The Swastika dates from the earliest diffusion of the Egyptian meander in the basin of the Mediterranean, and it is a profound remark of De Morgan (Mission Scientifique au Caucase) that the area of the Swastika appears to be coextensive with the area of bronze. In northern prehistoric Europe, where the Swastika has attracted considerable attention, it is distinctly connected with the bronze culture derived from the south. When found on prehistoric pottery of the north, the southern home of its beginnings is equally clear. In seeking the home of a symbol, we should consider not only the nature of its appearance, but also where it is found in the largest amount, for this shows the center of vogue and power--that is to say, the center of diffusion. The vogue of the Swastika at Troy is not as great as its vogue in Cyprian Greek pottery (pl. 60, fig. 15) and Rhodian pottery (pl. 60, fig. 2). * * * It is well known to Melian vases (pl. 60, fig. 8) and to archaic Greek vases (pl. 61, fig. 12), but its greatest prominence is on the pottery of the Greek geometric style (pl. 60, fig. 13; pl. 56, fig. 4; pl. 61, figs. 1 and 4; and figs. 173 and 171). * * * Aside from the Greek geometric style, our earliest reference for the Swastika, and very possibly an earlier reference than the first, is its appearance on the "hut urns" of Italy. On such it appears rather as a fragment of the more complicated meander patterns, from which it is derived. My precise view is that the earliest and, consequently, imperfect, forms of the Swastika are on the hut urns of Italy, but that, as an independent and definitely shaped pattern, it first belongs to the Greek geometric style. I do not assert that the Swastika is very common on hut urns, which are often undecorated. * * * Our present intermediate link with India for the Swastika lies in the Caucasus and in the adjacent territory of Koban. This last ancient center of the arts in metal has lately attracted attention through the publication of Virchow (Das Gräberfeld von Koban). In the original Coban bronzes of the Prehistoric Museum of St. Germain there is abundant matter for study (p. 351). Mr. R. P. Greg, in "Fret or Key Ornamentation in Mexico and Peru,"[101] says: Both the Greek fret and the fylfot appear to have been unknown to the Semitic nations as an ornament or as a symbol. In Egypt the fylfot does not occur. It is, I believe, generally admitted or supposed that the fylfot is of early Aryan origin. Eastward toward India, Tibet, and China it was adopted, in all probability, as a sacred symbol of Buddha; westward it may have spread in one form or another to Greece, Asia Minor, and even to North Germany. Cartailhac says:[102]