How did nomadic Central Asian tribes share artistic traditions with the Scythians?

Nomadic Central Asian tribes, such as the Saka, shared artistic traditions with the Scythians through a common cultural and stylistic language often referred to as Scytho-Altaic.12

This shared heritage is evidenced by the discovery of gold belt buckles, jewelry, and harness decorations across Central Asia that feature animal motifs—such as sheep and griffins—strikingly similar to those found in Scythian sites in the Caucasus and the Eurasian plain. Archaeological findings from frozen burial sites in the Altai Mountains further confirm that these tribes commonly utilized the same artistic vocabulary, which emphasized animal art characterized by combat scenes and stylized, imaginative beast figures.13

Because these nomadic groups were highly mobile, their artistic traditions were expressed through portable, high-prestige objects like metalwork, textiles, and appliquéd leathers, allowing this distinct aesthetic to spread and persist across the vast regions of Central Asia.3