The forest peoples round Baikal, Lake Khovsgol and the Sayans (the Bulagat and Ekhirit ancestors of the Buryats, the Khori, the Bargut, the Tumat, the ancestors of the Darkhad, the Sayan hunters) are shamanists as the later records show them.
Their shamans speak for the lords of mountain, lake and river and for the dead, and heal. The Burkhan cape on Olkhon island, a rock cape above the lake at Khuzhir, is the great shaman site of the Baikal Buryats in later centuries, and Lake Khovsgol is sacred to its hunters; for 1200 both are inferences. Baikal is frozen in January and the ice is a road.
The Merkit, Khori and Bargut hunting camps lie near these places. The evidence is the thinnest in the area.
Who holds it
- Title
- Shamans (bo'e among the Mongol-speakers, kam among the Turkic) and clan elders; no holder is named for 1200
- Since
- Immemorial
- Born
- not known
- Family
- Not applicable.
- Confidence
- low
Everything on the forest peoples' rites comes from sources of the 17th to the 20th century, from Russian explorers and ethnographers. For 1200 it is an inference from later use.
What it holds
- The authority of shamans and elders over the clans' offerings and omens (no named office)
- The sacred places of the forest peoples (later tradition): the Burkhan cape on Olkhon, Lake Khovsgol, mountain heads and lake shores
- No land, serfs or revenue
How it was acquired
Immemorial.
Allies and rivals
No quarrel is recorded. Neighbours: the Merkit, who share the Selenga forest and the Barguzin refuge, and the Kereyit, who send hunters and traders to the forest edge.
How things stand that morning
Unrecorded: no shaman of the forest peoples is named for 1200.
Wealth
Offerings at the sacred places; furs and game of the forest peoples.
Threats
- The Merkit refuge and raiding pushing into the forest peoples' hunting grounds
- Dzud and bad hunting years
Places of note
- Cape Burkhan, Olkhon island (inferred sacred place): The rock cape on the west coast of Olkhon above the lake; sacred in later centuries, inferred for 1200.
- Lake Khovsgol (inferred sacred water): The sacred lake of the Khovsgol and Darkhad hunters; inferred for 1200.
Where the sources disagree
- The Burkhan cape is called by later names (the Shamanka Rock) and its cult is described only from the 17th century onward; it is a point on the map, not a documented 13th century shrine.
Evidence: Later ethnography only; the picture of a shamanist forest world is safe, the particular places are inferences.
On the map: Points only.
Sources and studies
- D. B. Batoeva, Migrations of Mongolian-Speaking Tribes from Transbaikalia to Manchuria, Oriental Studies 10:6 (2017)
- Wikipedia, Mongol campaigns in Siberia
- V. V. Ushnitsky, The Riddle of the Merkit Tribe, Vestnik of Tomsk State University, History 2013, no. 1 (21)
- John of Plano Carpini, Historia Mongalorum (1247) and William of Rubruck, Itinerarium (1253-55): Mongol shamans, divination by burnt shoulder blades, the sky god. From memory; later than 1200
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.