spiral
In mathematics, a spiral is a curve which emanates from a point, moving farther away as it revolves around the point.
Helices
Two major definitions of "spiral" in the American Heritage Dictionary are:key patterns that have been drawn all over the world since
prehistoric times
Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use ...
. The patterns originate in early
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
*Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Foo ...
developments in stone and metal-work, and later in medieval
Insular art
Insular art, also known as Hiberno-Saxon art, was produced in the post-Roman era of Great Britain and Ireland. The term derives from ''insula'', the Latin term for "island"; in this period Britain and Ireland shared a largely common style dif ...
. Prehistoric spiral designs date back to Gavrinis (c. 3500 BCE).Meehan, Aidan (1993). ''Celtic Design: Maze Patterns'', pp. 7–8. .
The straight-line spirals of Celtic labyrinths originated in chevrons and lozenges and are drawn by the Celts using a
connect the dots
Connect the dots (also known as connect-the-dots, dot to dot, or join the dots) is a form of puzzle containing a sequence of numbered dots. When a line is drawn connecting the dots the outline of an object is revealed. The puzzles frequently c ...
method.
See also
*
Celtic knot
Celtic knots ( ga, snaidhm Cheilteach, cy, cwlwm Celtaidd, kw, kolm Keltek, gd, snaidhm Ceilteach) are a variety of knots and stylized graphical representations of knots used for decoration, used extensively in the Celtic style of Insular ...
*
Labyrinth
In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth (, ) was an elaborate, confusing structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos. Its function was to hold the Minotaur, the monster eventually killed by ...
Maze
A maze is a path or collection of paths, typically from an entrance to a goal. The word is used to refer both to branching tour puzzles through which the solver must find a route, and to simpler non-branching ("unicursal") patterns that le ...
, whose technical definition does not include "Celtic mazes"
*
Spirangle
In geometry, a spirangle is a figure related to a spiral. Spirangles are similar to spirals in that they expand from a center point as they grow larger, but they are made out of straight line segments, instead of curves. Spirangle vectographs ...