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Khovsgol lake Tsaatan Shamanistic Landscape

Les noms des biens figurent dans la langue dans laquelle les Etats parties les ont soumis.

Mongolie (Asie et pacifique)
Date de soumission : 01/08/1996
Catégorie : Mixte
Soumis par : Ministry of Enlightenment
Coordonnées Lat. 51° to 52° N ; Long. 99° to 101° E
Ref.: 938

Description

Lake Khovsgol's 380 cubic km of water make it the fourteenth largest freshwater lake in the world and second largest in Central Asia by volume, with over 1% of the world's fresh water. At its deepest, the lake dives 262 meters. Ninety-six rivers and strearns empty into lake, but only the Egiin River exits the lake. The Egiin flows southeast until it joins the Selenge River, which flows through one of Mongolia's most densely populated areas on its way to Lake Baikal. The lake is 1645 meters above sea level and is generally frozen from January until April or May. Nine species of fish inhabit the lake, including Siberian grayling and lenok. Nearby taiga forest, forest steppe, mountains, and the lake itself provide habitat for 68 species of mammals, including argali, ibex, elk, reindeer, musk deer, brown bear, Iynx, marten, beaver, wolf, and moose, 244 species of birds, and 750 species of plants, including 60 with medicinal importance.

On the shores in the mountainous taiga and forest steppe regions to the north and west of the lake live the Tsaatan Reindeer Herdsmen, a branch of the Turkic-speaking Tuvinian or Dukha ethnic group. This small group of whom only 30-40 families remain, possess a social and material culture which has remained unchanged since the Ice Age. Shamanistic or totemic rituals and symbolism are central to the social organization of the Tsaatan. Shamanism also determines the way in which the Tsaatan respond to the landscape of Khovsgol Lake as well as to the plant and animal species which are endemic to the area. Shamanistic rituals of healing rely on the rare medicinal plants and animals may of which are unique to this landscape. The Lake itself as well as landscape features around the Lake are animated with shamanistic symbolism. The geomantic potency of the landscape is captured, directed, enhanced or delflected, according to need, by landscape engineering and architectural and artifactual additions to the landscape. Archaeologically these landscape transformations can be documented to the prehistoric period, while ethnolographically their continuation can be seen present time. The Tsaatan are one of the most archaic and and ethnologically interesting nomadic groups to be found on the Eurasian continent their lifeways are both ancestral to all the nomadic herding cultures of Central Asia and are reminiscent of a way of life which was widespread accross Europe, Asia and North America 10,000 years ago.