The Swastika, the Earliest Known Symbol, and Its Migration is Thomas Wilson’s archaeological study of the swastika as an ancient ornamental and religious symbol found across many cultures. Written long before the symbol’s twentieth-century appropriation, the book traces its appearance in prehistoric Europe, Asia, and the Americas.
Drawing on artifacts and comparative archaeology, Wilson examines the symbol’s distribution and the theories of migration and independent invention proposed to explain it. The work is a serious contribution to the study of prehistoric ornament and the diffusion of cultural motifs. Read in its original context, it is a valuable historical source on ancient symbolism and the methods early archaeologists used to track the movement of designs across the ancient world.