

removal of objects or spirits sent by other

shamans through sorcery and soul journeys

to recover lost souls and power animals,

aspects of the patients personal essence and

powers. Shamanic soul recovery involves a

soul journey to do battle with the spirits to

rescue the patients lost soul. Therapeuticprocesses involve community participation,

healing through enhancing social bonding

processes, restoring a sense of identity and

emotional well-being, and restoring and

transforming self.

Eliades use of the concept of the shaman

and his explanations were appealing to many.

The concept began to gain currency in use

and eventually became applied to vir tually

any kind of spiritual or religious practice or

ASC. For decades the literature has used

the term shaman to refer to many different

magico-religious practitioners. Generally the

writer makes the unspoken presumption that

in spite of apparent diversity of the practices


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referred to by the term, they are nonetheless

in some sense essentially the same. But most

fail to specify the commonalities that they

presume shamans share.

Determination of the nature of

shamanism and the validity of its use as a

cross-cultural concept has been problematic

because of the lack of reliance on cross-

cultural investigations. Those who purport

that there are universals of shamanismhave generally based this on intuition and

a haphazard synthesis of data from select

cultures. This typified Eliades methods and,

while it led to some useful conclusions,

has left them open to criticism. What are

legitimately the universals of shamanism, if

anything? Most studies have sidestepped the

question of establishing universals, and haveinstead employed a definitional approach.

By specifying what they consider to be the

particular characteristics that define the

shaman, they can then show it to be arbitrary

or inadequate for some reason.

The concept of the shaman as an etic

explanatory framework has been part

of the intellectual climate of the Westernworld since it entered into mainstream

literary discourses in the 1700s (Flaherty

1992). When Eliade published his famous

Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy,

shamanism was a concept already familiar to

the educated Westerner. Soon descriptions

of foreign religious practices around the

world were communicated through the

concept of the shaman. The effort to

convey the concept of the shaman was

derived in part from an effort to explain the

behavior of the other to the Westerner;

consequently it soon fell into disrepute as

a wave of cultural anthropologists began to

question and criticize the use of the term.

The complaints as variously expressed made

several points:

1 There is no similarity in spiritual or

healing practices around the world.

2 The concept of the shaman is a

fabrication of the Western imagination,

a new-age phenomenon and

construction.

3 The spiritual healing practices foundcross-culturally both vary and reflect

local cultural concepts, negating any

claims to a universal shamanism.

Kehoe (2000) legitimately criticizes Eliades

failure to use systematic cross-cultural

research to arrive at his conclusions regarding

shamanism. Although Eliades impressionisticand selective methods deserve criticism from

the perspectives of modern ethnological

research, his conclusions were nonetheless

on target, as illustrated in Winkelmans

(1986a, 1990, 1992) cross-cultural research.

Winkelman (2002a) proposed that

there should be three major pillars for

the argument for a cross-culturally validshamanism and its deep evolutionary roots:

1 Cross-cultural ethnological patterns of

shamanic practitioners in premodern

societies that establish a base for an

ethnological analogy.

2 Direct homologies between shamanic

practices and the ritual patterns of

other animals, particularly our primate

cousins.

3 A neuropsychological explanation for

the correspondences of shamanic

practices and aspects of the

brain involved in altered states of

consciousness.


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These kinds of necessary cross-cultural

studies of magico-religious practitioners

began to be published more than two

decades ago (Winkelman 1985, 1986a, b,

1990, 1992). This empirical cross-cultural

research, summarized next, established

the basis for a shamanic paradigmas an

ethnological analogy based in the empirical

nature of shamanism and its characteristics.

It validated the nature of an aboriginalhunter-gatherer shamanism worldwide,

and distinguished it from other forms of

shamanistic healers that emerged from that

basis as a consequence of the processes of

sociocultural evolution. Neuropsychological

arguments have been detailed in Winkelmans

subsequent publications, especially 2000,

2002a, 2004c, 2010, as well as in Winkelmanand Baker (2008), where the deeper

evolutionary origins of shamanism in hominin

ritual have been explored.

A Cross-cultural Ethnological

Approach to Determining theShamanic Paradigm

A cross-cultural or holocultural method(see Murdock and White 1969) is required

to answer these questions regarding the

issue of the universality of shamans and

their characteristics, and the cross-cultural

similarities and differences in spiritual

healing practices. An empirical approach

to the question of the status of shamans

is provided by a cross-cultural research

project (Winkelman 1985, 1986a, b, 1990,

1992, 2000; Winkelman and Winkelman

1991; see Winkelman and White 1987 for

data). Using the Standard Cross-Cultural

Sample (SCCS) (Murdock and White 1969),

Winkelmans study focused on the culturally

recognized magico-religious practitioners

in a stratified 47 society subset of the

SCCS. The SCCS is representative of the

geographic, social, and cultural regions of

the world spanning 4,000 years. All of the

culturally recognized positions (statuses or

roles) in these societies that were involved

in interaction with supernatural entities or

powers were individually assessed with a

formal questionnaire, based on data from

ethnographic reports and other sources.A large number of variables were used

to characterize the practitioners (see

Winkelman 1992, Winkelman and White

1987). In each society, each and every one

of the culturally recognized magico-religious

practitioners was individually assessed in

terms of his (or her) characteristics. These

were based in a common set of variablesreflecting magico-religious activities that were

developed from the descriptions of these

practices as provided in the ethnographic

literature.

These variables included types of

magico-religious activity (for example,

healing, divination, propitiation, malevolent

acts, agricultural and hunting rituals, lifecycle rituals); political, social, and economic

characteristics; professional organizations and

functions; role selection procedures (spirit

illness, inheritance, purchase of position);

training conditions; ASC characteristics and

procedures; sources of supernatural power;

relationships to spirits; and the social context

of and motives for professional activities.

The coded variables for the characteristics

of these magico-religious practitioners

were submitted to coding-reliability checks

(Winkelman and White 1987).

In order to determine if there was a

cross-culturally valid pattern of religious

practices corresponding to the subjective


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concepts of the shaman, this cross-cultural

database was statistically analyzed to assess

the empirical similarities among these

practitioners. This empirical data and

the statistical assessments of the shared

characteristics across practitioners and

societies provided a basis for an empirical

determination of the different types of

magico-religious practitioners. Determination

of cross-culturally valid types of magico-religious practitioners was obtained through

the use of cluster analysis procedures. These

types were confirmed with independent

validation methods (Winkelman 1986a, 1992).

Similar types of practitioners found in

diverse parts of the worldEurasia, the

Americas, and Africaare more similar to

one another across these different regionsthan they are to other magico-religious

practitioners found in their own regions

and even in the same society. Rather than

culturally arbitrary religious forms, there

are social universals, with magico-religious

practitioners in different societies and from

different regions of the world having more

similarities with each other than they sharewith other magico-religious practitioners

in their own cultures. The empirically

shared characteristics are more relevant

than geographical location or arbitrary

definitions of what is a shaman. These

empirically derived characteristics of each

type of magico-religious healer are what are

most relevant, not definitions. Furthermore,

the empirically derived characteristics of

one type correspond directly to classic

characteristics attributed to the shaman by

Eliade and others.

These empirically derived types of

magico-religious practitioner were labeled

with terms based on labels commonly used

by ethnographers: Shaman, Shaman/Healer,

Healer, and Medium, collectively constituting

shamanistic healers; the Priest; and the

Sorcerer/Witch (see Winkelman 1992 for

coverage of Priests and Sorcerer/Witches).

Their key features are displayed in Table 1a-d.

This empirically derived typology establishes

the etic status of shamans, the validity

of a cross-culturally general type ofreligious practitioner. This indicates that

the term shaman can be used as an etic

concept, based on their empirically shared

characteristics rather than on arbitrary

definitions. It is noteworthy that some

religious practitioners labeled as shaman

by ethnographers have characteristics

significantly different from those of theempirically derived group that is labeled

shamans. Instead these so-called

shamans are empirically classified as

mediums; empirical characteristics should

take precedence over arbitrary definitional

approaches, avoiding overextending the term.

The cross-cultural research indicates that the

term shaman should be used to refer tohealers of hunter-gatherer and other simple

societies who are trained through ASC for

healing and divination and share specific

characteristics.

This cross-cultural research also

establishes that there are other etic types

of magico-religious practitioners, the

empirically derived Priests, Sorcerer/Witches,

Mediums, and others. By establishing their

characteristics2 in comparison to those of

other types of magico-religious practitioners,

this research provides a basis for an

ethnological analogy regarding religious

practices in the past. This ethnological

analogy derived from cross-cultural research


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provides a far greater explanatory power

than does the ethnographic analogy that has

characterized archaeological interpretations

of the past.

Cross-cultural Characteristics ofShamansCross-cultural research illustrates empirically

similar religious healers found in hunter-

gatherer and simple agricultural and pastoralsocieties worldwide. Shamans were found

in all world regions with the exception of

the Circum-Mediterranean, reflecting the

lack of hunter-gatherer societies in this

region (Winkelman 1986a). This empirically

derived group/type of shamans were found

worldwide and are statistically associated

with variables measuring nomadism anda lack of political integration beyond the

local community; these predictors maintain

significance independent of controls for

diffusion, indicating independent origins

(Winkelman 1986a, 1992).

The practitioners empirically clustered

in the group labeled shaman included a

characteristic core to Eliades description:someone who enters ecstasy to interact with

the spirit world on behalf of the community.

Also associated with shamans worldwide are

a dominant social role as the

preeminent charismatic leader

a night-time community ritual

use of chanting, singing, drumming, and

dancing

an initiatory crisis involving a death and

rebirth experience

shamanic training involving induction of

ASC, particularly with fasting and social

isolation

an ASC experience characterized as a

soul journey (but not possession)

ASC involving visionary experiences

abilities of divination, diagnosis, andprophecy

illness caused by spirits, sorcerers, and

the intrusion of objects or entities

healing processes focused on soul loss

and recovery

animal relations as a source of power,

including control of animal spirits

the ability of the shaman to transform

into animals

malevolent acts, or sorcery, including

the ability to kill others, and

hunting magic, assistance in acquiring

animals for food

These shamans are distinguished from

other magico-religious healers (mediums,

healers, and shaman/healers) found in

more complex societies (see Winkelman

1986a, 1990, 1992). Shamans are a social

universal, found worldwide under specific

kinds of social conditionshunter-

gatherer societies as well as some slightly

more complex nomadic horticultural and

pastoral societies. Nonetheless, some of

the core features of the shamanASC,


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community rituals, spirit interactions and

othersare cultural universals, found in

every society. These characteristics are

associated with other kinds of shamanistic

healers in more complex societies.

Ecological and social influences modify the

original forms of shamanism, giving rise to

a variety of other socially structured forms

Table 1a Magico-Religious Practitioner Types: Principal Characteristics

Characteristics Shaman

Societal Conditions Hunting and gathering, nomadic.

No local political integration.

No social classes.

Magico Religious Activity Healing and divination.

Protection from spirits and malevolent magic.

Hunting magic.

Malevolent acts.

Sociopolitical Power Charismatic leader, communal and war leader.

Social Characteristics Predominantly male, female secondary.

High social status.

Ambiguous moral status.

Professional Characteristics Part time.

No groupindividual practice.

Selection and Training Vision quests, dreams, illness, and spirits request.

ASC and spirit training or individual practitioner.

Status recognized by clients.

Motive and Context Acts at client request for client, local community.

Supernatural Power Animal spirits, spirit allies.

Spirit power usually controlled.

Special Abilities Weather control, flying, fire immunity, death and rebirth, transformation intoanimal.

Techniques Spirit control.

Physical and empirical medicine.

Massaging and plants.

ASC Conditions and Spirit

Relations

ASC training and practice.

Shamanic soul flight/journey.

Isolation, austerities, fasting, hallucinogens, chanting and singing, extensive

drumming and percussion, and, frequently, collapse and unconsciousness.


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Table 1b Magico-Religious Practitioner Types: Principal Characteristics

Shaman/Healer Healer

Agricultural subsistence.

Sedentary

Agricultural subsistence.

Sedentary.

Political integration.

Healing and divination.

Protection against spirits and malevolent magic.

Hunting magic and agricultural rites.

Minor malevolent acts.

Healing and divination.

Agricultural and socioeconomic rites.

Propitiation.

Informal political power.

Moderate judiciary decisions.

Judicial, legislative, and economic power.

Life-cycle rituals.

Predominantly male.

Moderate socioeconomic status.

Predominantly moral status.

Predominantly male, female rare.

High socioeconomic status.

Predominantly moral status.

Part-time.

Collective/group practice.

Specialized role.

Full-time.

Collective/group practice.

Highly specialized role.

Vision quest, dreams, illness and spirit requests.

ASC and ritual training by group.

Ceremony recognizes status.

Voluntary selection, payment to trainer.

Learn rituals and techniques.

Ceremony recognizes status.

Acts at client request in client group. Acts at client request in client group.

Performs at public collective rituals.

Spirits allies and impersonal power (mana).

Power controlled.

Superior gods and impersonal power (mana).

Ritual techniques and formulas.

Power under control.

Occasional flight, animal transformation. Prevent future illness.

Physical and empirical medicine.

Massaging, herbal, cleanse wounds.

Charms, spells exorcisms, and rituals.

Spirit control and propitiation.

Charms. Spells, exorcisms, rituals, and sacrifice.

Propitiation and command of spirits.

ASC training and practice.

Shamanic/mystical ASC.

Isolation, austerities, fasting, hallucinogens, chanting and

singing, extensive percussion, and, frequently, collapse/

unconsciousness.

ASC limited or absent.

Social isolation; fasting; minor austerities; limited

singing, chanting, or percussion.

ofshamanistic healersmediums, shaman/

healers, and healerswho have distinctive

features (see Table 1a-d).

Religious Universals and SocietalSpecifics: Shamanistic HealersThe hunter-gatherer shamans utilization

of ASC to communicate with the spirit


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Table 1c Magico-Religious Practitioner Types:

Principal Characteristics

Characteristics Medium

Societal Conditions Agricultural subsistence.Sedentary.Political integration.

Magico-ReligiousActivity

Healing and divination.Protection from spirits andmalevolent magic.Agricultural magic.Propitiation.

Sociopolitical Power Informal political power.Moderate judiciary decisions.

Social Characteristics Predominantly female; malesecondary/rare.Low socioeconomic status.Exclusively moral.

ProfessionalCharacteristics Part-time.Collective/group practice.Temporal lobe syndrome.

Selection and Training Spontaneous possession byspirit.Training in practitioner group.Ceremony recognizes status.

Motive and Context Acts primarily for clients.Performs public ceremonies.

Supernatural Power Possessing spirits dominate.Power out of control,unconscious.

Special Abilities None.

Techniques Propitiation and spirit control.Exorcisms and sacrifices.

ASC Conditions andSpirit Relations

ASC Possession.Spontaneous onset, tremors,convulsions, seizures,compulsive motor behavior,amnesia, temporal lobedischarge.

Table 1d Magico-Religious Practitioner Types:

Principal Characteristics

Priest Sorcerer/Witch

Agriculture.Semisedentary or permanentresidency.Political integration.

Agriculture andsedentary.Political integration.Social stratification.

Protection and purification.Agricultural andsocioeconomic rites.Propitiation and worship.

Malevolent acts.Kill kin, cause death,economic destruction.

Political, legislative, judicial,economic, and military power.

None.

Exclusively male.High social and economicstatus.Exclusively moral.

Male and female.Low social and economicstatus.Exclusively immoral.

Full-time.Organized practitioner group.Hierarchically ranked roles.

Part-time.Little or no professionalorganization.Killed.

Social inheritance orsuccession.Political action.

Social labeling, biologicalinheritance.Innate abilities, self-taughtor learned.

Acts to fulfill public socialfunctions.

Calendrical rites.

Acts at client request orfor personal reasons.

Practices in secrecy.

Power from superior spiritsor gods.Has no control over spiritpower.

Power from spirits andritual knowledge.Has control or spiritpower.Power may operateunconsciously or out ofcontrol.

Affect weather. Animal transformation, fly.

Propitiation and collective rites.Sacrifice and consumption.

Spirit control, ritualtechniques.

Generally no ASC or verylimited.Occasionally alcoholconsumption, sexualabstinence, social isolation,sleep deprivation.

Indirect evidence of ASC.Flight and animaltransformation.


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world on behalf of the community and for

divination and healing is found in all societies;

these features constitute universals of religion

with biological bases (Winkelman 2000,

2004c, 2010; Winkelman and Baker 2008).

These ASC, spirit relations, and community

rituals are human cultural universals; however,

these activities are associated with different

types of practitioner in more complex

societies (Mediums, Healers, and Shaman/Healers). Winkelman (1990, 1992) proposed

the term shamanistic healers to refer to

these universally distributed practitioners

who use ASC for training, healing, and

divination. Shamanistic healers share

characteristics of

induction of ASC in training andprofessional activities

providing divination, diagnosis and

healing

use of rituals to interact with spirits

removal of detrimental effects of spirits(spirit aggression and possession), and

cure illness caused by human agents

(e.g. witches and sorcerers)

Shamanistic healers also share many

additional features by virtue of their healing

activities. These provide relief by meeting

needs for assurance, counteracting anxiety

and its physiological effects. These processes

involve community support, meeting needs

for belonging, comfort, and bonding with

others. Healing practices address emotional

problems by eliciting repressed memories

and restructuring them and resolving

intrapsychic and social conflicts. Shamanistic

healing practices utilize universal aspects

of symbolic healing. This involves placing

the patients circumstances within the

broader context of cultural mythology, and

ritually manipulating these relationships to

emotionally transform the patients self and

emotions. Ritual manipulation of unconscious

psychological and physiological structures

enable a variety of emotional healingresponses, reflected in the psychodynamic

differences in soul journey, possession,

and meditation. Shamanistic healers also

differ with respect to a variety of other

characteristics, including the types of societies

in which they were found, the processes

involved in training, the nature and source

of their powers, and their relationships tosocial institutions (see Winkelman 1992).

An important contrast in understanding

the differences among magico-religious

practitioners involves the distinctive features

of the mediums, who are often confused

with shamans.

The Socioeconomic Transformationof Shamans and Shamanistic

HealersThe characteristics of shamans and their

practices that formed the original basis

of magico-religious practices in hunter-

gatherer societies were transformed as a

consequence of social evolution. These

changes were the consequence of the social

effects of sedentary agricultural societies,

the processes of political integration, and

the emergence of class structures. These

eventually had a significant effect upon the

psychobiological foundations of shamanism,

changing the manifestations of these innate

brain structures and practices of the


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alteration of consciousness. Nonetheless, the

innate bases of ASC and endogenous healing

processes assured the persistence of ASC-

based healing practices in more complex

societies. The persistence of shamanic

potentials was in the shamanistic healers

(shaman/healers, mediums, and healers),

who represent the universal manifestation

of the core characteristics of shamanism

postulated by Eliade (1964): the use of ASCin training, healing, and divination activities;

their enactment in a community context; and

their relations with the spirit world.

Quantitative cross-cultural analyses

(Winkelman 1986a, 1990, 1992) illustrate this

sociocultural evolution of shamanic potentials

in the systematic relationships of different

types of shamanistic healers and othermagico-religious practitioners (e.g. sorcerer/

witches and priests) to socioeconomic

conditions. The transformation of shamanic

practices into other types of shamanistic

healers and magico-religious practitioners is a

function of

1 agriculture replacing hunting andgathering

2 transformation of nomadic lifestyle to

fixed residence patterns

3 political integration of local

communities into hierarchical societies,

and

4 social stratification, the creation of

classes and castes and hereditary

slavery

The relationships of such socioeconomic

conditions to practitioner types are

illustrated in Figure 1. Adaptation of these

psychobiological potentials to different

subsistence practices and social and political

conditions transformed the manifestation

of shamanic potentials in terms of principal

functions, types of ASC and spirit relations,

selection and training practices, the

sources and nature of their power, their

socioeconomic and political status, illness

ideologies, and the nature of their treatments

and professional practices (Winkelman

1990, 1992; Winkelman and Winkelman

1991). These practitioner types featurespecific types of selection procedures and

professional functions, providing the basis

for a model of the evolution of magico-

religious functions. These involve three major

functional dimensions with biosocial bases:

1 the psychobiological basis in ASC

(shamanistic healers)2 the role of social-political and religious

leadership (priests), and

3 the conflict of shamanistic healers and

priests, manifested in the sorcerer/

witch

Shamans were the original source of ASC

traditions, and provided the social leadershippotentials at the basis of priesthoods.

Shamanistic practitioners were eventually

persecuted by priestly religious structures,

giving rise to a phenomenon recognized as

witchcraft (see Winkelman 1992, 2004b).

The Ancient Emergence of

PriesthoodsThis ethnological framework for magico-

religious practices also has applicability in

distinguishing different aspects of magico-

religious practices in the past. Hayden (2003)

reviews evidence of the emergence of the

new form of ritual development in prehistory

during the early Upper Paleolithic when


13/23



hunter-gatherer groups developed more

complex transegalitarian societies. A new

form of religion emphasized public feasts in

which large amounts of food were used in

extravagant ritual displays by elite groups.These rituals focused on group fertility

and worship of elite ancestors as gods,

enhancing the leaders status and providing

a context for the integration of larger

groups of people. Food, art, monumental

architecture, and public ritual were material

resources for exercising influence by these

elites. These rituals used public feasting asa means of ensuring alliance, exchanging

commodity items to increase wealth, power,

and prestige.

Hayden calls these public rituals a turning

point in the evolution of religiona dramatic

shift from popular cults focused on earlier

shamanic practices of ASC induction to elite

cults that enabled the elites to manipulate

their communities through religious rituals

and symbols. But what are these new kinds

of religious leaders like? Hayden interprets

these Neolithic societies with reference to

activities found in near-modern chiefdoms,

where leaders rule by virtue of their

positions in kinship systems. Public rituals

involved wealth exchanges and prestige

competition as mechanisms for differentiating

the chiefly elites from non-elites. Through

ritual exchange elites controlled social

lifewealth exchanges, bride exchanges,arranging marriages, social alliances, debt

payments, and allocation of resources in

times of scarcity. Central parts of this new

elite-focused religion were warfare, human

sacrifices, and megalithic architecture. These

manifested a chief s ability to organize groups

to achieve goals, which while often viewed as

collective (protecting our village), generallyhad dimensions that served to enhance the

reproduction of the elites.

These activities are also reflective of the

activities of a magico-religious practitioner

type called the priest (Winkelman 1992,

2007). These social and religious leaders

utilized their social and economic power, and

in particular their kinship status, to create a

new level of religious activity.

The Biological Bases of Shamanic

UniversalsThe universals of shamanism and the

similarities in shamanistic healers across

cultures indicate underlying biogenetic

Fig 1 Magico-religious Practitioner Types, Socioeconomic Conditions, and Biosocial Functions

MAGICO-RELIGIOUS PRACTITIONER TYPES

BIOSOCIAL

FUNCTIONS

Priest Priest Priest Social Control

Sorcerer/

Witch

Sorcerer/

WitchSocial Conflict

or

Medium Medium

Shaman Shaman/

Healer

Healer Healer

Integrative Mode

of Consciousness

SOCIOECONOMIC

CONDITIONS

Hunter/

Gatherer

Agriculture Political

Integration

Social

Classes


14/23



foundations. These biologically based

capacities of shamanism have been addressed

in the context of evolutionary psychology

(Winkelman 2000, 2002a, 2010; Winkelman

and Baker 2008). This approach implicates

shamanic universals in terms of innate

modules, natural structures and processes

of the human organism. Winkelman

demonstrates that the central aspects of

these biological bases include

1 the biogenetic functions of ritual as a

communication, social coordination

and community bonding processes

based in the mammalian attachment

processes (the social-bonding system

involving opioid mechanisms; see

Kirkpatrick 2005)2 altered states of consciousness

that elicit the integrative mode of

consciousness through inducing highly

synchronized slow brainwave discharge

patterns that produce coherence and

coordination across the levels of the

brain

3 integration of fundamental bodilyand visual representational structures

of consciousness manifested in the

shamanic soul flight and visionary

experiences

4 manipulation of innate representational

modules or cognitive operators

related to identity formation,

manifested in spirits as allies and social

representation systems (i.e., totemism)

5 elicitation of visionary information

capacities of presentational symbolism,

a somatic and imagetic preverbal

system

6 integration of thought through

metaphoric representation system

involving the use of the body and

animals as personal and social

representations, and

7 healing processes based in the

effects of ASC, hypnotic capacity, and

associated placebo effects

These features illustrate the foundations of

shamanism in a variety of adaptive processes

related to social, psychological, and cognitiveevolution. These involve the activation of a

variety of innate representational modules

or neurognostic structures, involving animal

classification; self-representation; social-group

representation; mental inference; mimesis

and body representation; music; and imagetic

presentational symbolism (see Winkelman

2000, 2002a, b, 2004c, 2010).These innate modules and their

integrations provided the basis for a variety

of metaphoric predication characteristic of

shamanic thought and practice:

Animism (other with self properties)

Animal spirits (animals with self

properties)Totemic groups (social groups with animal

species properties)

Animal identities (self properties

explained with animal species)

Out-of-body experiences (self and visual

systems dissociated from spatial system)

Possession (self module dominated by

other module)

The deeper evolutionary origins of shamanism

in the hominin lineage are discussed in the

following section (also see Winkelman 2009,

2010; Winkelman and Baker 2008).


15/23



Biogenetic Structuralist

Approaches to the Origins ofHuman RitualIn polite company we often avoid calling

attention to human beings more animal-like

qualities. Such dissociation from our biological

roots is apparent in most views of religion

as an exclusively human behavior. This

isolates our understanding of religion from its

evolutionary roots in ritual (Winkelman andBaker 2008).

The ancient biological bases of shamanic

rituals and their adaptive functions are

illustrated by understandings of the functional

nature of animal ritual. In The Spectrum

of Ritual dAquili, Laughlin, and McManus

(1979) show how a biogenetic structuralist

approach to ritual establishes human-animal continuities. Ritual is integral to

vertebrate social life, providing mechanisms

for communication that are basic to social

coordination (dAquili et al. 1979). Such

animal rituals use behaviors, manifested

in actions, which signal a disposition for

social behaviors. Animals rituals have

communication and social signaling functions,using genetically-based behaviors to provide

information that facilitates interactions

among members of a species, coordinating

their behaviors in ways that contribute to

cooperation. By making internal dispositions

publicly available, animal rituals contribute

to cooperative behaviors by providing

information that helps produce socially

coordinated responses.

As we have shown in Supernatural as

Natural (Winkelman and Baker 2008),

a biogenetic structuralist approach to

religion and ritual helps to establish their

common foundations and continuity in social

coordination. Such evolutionary biological

approaches to ritual illustrate that shamanic

rituals have ancient roots built out of prior

adaptations revealed in the homologous

behaviors humans share with other species.

Displays of Great ApesShamanic rituals involve vocalizations such

as singing and chanting that originated in

the same biological structures and functions

underlying activities that Lawick-Goodall(1968) called chimpanzee rain dances, and

similar displays called carnivals by Reynolds

(2005). These include group congregation;

a bipedal charge and other threat displays;

long-distance vocalizations such as pant-

hoots; group chorusing; drumming with

hands and feet; beating with sticks; and

staggering rhythmically, swaying from foot tofoot.

Goodall noted that particularly

spectacular displays might be made around

waterfalls, in response to the presence of

similar-size other groups, who would elicit

drumming, throwing, hooting, and vigorous

displays (Goodall 1986: 491). Pant-hoots

are given in many different situations especially in the evening during nesting.

Pant-hoot chorus may break out during

the night (134). Reynolds and Reynolds

(1965) characterized outbursts of calling

and drumming to be normal chimpanzee

behaviors, generally lasting for several

minutes, but occasionally lasting all night

on moonlight nights. At regular intervals,

the chimpanzees in an area vocalized and

drummed for several hours continuously

Sometimes whole valleys along a

stretch as much as a mile would resound

and vibrate with the noise. Reynolds and

Reynolds noted that these less extreme but

similar choruses occurred under a variety


16/23



of circumstances, including nesting and

awakening; meeting or splitting up of a group;

before and during moving to new feeding

areas; when on the move; in responses to

hearing others calls and drumming; when

large numbers congregated in a limited area;

and when encountering human observers.

Noting the religious-like elements of these

displays, Goodall suggested that [w]ith a

display of strength and vigor such as this,primitive man himself might have challenged

the elements (Lawick-Goodall 1971: 53).

This comment underscores the perceptions

of Goodall and other primate researchers

that some of the behaviors typically

associated with religiosity were already

present in our prehuman ancestors. Group

vocalizations such as singing and chanting, aswell as drumming and dancing, are aspects of

shamanic and religious rituals found in human

cultures throughout the world because they

have deep evolutionary roots in homologous

behaviors also found in other primates.

Parsimony suggests that we seek the origins

of human ritual and religiosity in these

emotive expressive systems.

Group and Intergroup RitualProcesses in the Great Apes:Baselines for Hominin RitualCommonalities in great apes displays

indicate the presence of similar behaviors in

their common ancestors with the humans,

the hominins. There are commonalities

among the great apes in these locomotor

displays involving kicking, stomping, shaking

branches, beating on the chest, ground,

or vegetation, and jumping and running

(Geissmann 2000). The vocalizations of

gibbons and chimpanzees share functional

commonalities as affective displays made

during conditions of high arousal that are

used for social contact and interpersonal

spacing. The great apes call episodes

fulfill similar functions: interindividual

and intergroup communication, related

particularly to location, spacing, food sources,

and danger; this expressive system of

communicating emotional states motivates

other members of the species and enhances

group cohesion and unity (see Geissmann2000; Hauser 2000; Marler 2000; Merker

2000). Their structural and behavioral

similarities indicate that primate calls are the

communicative precursors of human singing

and musical abilities (Wallin, Merker and

Brown 2000; Molino 2000). The primates

have been selected for the ability to use

verbal aggression, exemplified in screamingand shouting as part of intimidation displays

used both within the group and to other

species, particularly predators. Primate calls

are emotive vocalizations that communicate

to other members of the species and have

motivational effects upon them. In these

vocalizations we see the precursor to singing

and other forms of musicality that eventuallyallowed for the more nuanced expression of

human emotions.

Aggressive displays, such as bipedal

charges and the shaking of branches, are

widespread primate behaviors, including

those of the the great apes (Goodall

1986; Geissmann 2000). Gorilla calls often

incorporate chest-beating, running through

the foliage, and breaking branches. Among

chimpanzees, the pant-hooting peak phase

is generally followed with bipedal charging

displays. These are typified in chimpanzee

(Pan troglodytes) behaviors described below;

Pan paniscus (bonobos) also engage in

vocalizations, drumming, and charging displays


17/23



when defending their territory against other

groups (De Waal 1997). The power derived

from these noisy displays is illustrated in

the case of the chimpanzee called Mike. Mike

was a low-ranking male when he began using

empty kerosene cans which he bounced and

hit in front of him while making aggressive

charges. These displays quickly catapulted

him to alpha-male status without ever having

to attack the other males (see Goodall 1986:4267).

Drumming

Wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) often

incorporate a variety of acoustic signals

into their aggressive charging displays,

including drumming, which is typically

performed by males (Goodall 1986; Lawick-Goodall 1968). Drumming is a widespread

mammalian adaptation with many features

as a conspicuous display with self- and

other adaptive functions (see Randall 2001).

Among chimpanzees, drumming is produced

mostly by striking the hands and feet against

the ground and trees, although sticks will also

be used to flail against objects. This hand-and-foot drumming of chimpanzees provides

a system of long-distance communication in

the low frequency sounds that they generate;

these are audible to humans at a distance of

up to one kilometer. While these acoustic

exchanges serve a practical purpose, there is

also a great deal of spontaneity and evident

satisfaction in these displays.

These drumming sessions are usually

accompanied by choruses of pant-hoots,

providing a variety of contextual information.

These drumming activities are carried

out during travel and in communicative

exchanges between individuals who

are outside of visual contact, providing

an auditory signal that allows dispersed

members of a group to remain in contact

with one another as they forage in separate

areas. Individuals can be identified by their

own distinctive patterns of drumming (rate

of drumming, length of episodes, the number

of distinctive beats, and their volume) allow

for identification of specific individuals. An

outburst of drumming may take place when

a traveling party encounters a particulartree, and females and youngsters may also

take part. Chimps (Pan paniscus) may use

drumming to protect their territory against

other groups, engaging in group shouting,

vocalizations, and aggressive displays with fast

and loud drumming that they produce by

beating and jumping up and down on tree

buttresses (De Waal 1997).These acoustic signals provide

mechanisms to call on the support of other

members of the groups who can assist

in confrontations with chimpanzees from

other communities (Arcadi et al. 1998).

Vocalizations (and drumming patterns) are

so unique as to permit identification of

individuals both by other chimpanzees andhuman listeners, based on characteristics

of the pant hoots, such as the frequency of

the calls, the length of buildup phase, and

the rate of hoots (Reynolds 2005). Arcadi

(1996) suggests that the members of a

single community modify their pant hoots

to resemble more closely the patterns of

their alpha male. This imitation leads to the

development of a unique community pattern

or accent that facilitates recognition of in-

group members and avoidance of out-group

members.


18/23



Adaptive Features of Chimpanzee

Threat DisplaysThe varieties of contexts of threat displays

illustrate that they are general behaviors

with multiple adaptive functions. These

displays occur in greetings, when separated

individuals fuse back together in the larger

group; at copious food trees; at waterfalls;

as rain dances; during all-night displays; in

intergroup confrontations; and for releaseof tension (Lawick-Goodall 1968; Reynolds

2005). The loud vocalizations and the

dramatic charging displays provide an

auditory beacon for those still distant from

the gathering site. The aggressive displays,

which can continue as darkness settles,

also serve to intimidate others in the

darkness. These dramatic ritual expressionsare an important tool for reintegrating the

dispersed society into a single group and are

manifested in dramatic chimpanzee chorus,

concerts, and similar group displays.

The threat displays of chimpanzees

provide a variety of functional adaptations:

Establishing and maintaining status andorder in society

Protecting the group and individual,

including reduction of physical harm

Establishing and maintaining boundaries

between groups

Producing emotional synchrony within

the group and releasing frustration and

tension

Protecting the group members from

predators, exemplified in drumming and

striking with branches

Providing a group identity, exemplified

in the shaping of vocalizations to mimic

dominant group males, and

Creating an auditory beacon for group

fusion, facilitating the individual re-

integration with the protective community

The calls, hoots, and aggressive bipedal

displays that the great apes use for a variety

of social purposes indicate they are hominin

universals and establish that our ancient

hominid ancestors also engaged in group

activities involving synchronous singing,

drumming, and dancing among membersof the group. This hominin ritual dynamic

involved communal activities that both united

the group and set them in contrast with

other groups. The many functional effects

of chimpanzee ritual indicate the adaptive

functions that similar rituals provided for our

ancient hominid ancestors.

Homologies of ChimpanzeeDisplays and Shamanic RitualA number of aspects of chimpanzee rituals

such as charging displays, stomping and

drumming, shaking branches, beating on the

chest, ground, or vegetation, and jumping up

and downreflect prior hominin adaptations

that were incorporated into shamanicritual activities. Notably, chimpanzees often

direct these activities not only toward the

nearby members of ones own group, but

also to no one, and toward unseen others

(i.e., other groups). These displays, and

group vocalizations in particular, provide

an emotional communication system that

promotes social well-being, empathy, and

social and cognitive integration by enhancing

group cohesion and unity. Primate call and

vocalization systems are preadaptations that

underlie the human capacities of song, music,

and chanting (see Wallin et al. 2000). The

use of music and song in shamanic activities

expands on these expressive modalities


19/23



that further evolved as mechanisms

for communicating about an animals

internal state and for enhancing group

synchronization and cooperation. Ritualized

synchronous group vocalizations are at the

core of shamanic rituals, and as in nonhuman

primates, provides an expressive system for

communicating emotional states, motivating

other members of the species, and managing

social contact and mate attraction.Drumming and dancing, which are

universally associated with shamanism, have

deep evolutionary roots as mammalian

signaling mechanisms. Such vigorous activity

that signals ones location to othersboth

allies and potential enemiesis seen as an

indicator of fitness, an indication of vigilance,

and a readiness to act. An amazing varietyof mammals produce seismic vibrations

by drumming a part of their body on a

substrate. The drumming can communicate

multiple messages to conspecifics about

territorial ownership, competitive superiority,

submission, readiness to mate, or presence

of predators. Drumming also functions in

interspecies communication when preyanimals drum to communicate to predators

that they are too alert for a successful ambush

(Randall 2001: 1). Drumming is a widespread

mammalian communication mechanism used

to convey information, a so-called costly

signaling mechanism that displays fitness,

enhances the survival opportunities for kin and

conspecifics, and reduces the individuals need

for more costly action.

The related display and vocalization

activities that have been observed among

the great apes, and the chimpanzees in

particular, establish that our common

hominin ancestors also had social adaptations

involving excited synchronous singing and

dancing. The singing, chanting, and dancing

characteristic of human rituals have a

biological basis and deep evolutionary

roots in the ritual calls, hoots, and group

displays that animals use for a variety of

social purposes. These emotive vocalizations

exhibited in loud calls and pant hoots have

structural and behavioral similarities with

human vocalizations that indicate that they

are the communicative precursors of humansinging and musical abilities, vocalizations

that provide information about internal

emotional states and external referents.

These activities eventually united and

integrated the group in the evenings,

providing protection by their intimidating

sound. Vocalizations that were the

precursors of singing and chanting werepart of affective displays made during

conditions of high arousal that helped to

maintain social contact through an emotive

communication system that signaled ones

presence and emotional state to other

members of the group (Brown 2000; also

see Oubr 1997). These illustrate basic

adaptive mechanisms of ritual. The roleof ritual as a form of intimidation of both

the immediately present other and the

unseen other is illustrated in the use of

dominance displays in many contexts.

These threat displays used to intimidate

other members of their group, other groups,

and even predators, illustrate how these

ritualized behaviors played adaptive roles

that were expanded in hominid evolution

to provide the basis for human ritual and

eventually religion.

An Ethological AnalogyThe presence of shaman-like collective ritual

practices in prehistoric hominid cultures can


20/23



be inferred from an ethnological analogy, one

in which similar elements in shamanic rituals

and those of the great apes attest to their

ancient foundations. These similarities include

the most dramatic ritual activity of the

community

displays involving an upright posture

and charge

aggressive display by a charismatic alpha

male to manifest dominance

emotional vocalizations that provide

information about individual states

drumming, including the use of handsand sticks

activities that unite and protect the

entire group, often oriented to a tree,

and sometimes occurring at night

A significant aspect of the hominin heritage

that persisted in the shamans healingpractices involves physical manipulations of

the body, including massage. In the diagnostic

phase the shaman may carefully inspect

all parts of the body, prodding lumps and

abscess and cleansing them through a variety

of procedures homologous with primate

grooming activities. These activities have

correspondences with the well-known

grooming behavior of primates. Such

behaviors have the ability to elicit the bodys

opioid response (Dunbar 2004).

Shamanism expanded these ancient

phylogenetic bases manifested in primate

and hominin ritual capacities into much

more prolonged display activities involving

extensive drumming, dancing, and music,

extending them throughout the night. A

number of factors underlie the evolution

of hominin ritual capacities into shamanism

and human religions (Winkelman and Baker

2008). These developments of shamanism

are beyond the scope of this article, but

have been examined elsewhere (Winkelman

2010). I propose that the nocturnal timing

of the rituals provided a zone for furtherdevelopment. Night-time ritual allowed for

an integration of the cognitive processes

involved in dreaming. Dream experiences,

combined with drumming, singing, and other

factors, eventually produced altered states of

consciousness known as mystical experiences.

These ASC became central features of the

new forms of ritual experience that wereat the focus of shamanism and its healing

practices. These experiences were enhanced,

perhaps even driven, by the capacity for

mimesis, a by-product of bipedalism (see

Donald 1991, 2001), which provided an

expanded capacity for symbolism through

enactment. There was also an evolution of

the human healing capacity (see Bulbulia2006; McClennon 2002, 2006), derived from

the capacity for suggestibility (hypnosis)

and the healing effects from the capacity

for music (see Crowe 2004). The most

notable of the chimpanzee-human ritual

differences, however, involve the effects

of altered states of consciousness and the

associated experiences of the soul and spirit

world. The factors, addressed below, on

which selective influences could have acted

to produce shamanism include extensions

of opioid bonding mechanisms; psychoactive

plants that were selected for enhanced use

of exogenous neurotransmitter sources; and

bipedalism and long-distance running which


21/23



induced mystical experiences by unusual

manipulations of the autonomic nervous

system (see Winkelman and Baker 2008;

Winkelman 2010).

ConclusionsInferences about the past require models.

The ethnographic analogy provided many

insights, using the models derived from

societies at different levels of complexity (e.g.hunter-gatherer vs. chieftains) to interpret

the use and meanings of past ar tifacts.

The ethnological analogy based on cross-

cultural research provides an even more

powerful set of inferential tools, allowing

greater certainty in asser ting necessary

universals of the religious practices of

the past. Neurological models providecompelling cross-confirmation of a variety

of cognitive potentials and their natural

and necessary part in the human past;

the ASC of shamanism are a key case

in point. The arguments regarding the

ancient origins of shamanism and its

roles in human evolution and cultural

emergence find additional confirmation

through the use of ethological analogies.

Based on homologies and functional

similarities between human and great-ape

rituals, these ethological analogies provide

a basis for reliable inferences about the

ritual dynamics of the hominin, hominid,

and human past. Together they provide

the basis for a shamanic paradigm as a

biogenetic framework for inference aboutspirituality and healing practices of humans

in the past.

Notes

1 This article incorporates material from Winkelman

(2004c, 2009) and Winkelman and Baker (2008).

2 Universals were inferred for a category of

practitioners when the characteristics werereported for 75 percent of more of the group

and the presence of information was significantly

predicted by data-quality control measures

assessing the ethnographers extent of coverage

and involvement with magico-religious practices.

In essence, universality of a feature was inferred

when most of the practitioners of a type had the

characteristic in question, and its absence was a

reflecting of poor data available for the culture

and its magico-religious practitioners.

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The Shamanic Paradigm: Evidence from Ethnology, Neuropsychology and Ethology, Michael Winkelman

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