Origin of some specific traits of the Siberian animal style

Stylistic features of works of art may serve as indicators of culturalattribution since formal traits of a style define a rather narrow local, chronological orethnocultural group of sites, i. e. characteristics of the shape determine a cultural andhistorical position of a work of art. Stylistical and typological methods help address thetask of cultural affiliation of ancient works of art. The paper focuses on a compact groupof things, including works of art (mostly, made of gold) retrieved from various sites andcharacterized by a set of recurring traits. This group includes items from the so called AmuDarya treasure hoard, several items from the Siberian Collection of Peter I, a few jewelrypieces from other collections as well as items made of leather and felt coming from thefirst and the second Pazyryk kurgans. A distinctive feature of this group of zoomorphicimages are colored inlays that accentuate an upper leg or a shoulder of the animal; suchinlays have the form of an intricate figure made up of a circle and a curvilinear triangleabutting to it or elongated round brackets (Fig. 1; 2). Genetically, such ornamental motif,which is not generally typical for Persian art, may be linked to a periphery area of theIranian world and a nomadic culture, while the isolated group of sites can be dated backto the 4th-3rd centuries BC.