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Old 21-11-2011, 08:48 AM
norseman norseman is offline
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"The word Shaman is another word that didn't come into formation until more recently."

Etu, I think we use the word to describe a function rather than a job title. We do know that both Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon Hunter-Gatherers had wise men/women/healers/etc/etc. So we use "shaman" to describe what they did - invoke local spirits etc to ensure good hunting and successful harvests [later]. So, we probably are dabbling in semantics for want of a better word
Same argument applies to "witches" much, much earlier than Greek/Roman cultures - are we guilty of applying a modern definition to an ancient function ?
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