... The culture formed in Sogdia and Chach in the 5th–8th centuries is manifested in three main categories of objects with zoomorphic images: belts, ornaments, and household items.
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In Chach, brooches featuring an anthropomorphic mask with bear ears were found on the shield. Judging by the presence of a V-shaped frame, braids of this series belong to late variants of heraldic ornaments, which were probably used in the second half of the 7th and first half of the 8th centuries.
Most of the amulets found in the ruins of the city of Kuyukkala in Lower Khorezm also belong to the aforementioned period. Among them, a large group of boar-shaped amulets and a smaller group of bear-shaped amulets stand out. The amulets in the form of a horned deer are also very accurately modeled.
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At the beginning of the 8th century, belts covered with "common Turkic" ornaments of geometric shapes were widespread throughout the vast territory of Eurasia. In them, images of animals are frequently found, both on the coverings and on the belt buckles, as well as on the buckles. Most often, feline predators are depicted, but depictions of deer, mountain goats, and bulls have also been found.
In the 9th–10th centuries, animal images, often in the form of predatory animals, are found on the belts of nomads. It was they who constituted the bulk of the Samanid army. Since the belt is an integral part of warrior culture, images of predators are more common in them. Subsequently, cat-like predators occupied a central place in the depictions of the 11th and early 13th centuries. However, during the Karakhanid period, according to the requirements of the Muslim religion, animal images were stylized. Cat-like predators of the specified period can be easily identified by a long, curved tail with a "cracked" palmette at the tip. Images of fantastic animals also appear—thus a departure from the realistic depictions characteristic of the pre-Islamic period.
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