Berserkers, Cannibals & Shamans: Essays in Dissident Anthropology

by Stone Age Herbalist

Good anthropology should frighten and disturb. How many children are ritually sacrificed in Uganda each year? Why does China have such a long history of cannibalism? Do modern soldiers still go berserk like the Vikings of old?

In this essay collection, Stone Age Herbalist ranges across a number of uncomfortable topics, from Mongolian eco-fascists to contemporary child witchcraft murders in Britain, the philosophy of Aztec violence and the biological impacts of famines on populations. The vision of the world he presents breaks sharply with the comfortable scholarly consensus on human nature and summons up forgotten truths now buried by modernity. Human life is far more dark and vital, more marked with hostility, expansion and heroism than we are led to believe. Inside you will discover the prehistory of whaling, seafaring, the horror of deep time, indigenous warfare, the genius of shamanism, English melancholy, the mysteries of palaeolithic Australia and much more. With public scepticism of academic experts at an all time high and the revelations of genetics threatening to bring back war and conquest to a timid archaeological ivory tower, the time is right for a fresh and rigorous examination of the world.

Genres: Anthropology, History, Nonfiction, Essays

Kindle Edition

First published August 22, 2022

Reviews

[Petra X · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is very hard to rate this book. Some of the essays are 10 star brilliant like the ones on human sacrifice in the modern world, it is endemic in Uganda, India and has crossed over to London.
Just like in Rochdale with the Asian grooming gangs, people don't want to speak out in case they are labelled racist even though they are talking of a few criminals only, so to protect themselves, they wait until there is a death or torture of a child and then it hits the news. And then the inevitable enquiry and 'lessons will be learned'. But they aren't. The fear of being labelled a racist is greater than the fear of a child being abused or dying on their watch.

There was an interesting essay on cannibalism in China with a note that as recently as 2005 a Chinese company was investigated by the House of Commons committee for health for using human skin 'harvested from executed prisoners' in beauty products. The company defended itself saying tht the practice was traditional.

Other really good essays were on the eco-terrorism of the World Wild Fund which is destroying with violence the various pygmy tribes in the name of ecology (people don't count, animals do). The origins of the two-spirit and gay rights movement (kind of shocking, kind of a joke, fake as fake can be, invented not too long ago) together with the 'Strange Story of Harry Hay and Will Roscoe" (worth looking up), and perhaps most enlightening of all, 'Exploring the Mess of Modern Bioarcheology'.

This last is both a clear reflection of the Nazis approach to bioarcheology and as woke as you can get. The Nazis saw everything successful as being white, woke archeologists and historians have joined forces to now see everything through the eyes of gender. This goes so far as identify skeletal remains as 'transgender' and giving roles to women that would make modern feminism redundant.

I do think there is a point to trying to see things not through a western colonialist lens (and decent archeo-anthropologists do try, obviously), but to assign modern gender identities and and make out that women were powerful, leaders and warriors as a matter of course, ignoring biology and how we know a great deal of the world in history and still treats women, it's just so much revisionist guff. This chapter gave me much to think over.

There were other essays that had a modicum of interest, the 'Vikings' of the Pacific, whales, paleolithic seafaring among them. But then I skimmed over, 'Was Mozart a Shaman', 'Orpheus and the cult of genius in the 18thC' and some of the three essays on the origin of writing. So the essays vary from 2 -10 star, which probably means that everyone who enjoys anthropology will enjoy at least part of the book.

[Gazingatshoes · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a collection of essays by Stone Age Herbalist, a relatively famous anonymous Twitter personality that I have been following for quite some time. The essays here have largely been posted on his Substack before but since I despise reading things of a computer a physical copy was just what I needed.

The author, himself an academic, gives a very interesting insight into fields such as Anthropology, Archeology and History among others. Giving a (much needed) more “right wing” view on these fields, the book provides an uncensored look into the human condition through topics ranging from cannibalism to human migration.

Some of my favorite parts include the terrifying depictions of child sacrifice amongst African communities in the UK, the interesting description of the “berserker” phenomenon and the several ways in which the author neatly exposes the modern problems with an academic institution driven by activism.

In all its diversity there is however also an overarching theme throughout the essays, particularly the one of vitalism, of humans throughout history going out, exploring, conquering and discovering new frontiers. Interestingly, while I would also position myself to the right, I am much more of a “Traditionalist Conservative”, who prefers the small, the known and the local over the large, the new and the external; something more akin to the hilariously termed “Anarcho-Monarchist” idea that the author describes in one of the essays. And yet, I found myself agreeing with much that he said on our modern world.

As a Humanities student currently in Grad school much of the author’s lamentations regarding modern academia spoke to me and it was refreshing to read someone coming from fields that sometimes overlap mine that not busied themselves with endless poststructuralist drivel, interpretations steeped in modern ideas on gender and the like, and tearing down supposed binaries.

However, one should not get the idea that the book is in any sort of way a depiction of European supremacy. While the author avoids the by now long overplayed trope of going on rants about evil Europeans and colonial pasts, he nonetheless depicts different people throughout history, their habits and their stories in a fair and appreciative light, rarely ever judgmental, sometimes fascinated by them, but always honest and taking their viewpoints into account.

With this he paints a picture of humanity that is sometimes beautiful and sometimes horrifyingly violent and underlying all the essays there seems to be a deep fascination with humanity in all its facets and in all its complexities. By doing so, the author has managed to come across more appreciative of diversity than many of the activist academics coming out of these fields in the last few decades.

[Logan · Rating 1 out of 5]

don't really see the aspects of 'dissident anthropology', mostly an unedited and un-proofed series of short essays which introduce interesting topics considered taboo or risque to western audiences but do very little to study or examine those topics deeper beyond the shock value
careless diction and phrasing leads to easy accusations of racism and eurocentrism

[Jakob · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of essays on lesser and unknown aspects of history, anthropology, archeology, and, indirectly, the sorry state of modern academia. It's like a buffet of diverse anthropological and pre-historical subjects. My favorites were the essays on Aztec metaphysics, berserkers in the past and now, child sacrifice in the modern world, biological hierarchy, transgender skeletons, the origins of the two-spirit, the history of whaling, and the standout essay on Chinese cannibalism.

The world is much bigger and much weirder than most of us can comprehend. This book helped me grasp some more of it.

[Henrik · Rating 4 out of 5]

A series of essays on a wide range of topic, and of varying quality and interest. A great source for fun facts and anecdotes, but I wish it was more academic (not something I say often!) and better edited. Torn between giving this three or four stars, but the essays I enjoyed make me generous.

Want to liven up a party conversation by mentioning how the WWF funds forest rangers who kill pygmies? How there are many people being victims of human sacrifice in the UK? Talk about Aztec philosophy? Here you go.

[Ellenore Clementine Kruger · Rating 5 out of 5]

This could inspire too much. It is timeless stuff, and it is good science, but there is no current vice worthy exposure. I love the haplogroup stuff. I think seeing humans in relations to ocean tides and continents or habits is worth while. Any way it goes, humans are flawed, and this book may be too detailed and dark for weaker stomachs.

[Dean · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read.

Clever, fun and always interesting, do yourself a favour and spend a few hours losing yourself in this book.
Dean.