Incised Drawings from Early Phrygian Gordion. Lynn E. Roller

      Some of the patterns are basic elements of drawing that could be adapted to a variety of designs, including simple straight and zigzag lines (very common) and the compass-drawn circle or arc of a circle, found in 34, 42, 82. There are also several examples of more complex patterns built on a circle, such as the vertical row of compass-drawn circles found on 82. A more elaborate development of the compass-drawn circles was the rosette, a design comprising a circle with internal six petals formed by using the compass to draw arcs of the same circumference as the enclosing circle; note 10, 70, 72, 75, 82, 85.

      Some of the simpler examples need not have any special significance, since forms such as lines, zigzags, and circles are all fairly basic drawing elements that were widely known and used. Other examples of complex patterns in the stone drawings, however, may have had special meaning for Early Phrygian Gordion, since they are similar to several of the designs used as decorative motifs in other media in Phrygian art, including painted pottery and wooden furniture. These can include concentric squares (12), meander patterns (23), diamonds and lozenge rows (15, 37, 43, 49, 67), and X-in-square or X-in lozenge designs (10, 20, 30, 57, 82, 103). These same patterns suggest the types of designs that could have been used in perishable media, such as textiles.