Book Review: Prehistoric Belief, Shamans Trance and the Afterlife, Mike Williams
Submitted by runemage on Monday, 20 September 2010 Page Views: 7335
Reviews
Mike Williams approaches his subject from a unique angle, traditional archaeological education for his MA, then a PHD followed by shamanic practise. This gives him insight that neither of these usually very separate disciplines can give on their own. Throughout the book there are small snapshots of scenes from the Neanderthals onwards from a shamanic perspective, as though you are physically there in that timeframe, and could interact with the people you can see if you wished to.
His writing style is easy to read, the progression of ideas comes as a flow, the reader isn’t bombarded with bits of this and bits of that or sidetracked hither and thither. Williams also is very up-front about telling the reader when he is using artistic license and when he is reporting known facts, which is a very refreshing attitude. The geographical locations are wide-ranging and the how and why and where of shamanism in one era isn’t confined to a single society or area, rather it’s presented as a much wider overview.
I found Williams’ interpretations of ancient societies and their structure sympathetic and enlightening, particularly the way he can extrapolate things. For example, how much effort people made to ensure one of their tribe looked their best and had the right tools with them for their residence in the otherworld; how almost everything given significance in the Palaeolithic had an element of liminality and that they were the first humans to go into trance.
Later in the book, he explains from a shamanic perspective why each of the finds in the three ditches surrounding a henge were placed in their respective locations, saying that the outer ditch contained that which had not fully entered the world of humans. Artefacts had not yet been completed, the cattle and infant remains had not yet fully been brought into being. The middle ditch contained animal parts from adult cattle and dogs, and the inner ditch contained fully butchered animal parts and flint knives. This suggests that the closer to the centre the objects were, the more ‘integrated’ with people they were.
Many types of ancient sites and their uses are discussed in detail, from construction to finds to orientation and types of use, yet apart from Stonehenge, there is little mention of any other stone circles. I don’t recall a mention of dolmens either.
What he has undertaken to do in this book is a gargantuan task, to present a chronological history of human development and belief, much of it before there were any written records. Here, he uses the archaeology and the landscape to present his ideas and to build a very believable case for his views. To write such a history in itself would be an achievement but to combine that with the changing beliefs of diverse societies is a challenge that he has risen to.
For example, on the changes from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age, he observes that in Britain, farmsteads are fortified and whereas metalworking was always set apart from the homesteads in a liminal location, now ironworking is done in the home. Bronze, and particularly the copper from which it came was a metal that gave its owners an air of mystique by association with such an exotic creation. Iron however could sometimes be sourced even in their own home fields, so was seen as much less prestigious in the exotic sense but implied a stronger connection to the land, indicating the land now belonged to the living.
Prehistoric Belief will appeal to a very wide audience, there is a lot within its pages to peruse. There are some challenging ideas and some lightbulb moments to be found among its intriguing narrative.
There is also a comprehensive notes and bibliography section - 78 pages - for anyone wishing to expand their knowledge of any of the points raised in the book. It isn’t a shamanism 101, there are no instructions, but if it has whetted your appetite and you’d like to hear some shamanic drumming or try trance yourself, then there’s a complementary website at www.prehistoricshamanism.com.
Review by Runemage
Prehistoric Belief, Shamans Trance and the Afterlife by Mike WilliamsPublished by the History Press, RRP £20
Paperback 319 pages
ISBN 9780752449210
From £14.26 at Amazon.co.uk
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