Talk:Animal style
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[edit] Observations
I'm not sure I can settle this question but the situation is as follows. The animal style is very ancient on the plains of Eurasia going all the way back to the earliest archaeology. It expresses itself not only among Indo-European peoples but among nomads of other ethnicities as well. Whenever these peoples came off the plains and settled they brought this style with them. Thus you find it in the art of Urartu, in Iranian art, and among the Mycenaeans and no doubt among the Chinese as well. It is milti-period, multi-ethnic but it finds its center on the plains of Eurasia. It is also multi-media: the nomads wove the themes into their rugs and tapestries, carved it on their utensils and weapons, decorated pottery with it, put it on their jewelry, and in such cases as they left any stone monuments put it there as well.
To cover this topic in its entirety would be a very large article indeed. These two articles only touch the surface. Speaking for myself I must say I have never seen such beautiful art as falls within the domain of this style. The pieces of Scythian art cause one to gaze with open mouth and as for the rugs it sure makes you wish they were weaving today. They would be very rich people indeed. In any case I do not see much choice but to refer the reader to various subarticles on the manifestations of this style. Now, the two articles in question are not that long and could easily be merged. But what about all the rest? If we do a careful and knowledgeable search of the art articles I am sure we are going to find more hitherto unsuspected by those not familiar with the style. Even if zero more are found, many more can be and I am sure will be created. All you need do is start with any plains culture and follow it forward or back, either one, and you will start uncovering various troves and finds here there and everywhere that illustrate the animal style from Bulgaria to China.
So what should we do? The search? The set-up? Or the quick way out, the merger, which gives the impression that only the Iranians used the style? For myself at this point I vote for the search and skeleton structure. At the same time I would move the generalized material from the Iranian art article and put it in the main article. Once anyone starts seriously looking on the Internet they are going to find reams and reams of art, if they know what to look for. I await your opinions.Dave (talk) 16:36, 16 March 2008 (UTC)
