Anna A. Gribkova

Anatoly Kantorovich

The authors publish a golden plate from the Museum of Historical Treasures of Ukraine with a figure of lying boar. The object is identified as a decoration for a wooden ritual Scythian vessel. Iconographic analysis of the figure allows the authors to date the object to the 5th century BC, probably to its second quarter. The figure is compared with other images of boar in Scythian art. An attempt is made to outline the process of appearance of the lying boar motif in East European Scythian animal style. Together with the closest parallels, the authors classify this figure with the so-called «Alexandrovsk and Arkhangelsk» stylistic type of lying boar, dated to the late 6th – early 4th century BC. They also try to represent the process as resulting from convergence between the Near-Eastern motif of lying boar and the Saka-Siberian pattern of «stopping boar».