Archaeological and lexical perspectives on South Saami indigenous religion

In the article, a multidisciplinary method for studying past religions is introduced and applied to indigenousSouth Saami religion. The etymologies of the religious lexicon and the archaeological sacredremains of the South Saami area are systematically examined and the results of the two disciplinesare correlated according to the theoretical model for the correlation of archaeological and lexicaldata. Special attention is paid to studying how archaeological material reflects the phenomena seen inthe vocabulary. The lexical and archaeological data are collected from various dictionaries, historicaldescriptions, etymological and archaeological research, and archaeological fieldwork reports.Correlations between archaeological and lexical data are seen in the offering tradition, burialtraditions, and matters relating to death. The bear cult is highly visible in both materials, but the ageof the bear cult seems suspiciously young in the archaeological and lexical material. Sometimes, asin connection with the shaman institution, lexical and archaeological materials do not reveal muchabout the origin or dating of religious phenomena. Non-material concepts such as deity names arenot visible in archaeological data. A very tentative correlation is drawn between the faunal osteologicalmaterial at offering sites or scree graves and the saajve animal tradition. Such a correlation will,however, need more research to be verified.