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This research database compiles sources of information that significantly inform investigations on bear ceremonialism in ancestral cultures of the northern hemisphere. Multiple types of data are represented in this database, including paleontological, archaeological, literary, historical, ethnographic and biological data. These and other sources are currently being applied to address long-standing questions in scientific discourse on the widespread distribution of bear ceremonialism on three continents.
Recent paleontological discoveries address long-standing questions about the earliest evidence of bear ceremonialism in human heritage.
A skaldic metaphoric tradition raises the question if Ullr is conflated with the "master of elves," Volund. Details elucidate a clear association between Volund and bear-hunting rites of iron-age ancestors of modern Sami or Finnic people. Searching deeper into the forest of time, Volund and Ullr's tracks become obscured, but intersect with a widespread mythic motif in which the bear is born from a sky or thunder deity and a forest deity.
In this tale from the legendary Saga of King Hrolf, a Sami sorceress named Hvit causes a man named Bjorn to transform into a bear. Later, Bjorn's lover, Bera, gives birth to three unusual children.
The Sons of Torum is a powerful and insightful ethnographic documentary detailing a Khanty (Siberian Native) bear ceremony.
Introduction to contemporary bear dance ceremonies of Ute people. Informants relate the renewing power of these ceremonies for Ute society to the renewing power of the bear's hibernation cycle. Produced by Voices of America
Boaz, F., Tate, H. (1916). Tsimshian Mythology (Vol. 31). Washington: The Bureau.
Byock, Jesse, translator. (1998). The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki. Penguin.
Crawford, Jackson, translator. (2017). The Saga of the Volsungs: With the Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok. Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.
Crawford, Jackson, translator. (2021). Two Sagas of Mythical Heroes: Hervor and Heidrek & Hrólf Kraki and his champions. Hackett Publishing Company.
Crawford, John. M. (1891). The Kalevala, The Epic Poem of Finland. Columbian Publishing Co.
Deans, James. (1889). The Story of the Bear and His Indian Wife. A Legend of the Haidas of Queen Charlotte's Island, B. C. The Journal of American Folklore Vol. 2, No. 7 (Oct. - Dec., 1889), pp. 255-260. Retrieved from https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/136a4356-5da2-4921-b871-ac72598a7ee4/downloads/The%20Story%20of%20Bear%20and%20his%20Indian%20Wife.pdf?ver=1648023709672
Euripedes (1930). Alcestis. Translated by R. Aldington. F.P. Chatto & Windus.
(original work 438 BCE). Retrieved 2022, from http://classics.mit.edu/Euripides/alcestis.html
Euripedes (1884). The Alcestis of Euripides: Translated From The Greek Into English, Now For The First Time In Its Original Metres, With Preface, Explanatory Notes, And Stage Directions Suggesting How It Might Have Been Performed. Translated by & Lennard Henry Barrett Lennard. London: R. Bentley and Sons. (original work 438 BCE). Retrieved 2022, from https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=A9cIAAAAQAAJ&pg=GBS.PA52&hl=en
Linnaéus, Carl Von. (1811). Lachesis Lapponica; or, a Tour in Lapland. White and Cochrane. (original work 1732). Retrieved March 16, 2022, from https://archive.org/details/lachesislapponic01linn
Murray, G. (1910). The Iphigenan Tarus of Euripedes. Oxford University Press. https://resources.warburg.sas.ac.uk/pdf/ekh238b2759709.pdf
Scheffer, J. (1673). The History of Lapland. The Project Gutenberg eBook. Retrieved March 31, 2022, from https://www.gutenberg.org/files/59695/59695-h/59695-h.htm
Sturluson, S., (1916). The Prose Edda. (Translated by A.G. Brodeur). Penguin Books. (Original work circa 1272)
Sturluson, S. (1936) The Poetic Edda. Translated by H. A. Bellows. Princeton University Press. (original work circa 1272 CE).
Sturluson, S. (2005). The Prose Edda: Norse Mythology. (Translated by J.L. Byock). Penguin Books. (Original work circa 1272)
Sturluson, S. (2015). Prose Edda Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes. Translated by Jackson Crawford. Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.
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Bonifay, E. (1965). Un Ensemble Rituel Moustérien à la Grotte du Régourdou (Montignac, Dordogne). Actes du IVème Congrès de l'UISPP, Rome, vol. II, pp. 136-140.
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Brunning, S. (2016). A ‘Divination Staff’ from Viking-Age Norway: At the British Museum. Acta Archaeologica, 87(1), 193–200. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0390.2016.12171.x
Chang, Will, Chundra, Cathcart (2015). Ancestry-Constrained Phylogenetic Analysis Supports the Indo-European Steppe Hypothesis. Language. 91 (1): 194–244. Retrieved 2022,from https://www.linguisticsociety.org/sites/default/files/news/ChangEtAlPreprint.pdf
Celoria, F. (1993). The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis. Classical Review, 423-424. ISSN 0009-840X, 43(2), 423–424. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315812755
Davis, W. (2016). The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World. Access and Diversity, Crane Library, University of British Columbia.
Diedrich, Cajus G. (2015). ‘Neanderthal bone flutes’: simply products of Ice Age spotted hyena scavenging activities on cave bear cubs in European cave bear dens. Royal Society Open Science. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.140022
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Gardela, L. (2008). Into Viking Minds: Reinterpreting the Staffs of Sorcery and Unravelling seiðr. Viking and Medieval Scandinavia, 4, 45–84. https://doi.org/10.1484/j.vms.1.100306
Gardela, L. (2009). The Good, the Bad and the Undead: New Thoughts on the Ambivalence of Old Norse Sorcery. Á Austrvega Saga and East Scandinavia. Papers from the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences. The 14th International Saga Conference, 1(14).
Germonpré M. and Hämäläinen R. (2007). Fossil Bear Bones in the Belgian Upper Paleolithic:The Possibility of a Proto Bear-Ceremonialism, Arctic Anthropology, 44, 1–30 https://www.academia.edu/488075/Fossil_bear_bones_in_the_Belgian_Upper_Palaeolithic_the_possibility_of_a_proto_bear_ceremonialism
Griffin, J. (1986). Greek Myth and Hesiod. In Greece and the Hellenistic World. In J. Boardman, J. Griffin, & O, Murray. (Eds.). Oxford University Press.
Grugni, V., Raveane, A., Ongaro, L. et al. Analysis of the human Y-chromosome haplogroup Q characterizes ancient population movements in Eurasia and the Americas. BMC Biol 17, 3 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12915-018-0622-4
Günther, T., Malmström, H., Svensson, E. M., Omrak, A., Sánchez-Quinto, F., Kılınç, G. M., Krzewińska, M., Eriksson, G., Fraser, M., Edlund, H., Munters, A. R., Coutinho, A., Simões, L. G., Vicente, M., Sjölander, A., Sellevold, B. J., Jørgensen, R., Claes, P., Shriver, M. D., … Jakobsson, M. (2018). Population Genomics of Mesolithic Scandinavia: Investigating Early Postglacial Migration Routes and High-Latitude Adaptation. PLOS Biology. Retrieved March 16, 2022, from https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.2003703
Hallowell, A. I. (1926). Bear Ceremonialism in the Northern Hemisphere. American Anthropologist, 28(1), 1–175. https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1926.28.1.02a00020
Helmbrecht, M. (2013). Figures, Foils and Faces - Fragments of a Pictorial world. Anthropomorphic Images from the Vendel period and Viking Age found at Uppåkra. Birgitta Hårdh, Lars Larsson (Eds.): Folk, Fä Och Fynd. Uppåkrastudier 12. Acta Arch. Lundensia Ser. in 8, No. 64. Retrieved 2022, from https://www.academia.edu/5577634/Figures_Foils_and_Faces_Fragments_of_a_pictorial_world_Anthropomorphic_images_from_the_Vendel_period_and_Viking_Age_found_at_Upp%C3%A5kra
Hublin, J.J., Sirakov, N., Aldeias, V. et al. (20222). Initial Upper Palaeolithic Homo sapiens from Bacho Kiro Cave, Bulgaria. Nature 581, 299-302. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2259-z
Hultkranz, Å. (1991). The Drum in Shamanism. Some Reflections. In T. Ahlbäck, J. Bergman. (Eds.). The Saami Shaman Drum: Based on Papers Read at the Symposium on the Saami Shaman Drum Held at Abo, Finland, on the 19th-20th of August 1988. essay, The Donner Institute for Research in Religious and Cultural History. Retrieved 2022, from https://www.doria.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/134162/The%20Saami%20Shaman%20Drum%201991%20OCR.pdf?sequence=2
Jane, Smiley. (1997). Sagas of Icelanders. Penguin Books.
Janhunen, Juha. (2003). Tracing the Bear Myth in Northeast Asia. Acta Slavica Iaponica, 20, 1-24. Retrieved 2022, from https://www.academia.edu/44351187/Tracing_the_Bear_Myth_in_Northeast_Asia
Kozintsev, Alexander. (2020). The Origin of the Okunev Population, Southern Siberia: The Evidence of Physical Anthropology and Genetics. Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia. 48. 135-145. 10.17746/1563-0110.2020.48.4.135-145.
Kuplandeyev, N. P. (1995). Song of the Coming of the Bear. Introductory. Recorded at Larlomkiny Settlement. Translated from Russian to English by Balalaeva, O. E and Wiget, A., 2020. https://eloka-arctic.org/bears/eastern-khanty
Kuplandeyev, N. P. (1995). Song of the Coming of the Bear. Introductory. Recorded at Larlomkiny Settlement. Translated from Russian to English by Balalaeva, O. E and Wiget, A., 2020. https://eloka-arctic.org/bears/eastern-khanty
Lamnidis, T.C., Majander, K., Jeong, C. et al. (2018). Ancient Fennoscandian Genomes Reveal Origin and Spread of Siberian Ancestry in Europe. Nat Commun 9, 5018. Retrieved 2022, from https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-07483-5
Laming-Emperaire, Anette. (1966). Les Religions de la Préhistoire (Paléolithique): Andre Leroi-Gourhan. American Anthropologist. Vol. 68, Iss. 2. Pages 573-574
Lbova, Liudmila. (2021). The Siberian Paleolithic Site of Mal'ta: A Unique Source for the Study of Childhood Archaeology. Evolutionary Human Sciences, 3, E9. doi:10.1017/ehs.2021.5
Liesowska, Anna. (2013). Siberian Times. Beautiful Ancient Ring Found by Archeologists on the Arctic Circle Was not for a Woman...But a Bear. Siberian Times. Retrieved March 19, 2023, from https://siberiantimes.com/science/casestudy/features/beautiful-ancient-bronze-ring-found-by-archeologists-on-the-arctic-circle-was-not-for-a-womanbut-a-bear/
Linnaéus, Carl Von. (1811). Lachesis Lapponica; or, a Tour in Lapland. White and Cochrane. (original work 1732). Retrieved March 16, 2022, from https://archive.org/details/lachesislapponic01linn
Murray, G. (1910). The Iphigenan Tarus of Euripedes. Oxford University Press. https://resources.warburg.sas.ac.uk/pdf/ekh238b2759709.pdf
Matteo, R., Terlato, G., Nannini, N., Tagliacozzo, A., Benazzi, S., Peresani, M. (2015).
Bears and humans, a Neanderthal tale. Reconstructing uncommon behaviors from zooarchaeological evidence in southern Europe. Journal of Archaeological Science. Vol 90. Pages 71-91. ISSN 0305-4403. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2017.12.004.
McClellan, C. (1970). The girl who married the bear. The National Museum of Canada.
Morrison, W. (2010). Fifth Annual Northwest Indian Storytelling Festival. Portland, Oregon; Lewis and Clark College.
Murray, G. (1910). The Iphigenan Tarus of Euripedes. Oxford University Press. https://resources.warburg.sas.ac.uk/pdf/ekh238b2759709.pdf
Narayan, R. K., & Kampar. (2006). The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic (suggested by the Tamil version of Kamban). Penguin Books. Retrieved 2022, from http://dt.pepperdine.edu/courses/greatbooks_v/gbv-15/66697602-The-Ramayana-R-K-Narayan.pdf
National Museum of Denmark. (n.d.). A Seeress from Fyrkat. Retrieved 2022, from https://en.natmus.dk/.../religion.../a-seeress-from-fyrkat/
National Museum of Denmark. (n.d.). The Magic Wands of Seeress. Retrieved 2022, from https://en.natmus.dk/.../the-magic-wands-of-the-seeresses/
National Museum of Denmark. (n.d.). The Golden Horns. Retrieved 2022, from https://en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-period-until-1050-ad/the-late-iron-age/the-golden-horns/
North South East West. (n.d.). American Indians and the Natural World. Retrieved 2022, from http://nsew.carnegiemnh.org/
Orchard, A. (1997). Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend. Cassell.
Pekantytär, Niina. (2022). Northern Bear Folklore. Newsbreak. Jan. 24, 2022. Retrieved from https://original.newsbreak.com/@niina-pekantyt-r-1589868/2494102250133-northern-bear-folklore
Pentikäinen, J. (2015). The Bear Rituals among the Sámi. In E Comba, & D. Ormezzano, (Eds.). Uomini e orsi: Morfologia del selvaggio. Torino: Accademia University Press. doi:10.4000/books.aaccademia.1379 Retrieved 2022, from https://books.openedition.org/aaccademia/1379?lang=en
Pomeroy, E., Bennett, P., Hunt, C., Reynolds, T., Farr, L., Frouin, M., Barker, G. (2020). New Neanderthal Remains Associated with the ‘Flower Burial’ at Shanidar Cave. Antiquity, 94(373), 11-26. doi:10.15184/aqy.2019.207
Price, N. S. (2002). The Viking Way: Religion and War in Late Iron Age Scandinavia. Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala University.
Price, Neil. (2004). The Archaeology of Seidr: Circumpolar Traditions in Viking Pre-Christian Religion. Brathair 4 (2). 2004: 109-126. ISSN: 1519-9053
Raghavan Maanasa, Skoglund P, Graf KE, Metspalu M, Albrechtsen A, Moltke I, Rasmussen S, Stafford TW Jr, Orlando L, Metspalu E, Karmin M, Tambets K, Rootsi S, Mägi R, Campos PF, Balanovska E, Balanovsky O, Khusnutdinova E, Litvinov S, Osipova LP, Fedorova SA, Voevoda MI, DeGiorgio M, Sicheritz-Ponten T, Brunak S, Demeshchenko S, Kivisild T, Villems R, Nielsen R, Jakobsson M, Willerslev E. Upper Palaeolithic Siberian genome reveals dual ancestry of Native Americans. Nature. 2014 Jan 2;505(7481):87-91. doi: 10.1038/nature12736. Epub 2013 Nov 20. PMID: 24256729; PMCID: PMC4105016.
Romandini, Matteo, GabrieleTerlato, NicolaNannini, Antonio Tagliacozzo, Stefano, Benazzi Marco Peresani. (2018). Bears and Humans, a Neanderthal Tale. Reconstructing Uncommon Behaviors from Zooarchaeological Evidence in Southern Europe. Journal of Archaeogical Science. Vol. 90. Pages 71-91.
Hublin, J.J., Sirakov, N., Aldeias, V. et al. Initial Upper Palaeolithic Homo sapiens from Bacho Kiro Cave, Bulgaria. Nature 581, 299–302 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2259-z
Rulf, R. (2009). Rose High Bear. Founder of Wisdom of the Elders. Personal communication.
Rydving, H. (1991). The Saami Drums and the Religious Encounter in the 17th and 18th Centuries. In T. Ahlbäck, J. Bergman. (Eds.). The Saami Shaman Drum: Based on Papers Read at the Symposium on the Saami Shaman Drum Held at Abo, Finland, on the 19th-20th of August 1988. The Donner Institute for Research in Religious and Cultural History. Retrieved 2022, from https://www.doria.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/134162/The%20Saami%20Shaman%20Drum%201991%20OCR.pdf?sequence=2
Rydving, H. (2010). The ‘Bear Ceremonial’ and Bear Rituals among the Khanty and the Sami. Temenos - Nordic Journal of Comparative Religion, 46(1). Retrieved 2022 from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/297516419_The_'Bear_Ceremonial'_and_Bear_Rituals_among_the_Khanty_and_the_Sami
Sale, W. (1962). The Story of Callisto in Hesiod. Retrieved March 16, 2022, from http://www.rhm.uni-koeln.de/105/Sale.pdf
Swanton, J. R. (1909). Tlingit Myths and Texts, Recorded by John R. Swanton (1909 edition). Open Library. Retrieved March 16, 2022, from https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/534036.pdf
Tamm, E., Kivisild, T., Reidla, M., Metspalu, M., Smith, D.G., et al. (2007) Beringian Standstill and Spread of Native American Founders. PLOS ONE 2(9): e829. Retrieved 2022, from https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0000829
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Tolley, C. (2007). Hrolf's Saga Kraka and Sami Bear Rites. Saga Book. Viking Society for Northern Research. University College London. , (31), 5–21.
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Walbank, M. (1981). Artemis Bear-Leader. The Classical Quarterly, 31(2), 276-281. doi:10.1017/S0009838800009587
Wiget, Andrew; Balalaeva, Olga (2011). Khanty, People of the Taiga: Surviving the 20th Century. University of Alaska Press. ISBN 978-16022-3125-2. https://moodle.swarthmore.edu/pluginfile.php/246427/mod_resource/content/1/Khanty.pdf
Wunn, I. (2000). Beginning of Religion. Numen, 47(4), 417–452. https://doi.org/10.1163/156852700511612
Wunn, I. (2001) Cave bear worship in the Palaeolithic. Cadernos Lab. Xeolóxico de Laxe Coruña. Vol. 26, pp. 457-463.
The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian curates an“Iroquois story about three hunters who follow a bear into the sky and become the stars forming the handle of the Big Dipper.” In this tale, a great bear frightened and eluded the people. Three brothers committed to hunting the bear down but could not catch up to it. The bear led the hunters, along with their dog, to the edge of the world, and they “followed the bear into the sky.” Eventually, the bear tired, and wove an invisible net, which he crawled into and fell asleep. At last, the brothers, thinking they had caught the bear cheered, but roused the bear from its slumber. The bear cast the net over the three brothers and their dog and "dragged them far away." According to the story, the hunters still follow the bear, unaware that they are trapped in the bears net.
Here is the life-history that would be assigned Arcas: he was born of a bear, captured by goatherds, brought to Lycaon, cut up in pieces and served to Zeus, restored and sent again to a goatherd, returned again to Lycaeus, chased his mother into the sanctuary, and was about to be killed again, when Zeus changed him into the constellation Arctophylax."
See also "Ancestral-Bear Motif"
Sale, W. (1962). The Story of Callisto in Hesiod. Rheinisches Museum 102 (1962). 1 33-1 41.http://www.rhm.uni-koeln.de/105/Sale.pdf