Barry Cunlife - The Scythians

crossing the carpathians
6.16 Wooden disc from Tuekta kurgan 1 in the central Altai showing two griffins with powerful wings
and predatory beaks grasping the central boss. This formed the forehead ornament of a horse’s bridle.
The iconography strongly echoes that of the Wandsworth shield boss.
third centuries. There was something in the nomadic belief systems, expressed
through predatory beasts, which appealed to the Celts and was quickly assimilated
into their being. Had the Altai horsemen and the owner of the Wandsworth
shield ever confronted each other, it is tempting to believe that they would have recognized
a shared thread of common belief.
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