There is an unusual rock on Olkhon Island, which indigenous peoples have valued since time immemorial, and people come from all over the world to see it. This wonderful creation of Baikal has many names: Cape Peshcherny, Cape Shamansky, Shamanka Rock, Cape Burkhan. Historically, this was the name of Cape Shamansky, Shamanka. When shamanism was supplanted by Buddhism, a new name for the sacred place Buruat - Burkhan (in Buryat - "oikhon-ekhe-babay") was adopted. Today the cape has the status of a state natural and historical monument.
Location of Cape Burkhan on Olkhon Island
Burkhan is located in the central part of the western coast of Olkhon, in the Baikal National Park, near the village of Khuzhir. The path from the edge of Khuzhir leads imperceptibly to a long cape that ends on a steep slope leading straight to the Burkhan rock.
The two white marble rocks of Burkhan, connected by a hollow, are covered with bright red lichen, emphasizing the whiteness of the marble rocks. The tops of the rocks are slightly bent towards the Primorsky ridge, as if they are ready to withstand the “mountain” - the worst of the Baikal winds. For many centuries, water and wind have carved an open cave through the Burkhan rock closer to the shore, also called Shamanskiy.
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Ancient shamanistic rites at Cape Burkhan
In ancient times, religious sacrifices were made on Burkhan to the Lord of Olkhon, Ugut-nuon, who is believed to have lived in the cave of the cape.
Ugute-nuon was the most ferocious and most revered god of Lake Baikal. Here is how the attitude of local residents to the Burkhan and Shamanskaya caves was described in 1890 by Vladimir Obruchev:
The cave itself is a small chamber about 3-4 meters high on the western side of Burkhan. A narrow ascending passage leads to the eastern side of the cliff. The cave, like Burkhan himself, was considered sacred for the first inhabitants of the island. Later lamas used it as a Buddhist sanctuary. Even the Russian Orthodox Church did not remain indifferent - for some time the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker hung in the cave.
Legend has it that the shaman, passing through the cave, caused holy fear among the believers, who did not know about the existence of a through passage. Probably, there is a little more truth in this legend than in the one that says that somewhere not far from Burkhan or even in the Shaman's cave is the grave of Genghis Khan.
The rich history of Burkhan attracted the attention of not only Russians, but also foreign archaeologists. In 1975, a joint Soviet-American expedition was undertaken. One of the results of which was the hypothesis of the Asian origin of the indigenous peoples of North America.
Archaeological discoveries on Burkhan
A number of archaeological discoveries were made on Burkhan itself and near it. The Shamanskaya cave was first explored and described by Yan Chersky in 1879. Later, coins of the 18th century were found there, and in 1989 extensive excavations and items related to both the recent past (17-19 centuries) and the Neolithic times (5-3 thousand years BC) were made. … Some of the finds are in the Khuzhir Museum.
Even more archaeological finds were made during excavations of the isthmus connecting Burkhan with the island. Prehistoric camp, more than ten graves dating back to the Neolithic and Bronze Age (5-2 thousand years BC), and numerous items: a jade knife and ax, arrowheads, pottery fragments, stone objects, bones, iron, bronze, gold and others.
Prehistoric people appreciated the beauty of nature. When they left their footprints on the Burkhan rocks, they did not do it insolently, like some of our contemporaries, who were degraded in comparison with these cave people. According to the stories of Jan Chersky in 1879 and Pavel Khoroshikh in 1924, Tibetan inscriptions of the 18th and 19th centuries were discovered on the Burkhan rocks facing Khurzhir, traces of which could still be discerned in the 50s and 60s of the last century., These inscriptions have not survived to this day.
To the east of the entrance to the cave, Pavel Khoroshikh discovered rock paintings, which he considered to be a diamond. The painting is an elongated oval, inside which a horizontal line was drawn, and two oblique lines are shown to the left and right of the oval. Could not determine when the image was taken.
Another drawing was discovered by Alexander Tivanenko in the early 1980s. The drawing of a shaman with a diamond in his right hand and a mallet in his left is made in red ocher and is located 5 meters to the left of the entrance to the Shaman's cave. This drawing has also been impossible to date.