Permian animal style bronze plaques from the Ural mountain region of Russia. Dating from the 3rd to 12th centuries CE, they depict mythological stories and creatures from the shamanic tradition native to the region.
They have been found throughout a large area of forests in the north-eastern Urals and western Siberia from the basins of the Kama and Vyatka to the Ob. In the Middle Ages, these territories were inhabited mostly by the Ugrian tribes, ancestors of the present day Hungarians and Ob-Ugrians – the Khanty and the Mansi people.
Researchers point to the influence of Scytho-Sarmatian animal style on the development of cult toreutics of the forests of the north: famous animal battle scenes, vertical model of the Universe in the form of three worlds – three levels of the plaques and the cult of the great mother-goddess are present in both styles. Perm animal style objects include metalwork of bronze with the usage of single- or double-sided forms for casting, bone and wooden carvings, engravings on metal and bone objects. Figures depicted on the images are elks, rain-deers, bears, fur-bearing and other types of animals, horses, different waterfowl and birds of prey, snakes, insects and a number of “complex creatures” of mixed nature (hybrids), mixed zoomorphic and anthropomorphic half-human creatures; there are also a number of images of horsemen. The stories, which the Perm animal style plaques tell, are numerous and diverse.The objects are found in the hoards, on the sites of the temples, among the skeletons, in burials, as part of sacrificial complexes or on the sites of metallurgical workshops. Most of the bronze artifacts were used as a cult figures for the sacred rites.
Sooo was anyone gonna tell me that butterfly pea flowers are called CLITORIA and look like THAT?? Or was I just supposed to find that out while googling this in front of my mom
