Perm Animal Style
Solution to the mystery of Perm animal style — this is that motivated researchers when they began to examine the samples of this ancient art. Famous scientist A.V. Shmidt gives them a vivid characteristic: «They are made in a specific, very strange style. It seems as if these figures were created by a sick imagination of frantic wizard-shaman, who was trying to em body horrible images of his spirits-assistants. Nowhere, except Priural’sky Krai, can be found such images in which elk head, human face, and bird wings mix into a single whole. Apparently in Priural’e formed some special conditions which caused the birth of this style». Addressing to the shamanism theme is not accidental. Cult mouldings were consid ered to be a part of shaman costume, and also special objects — some sort of sacrifice to be of fered to gods.
Perm animal style is both art and ideology. From the point of view of art these objects are often compared to the well-known samples of Scythian and Siberian animal style. But at the same time Perm animal style is per formed not in gold, but in bronze, what has its explanation in an especial homage to this metal of the medieval population of Prikam’e. Gatherings of perm animal style handicrafts are kept in Perm Krai museums collections, in the State Hermitage Museum, in the State Historical Museum, and in the Nation al Museum of Finland.