In the Arctic, people who died could not be easily buried in the ground.
They were placed in shallow surface graves ad covered with rocks so that
animals could not dig through and eat the flesh. This sculpture shows a
shaman buried with accoutrements of his calling: drum and beater, medicine
bags, and talismans. He is fully dressed in his skin clothing, in a state
of decay, skull and hands exposed. His drum has been silenced in our
contemporary times, but even in his passing from worldly existence, the
shaman can still exude a powerful aura near his resting place.
The
cultural and spiritual legacy left behind by these "spirit
wrestlers" still resonates to this day in the underlying beliefs and
stories of Inuit people from Siberia to Greenland.
