The Spiral in British and Irish Neolithic Rock Art

Abstract

Summary This paper provides an up-dated account of all spiral-sites in Neolithic British and Irish rock art. The focus is on spirals executed on open-air rock surfaces like outcrops and boulders; the ones in passage tombs and single graves will be discussed for comparative reasons. The paper describes many spirals recently discovered. But moreover, it introduces a new group of spirals, which, because of their specific nature, have long been taken for normal cupand-rings. It thus proves that spirals are more common in cup-and ring art than often suggested and consequently the distribution pattern of the spiral has somewhat changed. The spiral-motif has often been used, together with other symbols, to divide the Neolithic rock art of Britain and Ireland into two rather strictly separated traditions. The main conclusions of this paper are that, in the opinion of the author, there never existed two separate rock art traditions and that cupand-ring art may even be older than the passage tomb art.