Lithuanian and Irish high crosses compared: an essay towards a Proto-Indo-European iconography

LTBorrowing from the principles of comparative Indo-European linguistics, this paper proposes the possibility of reconstructing at least a core set of Proto-Indo-European visual icons. Comparison of Lithuanian and Irish high crosses, which distinctive motif in each case is that of a spoked wheel, and a preliminary archaeological and historic survey of wheel motifs throughout Eurasia suggests that the spoked wheel served as a key concept and visual symbol in an ancient Proto-Indo-European context. Main objective: development of theory and methods for the interpretation of the prehistoric art of Eurasia. Subject'. Indo-European art and archaeology. Methods: comparative and interdisciplinary: art history, archaeology, linguistics. Data: visual images in published sources. Results: validity of the problem and the comparative analytical approach; the spoked-wheel icon as a widespread and key symbol in Indo-European contexts with a likely Proto-Indo-European origin.