Nevertheless, this art which the insular Celts elevated to such heights was not invented by them, nor even by their ancestors. Instead, the art of the spiral, maze and knot grew out of the Neolithic backdrop to the dawn of civilization in the Near East and North Africa.

Spiral designs are peculiar to the Celts. There had always been spirals, of course, but the Celtic solution to the method of their construction was virtually a quantum leap from primitive pattern to a highly developed art form.

By the end of the Roman period, knot and maze maze were common throughout Europe. Here we are really dealing with the pan- European tradition of art, connected to the arts of primitive people the world over, with roots in the ancient past, yet brought to a pitch of perfection with which there is nothing to compare in Western art, the closest thing being Islamic pattern, although this came after, and in many ways followed from Celtic art.