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SensuousVisions:EncounteringtheshamanisticrockartoftheBayanJurek...
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ersthediversityofshamanicexpressions-‘shamanisms’.Inconsequence,this
thenleadsustoconsiderthepresenceofshamanisticpracticesinthe2ndmil-
lenniumBCEwillnotbeexactlythesameasthoseknownfromtheethnographic
present.Theroleoftheshamanisdiverseintimeandspace,andeachCentral
Asiansocietywouldhavenegotiateditsrolesinaspectrumofdifferentways,
aswehaveseeninthecaseoftheTajiksabove.Thereare,however,themesthat
arepoignantinourdeliberations,suchashealing,performance,mediatingwith
spirits,journeysandvisions,whichfurtherassistourongoingdiscussionsbelow.
Moreover,theboundariesbetweenshamanisticandotherreligiouspracticesare
permeableasmanymembersofsocietiescarryouttheirlivesinwhichthecon-
nectionsbetweenthetwomaybeentwinedandinseparable.
TheBayanJurekfigures
TheBayanJurekmountainsaresituatedapproximately25kmeastofthehis-
torictownofKapalintheTaldykorghanregionofAlmatyprovince,southeast-
ernKazakhstan.ThenamederivesfromtheOiratwordsбаииндзурх,‘generous
heart’,andisrenderedasБаянжүрекinKazakhandБаянЖурекorБаянжурек
inRussian.Themountainrangeisabout13kmlongandrunsparalleltothe
greaterJungarianAlataumountainrangethatbordersChina.Thepetroglyphs
ofBayanJurekwerediscoveredaround1979-1980duringfieldsurveyscon-
ductedbytheSemirech’eexpeditionoftheInstituteofHistory,Archaeologyand
EthnographyANKazSSR.Inpost-Soviettimes,therockartcomplexwasrecord-
edingreaterdetailbyajointFranco-Kazakhresearchprojectduring1994-1996,
whichidentifiedover2500petroglyphsinthewesternendoftheBayanJurek
mountainrange.Theimagesofthetwodancingfigureswerefirstpublishedin
anarticlebyZainollaSamashevin1998.Hehasalsomorerecentlypublished
twobooksdetailingvariousinterpretationsofthedifferenttypesofpetroglyph
imagesfoundatBayanJurek(Samashevetal.2008;Samashev2012).
Thefirstdancingfigure(no.1)islocatedonthepeakofthehighestsum-
mit(approximately1800mabovesealevel)inthesouthwesternpartofBay-
anJurek.Hereonasmallsandstoneplateisengravedthepetroglyphscene
ofahumanfigurewithafeatherheaddressandbentlegsthatisaccompanied
bythreeanimals(Fig.1).Twooftheanimalsareindistinguishable,whilethe
thirdisdamagedandquiteunrecognizable.Thesecondfigure(no.2)isfound
onanexposedsurfaceofsandstonesituatedonaridgemuchlowerdownfrom
thesummitwherethefirstfigureislocated,butitisstillquitehighupfrom
thevalleyfloor(Fig.2).Thisfigurealsohasbentlegs,butitwearsanelaborate
hemisphericalheaddressuponitshead.Anibexaccompaniesitandthetipof
itssnoutoverlapsthehemisphericalheaddressindicatingthecapridwasprob-
ablycarvedatalaterdate.
