Projections of Knots and Links

Alexander Åström () and Christoffer Åström ()

Chapter 23 in Handbook of the Mathematics of the Arts and Sciences, 2021, pp 665-695 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract This chapter presents an introduction to the archaeological and historical aspects of the use of projections of knots and links for decorative purposes. These projections of knots and links have been created by man on various artifacts, for at least some 4500 years. Apparently, the most prominent types of artifacts in most of the studied civilizations and cultures have been decorated with knots and links. Some examples are the Greek and Roman mosaics of the Roman world and various artifacts and art forms in the British Isles in the Anglo-Saxon era. The working hypothesis is that these knots and links are potential projections of real-life three-dimensional objects or at least that the intention of their creators was to present a feeling or sense in the beholder that the images were depictions of actual physical knots or links. The topological study of knots and links consider objects in 𝔼 3 $$\mathbb {E}^{3}$$ . However, these projections can in one way be seen as two-dimensional designs and could thus be studied with a geometrical approach in 𝔼 2 $$\mathbb {E}^{2}$$ instead or at least to some extent. From the perspective of decorative art, this may in fact be sufficient and even perhaps more convenient.

Keywords: Archaeology; History; Geometry; Decorative art; Interlaced patterns; Knotworks; Knots; Links (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-319-57072-3_16

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9783319570723

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-57072-3_16

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Springer Books from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().