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 Spirals
- (Geometry)
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The Spiral.
Service and Bradbery
(2), write that the spiral refers to:
'the belly and navel
(Neumann 1955). It is also seen as representing a
navel of the earth - the Omphalos...E.A.S Butterworth in
'The Tree at
the Navel of the Earth' calls it the Omphalus sign...now seen as very
ancient and very widespread (Roscher 1913), This fits well into the idea
of megalith as places of interchange between the cosmic forces of the sky
and earth'. (2)
 The spiral
is a common natural form, appearing at all levels of nature.
They are the natural product of Phi (Ф), which is also
called the 'Golden Section' or the 'Golden Mean'.
Prof. Alexander Thom
suggested that the megalithic spirals were carved with mathematic precision,
using a common unit of measurement associated to
the Megalithic Yard.
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Examples
of megalithic spiral art.
Ireland -
The mound at Newgrange has been dated at about 3,200 BC (Burl). The
passageway has been shown to possess both a solar orientation, and a
secondary astronomic feature in its design called a 'light-box', of which
three others have so far been identified (One at
Carrowmore, Ireland, one in the
Orkney Islands, Scotland, and another other at Bryn Celli Ddu in Wales). All of the 'light-boxes' have one thing in
common, which is that they were orientated to solar events.
The spirals above are all from
Newgrange, in the
Boyne valley, Ireland.
The picture above is a kerb-stone from
Knowth, Ireland, also a part of the Boyne
Valley 'complex'.
Wales -
Bryn Celli Ddu in its original form was
a stone circle with a pillar in the middle. The pillar had spirals and
zig-zags carved onto it. The chamber and mound were subsequently built
around and over these stones.
Portugal
-
This recently discovered spiral-art (right), was found in the
region of
Poidáo
in Portugal.
The spiral is about 0.5m in diameter,
possibly making it the largest known spiral from the ancient world. Unlike
most spirals, this one sits alone on the side of a hill, with no obvious
orientation or apparent purpose.
Note: The stone circle at
Almendres
(orientated towards the equinoxes), also has a spiral on one of it stones.
Malta
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There are numerous
spiral motifs in Malta, but they are decorative, 'floral' spirals, unlike
the single examples found at many UK
stone
circles. Service and Bradbury (1), say that 'spiral patterns are
associated with the great goddess'. A statement that makes sense in
Malta., but nowhere else.
These 'floral-spirals' (above), come from the
Tarxien in Malta. They show a
strong similarity to Celtic and Norse motifs, but are dated far earlier at 3,000
-3,500 BC.
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