About the same period they appear as a continuous coil pattern in relief on the columns of the harim well at Tell el Amarna. The spiral in relief being in yellow, it probably was copied from a jewellery pattern in which a strip of gold was twisted into spirals, and the spaces filled with squares of coloured stones or pastes, judging from the analogy of the inlaid capitals. This example being earlier than most of the spiral decorations of surfaces may thus open our eyes to the meaning of some such designs; and, in general, a close continuous coil returning on itself may well be a copy of a strip of sheet metal, doubled, and rolled up.