Review of Scythian animal patterns in the Amu Darya River
Authors:   Yeongnam Archaeological Review, Kim Jaeyoun 
Published: February 2025

The tiger family O'-shaped pattern is a variation of the tiger family O-shaped pattern, and is a ring-shaped design in which a tiger family animal puts its head and tail together, and is the earliest animal pattern to appear in the Scytho-Siberian culture. This pattern, which began appearing in the 9th century BC, not only appeared throughout the region by the 7th century BC, but also appeared in the southern Caucasus and the Namsan root type of the Xiajia culture.
However, in the collection of relics known as the retreat of the Amu Darya River or the treasure of the Oxus, the tiger and O-shaped pattern was discovered modified and decorated with a ring. The existence of this relic came to light when it was sold in an antique market in India. At that time, the British acquired it, and most of it is currently kept in England. The location of the ruins may be somewhere upstream of the Amu Darya River, but it is not clear. Therefore, the cultural affiliation of artifacts must be determined through comparison with new archaeological data.
In addition to those related to Scythian culture, the artifacts included those from various cultures such as Persia and Greco-Bactria, and there were also unclear artifacts. Among them, objects used in gold production techniques in Scythian culture included rings decorated with tiger and O-shaped patterns, lion head pattern discs, monster head pattern discs, and hybrid animal pattern pins.
The lion is a Persian animal pattern that faces the side, but the Amu Darya relic faces the front.
The disc with the monster head pattern is a pattern that cannot be found in the Persian or Scythian regions. The hybrid animal pattern pin is a combination of an eagle and a griffin, and is very similar to the decoration of a woman's necklace from Pazyryk Ruins No. 2. Even in the Pazyrik ruins, the animal struggle symbol of a griffin appears on the saddle cover. Also, in Pazyryk 5, the felt strip hung on the tomb wall was decorated with lion patterns, confirming that there was exchange between Altai and Persia.
The tiger pattern on the Amu Darya ring is similar to the O'-shaped pattern found on the 3rd and 4th rings from the Pazyryk ruins, dated around the 3rd BC, which are the latest. The tail is unclear, but is shaped like an O. Looking at the ring alone, it could have been made in Persia around the 3rd century BC. However, the lion head disc and monster head disc, for which Scythian gold processing technology has been confirmed, are different from Persian patterns. Also, rings using tiger and O-shaped patterns were not produced in Scythian culture. Therefore, the tiger and O-shaped ring may have been made near the Amu Darya River by a person who knew Scythian gold making technology.
After the 4th century BC, when the Scytho-Siberian culture ended, the Huns culture existed in the eastern region and the Sarmatian culture existed in the western region, and animal patterns are still used in each culture. The fact that Scythian animal patterns were used even in the 3rd century BC in the Amu Darya River basin shows the survival of that culture.