Dr. Asta Mønsted

This is where we hide our meat or this is our hunting grounds for hunting reindeer.

So the place name could often hint of those functions, but also of what they look like.

And Ummanna means heart-like or heart-shaped like because of that mountain that you saw earlier.

Yeah, and it's sort of this... Exactly.

It is a rich, rich source that we cannot overlook.

Mythology would be, and in many, many cultures, right, across the globe, but mythology would explain how the world sort of worked and also how humans should behave within it.

According to the social norms agreed upon.

So sort of spirits, animals, and also the weather and people were deeply interconnected in these stories.

And it was explained sort of how humans can fit into this world, but they are not the rulers of this world.

So it doesn't have this anthropocentric idea that humans, they can just do whatever they want.

No, humans are just a part of that chain.

And it goes to show even today, for example, so when you have killed your first seal as a young hunter,

it was believed that it is the same seal that you will hunt for the rest of your life if you treat that seal with respect and if you treat it well.

So you need to serve it some fresh water because just as any other creature, it is thirsty.

Just like when you get guests over, you ask them, do you want something to drink, right?

But you do that with

the hunting game as well.

And you show that respect to the animal and then it will sort of be reincarnated and you are going to hunt that seal for the rest of your life.

And that's going to create a sort of relationship between you and the hunting game.

So there was this belief that animals were not killed because of your skills only.