The Swastika
Forms Allied to the Swastika
Spiral volute designs resembling the Swastika in general effect are found on aboriginal mound pottery from the Mississippi Valley. The Fourth Annual Report
of
the Bureau of Ethnology, 1882-83, (1)
shows many of these. Fig. 289 represents a teapot-shaped vessel from Arkansas,
on the side of which, in incised lines, is shown the small circle which
we saw on the shell disks, and springing from the four opposite sides
are three incised lines, twisting spirally to the right, forming the four
volutes of the Swastika (tetraskelion) and covering the entire side of
the vessel. The same spiral form of the Swastika is given in fig. 290,
a vessel of eccentric shape from Peacan Point, Ark. The decoration is
in the form of two lines crossing each other and each arm then twisting
to the right, forming volutes, the incised lines of which, though drawn
close together and at equal distances, gradually expand until the ornament
covers the entire side of the vase. It is questionable whether this or
any of its kindred were 
ever
intended to represent either the Swastika or any other specific form of
cross. One evidence of this is that these ornaments shade off indefinitely
until they arrive at a form which was surely not intended to represent
any form of the cross, whether Swastika or not. The line of separation
is not now suggested by the author. An elaboration of the preceding of
the preceding forms, both of the vessel and its ornamentation, is shown
by the vessel represented in fig. 291, which is fashioned to represent
some grotesque beast with horns, expanding nostrils, and grinning mouth,
yet which might serve as a teapot as well as the former two vessels. The
decoration upon its side has six incised lines crossing each other in
the center and expanding in volutes until they cover the entire side of
the vessel, as in the other specimens. Fig.
292 shows 
a
pot from Arkansas. Its body is decorated with incised lines arranged in
much the same form as fig. 291, except that the lines make no attempt
to form a cross. There are nine arms which spring from the central point
and twist spirally about as volutes until they cover the field, which
is one-third the body of the bowl. Two other designs of the same kind
complete the circuit of the pot and form the decoration all around. Fig.
293 (2) represents these
volutes in incised lines of considerable finesse, close together, and
in great numbers, forming a decoration on each of the sides of the vase,
separated by three nearly perpendicular lines. ENDNOTES:
1. Figs. 402, 413, 415, 416. [Back]
2. Third Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology, fig. 157. Back
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