The Dharma Wheel:
The wheel of Dharma denotes the Buddha’s preaching ("turning") his first sermon with its eight spokes (The eight-fold path). This wheel is also called as the Dhamma Chakka and is often used to represent Buddha himself. It has also universally become the symbol of Buddhism. The dharma wheel has eight spokes, which represent Buddha’s Eightfold Path.
Dhama Wheel
https://slideplayer.com/slide/10173560/
The Lotus Flower: In Buddhist symbolism, the lotus represents the purity of the body, speech, and mind, as if floating above the murky waters of material attachment and physical desire. The lotus, is symbolic of the individual's journey up through the "mud" of existence, to bloom, with the aid of the Dharma, into pure enlightenment. According to legend, Gautam Buddha's first steps made lotus flowers appear everywhere he stepped. The lotus has been used in many teachings of Buddhism to impart the true nature of all mankind. The roots of the lotus plant are stuck deep in the mud, but it still grows above murky water and blossoms into a beautiful, sweet-smelling flower. The lotus can be analogous to how we rise from our sufferings to reach enlightenment, beauty, and clarity. Different-colored lotus plants mean different things in Buddhism. White means spiritual and mental purity, pink means the traditional Buddha, purple is for mysticism, red means love and compassion, and blue represents wisdom.
The Bodhi Tree: The Bodhi tree, represents the place of his enlightenment (under a papal ficus tree at Bodhgaya) and also serves to signify the enlightenment experience itself (as well as the very powerful moment of enlightenment, the beginning of Buddhism).
The Throne: The throne, symbolises the Buddha's status as "ruler" of the religious realm, and also, through its emptiness, his passage into final nirvana. The Deer: The deer, evokes both the place of his first sermon, the deer park at Samath, and also the protective qualities of the Dharma. The Stupa: The stupa, the reliquary which contains the Buddha's physical remains, is a powerful symbol of both his physical death and his continued presence in the world.
Later Buddhism added countless other symbols to his iconographic repertoire: in the Mahayana, for instance, the sword becomes a common symbol of the incisive nature of the Buddha's teachings; in the Vajrayana, the vajra, or diamond (or thunderbolt), is a ubiquitous symbol of the pure and unchanging nature of the Dharma.
The first archaeological evidence first comprised of art symbols, mainly stone carvings that date back to the period during which Emperor Asoka reigned. He played a huge role in popularizing Buddhism and helping it spread inside India and beyond. The first actual Buddha images appeared around the first century BCE, so until then the artwork was largely symbolic in nature. Many artwork and symbolism appeared around the 6th century including mandalas and other Tantric symbols. Initially, in East Asia Cultures, Buddhism did not portray the Buddha himself; the first hint of human representation appeared with the Buddha's footprint. Buddhist art really began to flourish in the second and first centuries BCE, under the patronage of the Sunga dynasty. It was during this period that large monastic complexes were established at Bodhgaya in northern India, at Bharhut and Sanci in central India, at Amaravati and Nagarjunakonda in southern India, and at Bhaja, Nasik, Karli, and other cities in western India. Significantly, however, the Buddha himself is absent from these very early images. Instead of representing his physical form, early Buddhist artisans employed a range of visual symbols to communicate aspects of the Buddha's teachings and life story.
References
1. https://www.ancient-symbols.com/buddhist-symbols.html
2. https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/897249eaaa174f5187e07abd08a1142
3. http://factsanddetails.com/world/cat55/sub355/entry-5682.html
4. https://east-asian-cultures.com/buddhist-symbols/
5. https://www.invaluable.com/blog/buddhist-art/
6. http://www.buddhistsymbols.org/
8. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/32300878.pdf
9. https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/10125/36669/1/05_51.2Fogelin.pdf
10. https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/154759/10/10_chapter%203.pdf
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