of Russian and Adjacent Countries – State of Populations, Proceeding of the 6th Conference of Specialist Studying Bears, Central Forest Reserve, Tver

• Main Authors: Ceremonialism, Paul Shepard
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Ursus arctos
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.581.1991; http://trumpeter.athabascau.ca/index.php/trumpet/article/download/973/1375/

The widespread similarities of the rites and stories of the bear, Ursus arctos, in the circumpolar northern hemisphere may be an example of cultural diffusion. But if those stories and practices did pass by contact from people to people—or by the movements of peoples—it is likely that new ideas and behaviours were adopted because they found fertile ground in common experience. Alternatively, even if these analogous aspects of the cultures arose independently, it seems probable that their similarities are due to their common origin in observations of the bear i ared b