VIKTOR PETROV’S NOTES ON TRIBAL SOCIETIES AMONG THE PEOPLES OF THE CAUCASUS,
THE FAR EAST AND THE FAR NORTH OF RUSSIA

Boxes 209 and 210 in the personal collection of Viktor Petrov No. 16, stored in the Research Archives of the Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, contain excerpts from the works of other researchers and the author’s reflections on various aspects of the existence of the tribal society among the peoples of the Caucasus, the Far East and the Far North of Russia. In particular, Petrov was interested in beliefs, origin myths, tribal festivities, forms of individual and group marriage, sacrifices and gifts, etc.

For example, many of the researcher’s extracts are devoted to the bear worship among the Gilyaks (or Nivkhs) – the indigenous people of northern Sakhalin, as well as the basins of the Tim and Lower Amur rivers. The Gilaks considered the bear to be their relative, who was once a human. The bear was omniscient, so they never talked about him and even tried not to think badly of him. In addition, in the case of killing or insulting a bear, as the Gilaks believed, other bears will take revenge for him – that is, ideas about blood feud, characteristic of a tribal society, spread to a bear. At the same time, the Gilyaks had a custom of ritually killing and eating a bear. From this, Petrov concluded the following: “ ‘Bear worship’ is for the most part not the cult of the demon, but the rituals that were previously performed by hunters over all hunted animals. Only in relation to a bear, these rituals have survived much better to this day, supported by the fear that a strong bear instils in a person.” (collection 16, box 210, p. 98)

Another interesting conclusion was made by Petrov about the differences in the attitude towards animals in modern and tribal society: “From the point of view of a tribal society, an animal is not inferior in comparison to a human being. Animals are not against man. They are not opposing a human being. For a tribal society, there is no ‘animal world’ and ‘human world’, there is no ‘animal’ and ‘human’, but only a tribal one” (collection 16, box, 209, p. 86).

In the tribal society, the institution of gift, according to Petrov, also had a different meaning, which was based on the belief that together with the gift, a part of the tribal collective “self” is transferred. Thus, the tribe becomes related to the tribe, creating a new connection with other collective, which, according to the researcher, can be compared to the act of initiation.

In addition to the above-mentioned topics, both boxes also contain excerpts from ancient authors (religious ideas related to seafaring and ships), about the meaning of religious gestures in various historical eras, as well as several pages of text in a different handwriting about the Chud tribes known from ancient Kyivan Rus’ annals and settlement of Goths on the territory of Ukraine.

Viktoriia Serhiienko