Аннотация:The Eastern European Scythian animal style is characterized by some peculiarities both in the repertoire and in artistic
technique that distinguish this local version of the Scythian-Siberian animal style from another ones.
The article describes the motif of a separate head of a bird of prey with a twirled (in development — volute) beak
as a good local marker of the Eastern European Scythian animal style. This is one of the most characteristic repertoire
preferences, much less inherent in other local variants of the Scythian-Siberian animal style (excluding the Pazyryk art). The
article characterizes morphological types of numerous images of this kind, these types were revealed by the author in the
course of classification of images of the Scythian local variant of the animal style. The author reveals the stylistic dynamics
of this motif in chronological context on the general background of implementation of the mega-image of bird in the Eastern
European Scythian animal style. Also analogues from other local variants of the Scythian-Siberian world are presented. There
are determined probable origins of the discrete head of bird of prey with twirled beak in the Eastern European Scythian
animal style, where this motif is regular during the VII—IV centuries BC, i. e. throughout the existence of this local variant. The
study supports the version of the polycentric origin of the Scythian-Siberian animal style and the Scythian-Siberian cultural
and historical community as a whole.