This interpretation emphasized cultural continuity across the steppe from the Black Sea to the Altai.

Later scholarship has been more attentive to the regional distinctiveness of Pazyryk culture — the ways in which the Altai context produced art, burial practices, and social organization that diverged from the Scythian patterns to the west.

The animal style, while shared with Scythian art in its broad features, has specifically Altai characteristics that distinguish it from the western Scythian artistic tradition.

Ancient DNA research has added a genetic dimension to these discussions.