There are certain forms related to the normal Swastika and greatly
resembling it--meanders, ogees, the triskelion, tetraskelion, and five and
six armed spirals or volutes. This has been mentioned above (page 768),
and some of the varieties are shown in fig. 13. These related forms have
been found in considerable numbers in America, and this investigation
would be incomplete if they were omitted. It has been argued (p. 839) that
the Swastika was not evolved from the meander, and this need not be
reargued.
The cross with the arms bent or twisted in a spiral is one of these
related forms. It is certain that in ancient, if not prehistoric, times
the cross with extended spiral arms was frequently employed. This form
appeared in intimate association with the square Swastikas which were
turned indifferently to the right and left. This association of different
yet related forms was so intimate, and they were used so indiscriminately
as to justify the contention that the maker or designer recognized or
admitted no perceptible or substantial difference between the square and
spiral forms, whether they turned to the right or left, or whether they
made a single or many turns, and that he classed them as the same sign or
its equivalent. A Greek vase (fig. 174) shows five Swastikas, four of
which are of different form (fig. 262). Curiously enough, the design of
this Greek vase is painted maroon on a yellow ground, the style generally
adopted in the vases from the mounds of Missouri and Arkansas, which
mostly represent the spiral Swastika.
[Illustration: Fig. 262. DIFFERENT FORMS OF SWASTIKA FOR COMPARISON.]
In Ireland a standing stone (fig. 215) has two forms of Swastika side by
side. In one the arms are bent square at the corners, the other has curved
or spiral arms, both turned to the right. These examples are so numerous
that they would seem convincing in the absence of any other evidence
(figs. 166 to 176).