One of the motifs of ibex images in early scythian art

The image of ibex was one of key motifs in the Early Scythian animal style,though the ibex never inhabited the North Pontic region and the Kuban region. The mostcommon was the motif of the ibex with folded legs and the reverted head. The earliest areimages of the ibex on gold plates from kurgan 524 near the village of Zhabotin and kurgan346 near the village of Teklino (Fig. 1, 1-4). They demonstrate development of a trulyScythian tradition of depicting the ibex characterized by rendering the ibex with a curvedhorn pressed to the neck. Apparently, the ibex is depicted on horn plaques and a platefrom an archaic assemblage found in kurgan 2 at the village of Zhabotin (Fig. 1, 5-7).Appearance of these early images of the ibex is linked to the fact that the local populationgot familiar with an art tradition of the ancient East and developed its own art. A numberof images, which are more or less linked to the ancient East art, appeared in the second halfof the 7th century BC. These are images from the Kelermess kurgans in the Kuban regionand the Melgunov kurgan in the Middle Dnieper region (Fig. 1, 8-11). Development ofthe local tradition which experienced influence of the Kelermess sites is revealed by twoseries of images represented by sewn on plaques from various assemblages discoveredin the forest steppe Dnieper region (Fig. 2, 1-7) and appliques on the central handle ofbronze mirrors found in various regions in the south of Eastern Europe (Fig. 2, 11-16).Distinctly unique images have been found as well (Fig. 1, 12-13; 2, 8-10). In general,most images demonstrate a rather strong local tradition of the animal style.