As a symbol A spiral like form has been found in Mezine, Ukraine, as part of a decorative object dated to 10,000 BCE. Spiral and triple spiral motifs served as Neolithic symbols in Europe (Megalithic Temples of Malta). The Celtic triple-spiral is in fact a pre-Celtic symbol.Anthony Murphy and Richard Moore, Island of the Setting Sun: In Search of Ireland's Ancient Astronomers, 2nd ed., Dublin: The Liffey Press, 2008, pp. 168-169 It is carved into the rock of a stone lozenge near the main entrance of the prehistoric Newgrange monument in County Meath, Ireland. Newgrange was built around 3200 BCE, predating the Celts; triple spirals were carved at least 2,500 years before the Celts reached Ireland, but have long since become part of Celtic culture. The triskelion symbol, consisting of three interlocked spirals or three bent human legs, appears in many early cultures: examples include Mycenaean vessels, coinage from Lycia, staters of Pamphylia (at Aspendos, 370–333 BC) and Pisidia, as well as the heraldic emblem on warriors' shields depicted on Greek pottery.For example, the trislele on Achilles' round shield on an Attic late sixth-century hydria at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, illustrated in John Boardman, Jasper Griffin and Oswyn Murray, Greece and the Hellenistic World (Oxford History of the Classical World) vol. I (1988), p. 50.
As a symbol A spiral like form has been found in Mezine Ukraine as part of a decorative object dated to 10,000 BCE. Spiral and triple spiral motifs served as Neolithic symbols in Europe (Megalithic Temples of Malta). The Celtic triple-spiral is in fact a pre-Celtic symbol.Anthony Murphy and Richard Moore, Island of the Setting Sun: In Search of Ireland's Ancient Astronomers, 2nd ed., Dublin: The Liffey Press, 2008, pp. 168-169 It is carved into the rock of a stone lozenge near the main entrance of the prehistoric Newgrange monument in County Meath, Ireland. Newgrange was built around 3200 BCE, predating the Celts; triple spirals were carved at least 2,500 years before the Celts reached Ireland, but have long since become part of Celtic culture. The triskelion symbol, consisting of three interlocked spirals ,or three bent human legs, appears in many early cultures: examples include Mycenaean vessels, coinage from L,ycia, staters of Pamphylia (at Aspendos, 370–333 BC) and Pisidia, as well as the heraldic emblem on warriors' shields depicted on Greek pottery.For example, the trislele on Achilles' round shield on an Attic late sixth-century hydria at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, illustrated in John Boardman, Jasper Griffin and Oswyn Murray, Greece and the Hellenistic World (Ox,ford History of the Classical World) vol. I (1988) p. 50.