mirrored file at http://SaturnianCosmology.Org/ 
For complete access to all the files of this collection
	see http://SaturnianCosmology.org/search.php 
==========================================================

D a v i d   Ta l b o t t   a n d   Wa l l a c e   T h o r n h i l l

Mikamar Publishing
Portland, Oregon
Thunderbolts of the Gods
Copyright © 2004

David Talbott and Wallace Thornhill

Printed in the United States of America by
Mikamar Publishing
1616 NW 143rd
Portland, Oregon 97229
503-645-4360

All rights reserved.  No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopy, recording or any other information storage and
retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: Thunderbolts of the
Gods / by David Talbott and Wallace Thornhill 1. Plasma and electricity in
space 2. Plasma phenomena in ancient times 3. Origins of mythology and
symbolism 4. The cosmic thunderbolt ISBN xx xxxx xxxxxx

To the scientists and historians of the future

"It is the thunderbolt that steers the universe!"
Heraclitus, fifth century B.C.

INTRODUCTION

On a spiral arm of a galaxy called the Milky Way, nine planets move in
peaceful, clock-like procession around a yellow dwarf star called the Sun.
The planets move on highly predictable paths, and by all appearances
nothing has changed in a billion years. The inhabitants of the third
planet, the Earth, can see five of their celestial neighbors without the
aid of telescopes. Surrounded by the background stars, these objects do
little to distinguish themselves in the night sky. And few of us today
have learned to identify the five visible planets against the starry dome.  

Earlier cultures were not so complacent about the planets. They invoked
these bodies with fear and reverence. In ancient Mesopotamia,
astronomer-priests insisted that the planets determined the fate of the
world. In their prayers to the planets they summoned memories of
heaven-shattering catastrophe. What was it about these celestial objects
that inspired this cultural anxiety? And why did so many ancient accounts
insist that the movements of the planets once changed?
That was Plato's message more than 2300 years ago. The Babylonian
chronicler Berossus said it too: the planets now move on different
courses. But these are only two of the more familiar voices amidst a
chorus of ancient witnesses. 

In archaic texts the planetary gods were a quarrelsome lot. They were
giants in the sky, wielding weapons of thunder, fire, and stone. Their
wars not only disturbed the heavens but threatened to destroy the earth.
Driven by reverence and fear, ancient cultures from Mesopotamia to China,
from the Mediterranean to the Americas, honored the planets with pomp and
zeal, seeking to placate these celestial powers through human sacrifice.
The best English word for this cultural response is obsession.

The authors of this book have each spent more than thirty years
investigating the ancient message, and this has led us to question a
pillar of theoretical science today -- the "uneventful solar system."
Following quite different research paths, we arrived at the same
conclusion: the ancient sky was alive with activity. The evidence suggests
that only a few thousand years ago planets moved close to the earth,
producing electrical phenomena of intense beauty and terror. Ancient sky
worshippers witnessed these celestial wonders, and far-flung cultures
recorded the events in the great myths, symbols, and ritual practices of
antiquity.  

A costly misunderstanding of planetary history must now be corrected. The
misunderstanding arose from fundamental errors within the field of
cosmology, the "queen" of the theoretical sciences. Mainstream
cosmologists, whether trained as physicists, mathematicians, or
astronomers, consider gravity to be the controlling force in the heavens.
From this assumption arose the doctrine of eons-long solar system
stability -- the belief that under the rule of gravity the nine planets
have moved on their present courses since the birth of the solar system.
Seen from this vantage point, the ancient fear of the planets can only
appear ludicrous. 

We challenge this modern belief. We contend that humans once saw planets
suspended as huge spheres in the heavens. Immersed in the charged
particles of a dense plasma, celestial bodies "spoke" electrically and
plasma discharge produced heaven-spanning formations above the terrestrial
witnesses. In the imagination of the ancient myth-makers, the planets were
alive: they were the gods, the ruling powers of the sky -- awe inspiring,
often capricious, and at times wildly destructive.  

Cosmic lightning evolved violently from one discharge configuration to
another, following patterns observed in high-energy plasma experiments and
only recently revealed in deep space as well. Around the world, our
ancestors remembered these discharge configurations in apocalyptic terms.
They called them the "thunderbolts of the gods."

PART I

THE COSMIC THUNDERBOLT
IN MYTH AND SCIENCE 
THE COSMIC THUNDERBOLT
IN MYTH AND SCIENCE 

· Chapter One: Convergence
· Chapter Two: The Mystery of the Cosmic Thunderbolt
· Chapter Three: Of Gods and Planets
· Chapter Four:  Electrical Encounters in Space

I. CONVERGENCE

The Lens of Human Perception

When we gaze up at the stars, do we believe what we see, or see what we
believe? Our beliefs and assumptions are like eyeglasses: they can help us
see more clearly, but they can also limit our field of view.

Today, most astronomers assure us that the solar system is both stable and
predictable. But new vistas in the sciences often expose flaws in notions
that once seemed obvious. Only a few decades ago, all well-trained,
feet-on-the-ground scientists "knew" that--

· Space is empty and cannot conduct electricity;

· Magnetic fields do not exist in space;

· The tails of comets are pushed away from the Sun by the pressure of
light;

· Jupiter and Saturn have been cold and inactive since the early history
of the solar system;

· The planet Mars has been geologically dead for more than a billion
years;

· Venus is our "sister planet," with temperatures close to those of the
Earth;

· There are no other galaxies outside our own;

· There is no evidence for planet-wide geological disturbances of the
Earth in the past.

Before new findings disproved these beliefs, they were so "obviously true"
as to discourage challenges. It is easy to confuse theoretical assumption
with fact. And today the tendency often conceals a tacit belief that,
despite the mistakes of previous generations, we have the big picture
right and the remaining task is simply to tidy things up a bit.

The actual situation in the sciences calls for openness to new
possibilities. Our vision of the universe is changing more rapidly than
ever before, as space exploration fuels an explosion of discovery. Before
the advent of the space age, we could view the universe only in the few
wavelengths of visible light seen from the surface of the Earth. Now we
have expanded our vision into the ultraviolet, x-ray, and gamma-ray in the
short wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum and into infrared,
microwave, and radio in the long wavelengths. We can view at close range
the surfaces of planets, moons, asteroids and comets. We can even touch
and chemically "taste" them.

The new discoveries accent the unexpected -- a sign that something is
wrong at the level of first assumptions. In fact, two of the most
far-reaching discoveries of the past century came as great sur- prises:
the pervasive role of charged particles in the universe; and the signature
of planetary catastrophe throughout our solar system. The "big picture" of
space has changed. 

For centuries astronomers assumed that gravity is the only force that can
give birth to stars and planets or can direct the motions of celestial
bodies. They assumed that all bodies in the universe are electrically
neutral, comprised of equal numbers of negative and positive particles.
With this assumption astronomers were able to ignore the extremely
powerful electric force. It was a fatal mistake. From the smallest
particle to the largest galactic formation, a web of electrical circuitry
connects and unifies all of nature, organizing galaxies, energizing stars,
giving birth to planets and, on our own world, controlling weather and
animating biological organisms. There are no isolated islands in an
"electric universe." 

The medium for this more "holistic" view of the universe is plasma, a
highly conductive state of matter, distinguished by the presence of freely
moving charged particles. We now know that plasma fills all of space -- a
fact unknown to the pioneers of gravitational theory. Except for the Earth
and a few rocky planets, moons, and wandering solid objects, most bodies
in space are composed of plasma.

Moreover, a crescendo of evidence reviewed in this volume (and those to
follow) makes clear that distant stars, our Sun, and the planets are
charged bodies. Immersed in a conductive medium, they interact
continuously -- and sometimes explosively -- with their celestial
environment. Today, nothing is more important to the future and
credibility of science than liberation from the gravity-driven universe of
prior theory. A mistaken supposition has not only prevented intelligent
and sincere investigators from seeing what would otherwise be obvious, it
has bred an indifference to possibilities that could have inspired the
sciences for decades. It has also obscured the link between new findings
in space and the human past, a link with implications far beyond the
physical sciences.

Plasma Phenomena in Ancient Times

The discovery of the "electric universe" does not just change the picture
of the heavens. It also changes what we see and hear in messages from the
ancient world. Over the past century and a half, archaeologists have
unearthed huge libraries of archaic texts, many of them describing great
spectacles in the heavens. But the specialists set aside these
descriptions as "untrustworthy" because they accepted a priori the
uneventful solar system assumed by astronomers. Most historians do not
doubt that the ancient sky looked almost exactly like our sky today.
Consequently, they give little or no attention to the "extravagant" or
"nonsensical" claims of early sky worshippers.

But were it possible for us to stand alongside our early ancestors, to
witness the events that provoked the age of myth-making and the birth of
the archaic religions, the celestial dramas would exceed anything
conceivable in our own time. The sky was electric, filled with luminous
clouds, threads of light, and undulating rivers of fire. To today's
observer the events could only appear too vast, too improbable for
anything but a dream.

Yet to a modern-day witness the formations in the sky would also seem
eerily familiar, as if remembered.

In these pages we contend that humans living today have seen the events
before, through their universal reflection in art and storytelling.
Formations now known to be characteristic of electric discharge in
plasma are the core images of the antique world, recorded on papyrus and
stone, mirrored in the sacred symbols of the great religions, reenacted in
mystery plays, and embodied in monumental construction on every habitable
continent. Once recognized, the images leap from every ancient culture.
The sky was once a theater of awe and terror: on this the ancient
witnesses speak with one accord.

Unique Behavior of Plasma

Although plasma behavior follows simple electromagnetic laws, the
resulting complexity continues to astonish the specialists who study it.
Because plasma exhibits characteristics not found in solids, liquids, or
gases, it has been called "the fundamental state of matter." It can
self-organize into cells of differing electrical characteristics. Electric
currents in plasma form filaments that attract each other at long
distances and repel each other at short distances. These filaments tend to
braid themselves into "ropes" that act as power transmission lines, with
virtually no limit to the distances over which they can operate.

In the rarefied plasma of space, the subtle flow of electricity is not
easily measured, but these currents leave a definitive signature -- a
network of magnetic fields throughout the observed universe. Astronomers
detect these fields but give no attention to the electric cause:  
magnetic fields are produced only by electricity.

The complex magnetic fields we observe are evidence that plasma is
carrying electrical energy across galactic and intergalactic space,
powering secondary systems, including galaxies, stars, and planets.
Exceedingly subtle charge imbalances, across the immense volume of space,
are quite sufficient to configure and animate cosmic structures at all
scales of observation. The reason for this power of electricity is very
simple: the electric force is 10^39 times (a thousand billion, billion,
billion, billion times) more powerful than gravity. Contrary to popular
belief nature does not rely on the trivially weak force of gravity to do
the "really big jobs" in the cosmos. To see the connection between plasma
experiments and plasma formations in space, it is essential to understand
the scalability of plasma phenomena. Under similar conditions, plasma
discharge will produce the same formations irrespective of the size of the
event. The same basic patterns will be seen at laboratory, planetary,
stellar, and galactic levels. Duration is proportional to size as well. A
spark that lasts for microseconds in the laboratory may continue for years
at planetary or stellar scales, or for millions of years at galactic or
intergalactic scales.

The scalability of plasma events enables researchers, utilizing laboratory
experiments and supercomputer simulation, to replicate stellar and
galactic evolution, including many enigmatic formations only recently
discovered in deep space. Gravitational models do not achieve comparable
success, and often fail completely.

Many of astronomy's most fundamental mysteries now find their resolution
in plasma behavior. Why do cosmic bodies spin, asked the distinguished
astronomer Fred Hoyle, in summarizing the unanswered questions. Plasma
experiments show that rotation is a natural function of interacting
currents in plasma. Currents can pinch matter together to form rotating
stars and galaxies. A good example is the ubiquitous spiral galaxy, a
predictable configuration of a cosmic-scale discharge. Computer models of
two current filaments interacting in a plasma have, in fact, reproduced
fine details of spiral galaxies, where the gravitational schools must rely
on invisible matter arbitrarily placed wherever it is needed to make their
models "work."

It is worth noting also that plasma experiments, backed by computer
simulations of plasma discharge, can produce galactic structures without
recourse to a popular fiction of modern astrophysics -- the Black Hole.
Astronomers require invisible, super-compressed matter as the center of
galaxies because without Black Holes gravitational equations cannot
account for observed movement and compact energetic activity. But charged
plasma achieves such effects routinely.

Planets, Comets, and Plasma Discharge

The new revelations of plasma science enable us to see that planets are
charged bodies moving through a weak electric field of the Sun.
Astronomers do not recognize planetary charge because the planets now move
on nearly circular orbits. The change in electric potential during a
revolution is so minimal as to produce no obvious effects. (We take up
the subtle indicators of planetary circuits in our second monograph;
these indicators include auroras, weather patterns, lightning, dust
devils, water spouts, and tornadoes.) 

It is easier to see the electric force in action when a comet approaches
the Sun on an elongated orbit that carries it quickly into regions of
greater electrical stress. Plasma will form a cell, or "sheath," around
any object within it that has a different electric potential. If the
potential difference is low, the plasma sheath will be invisible. This is
the case with the planets, whose plasma sheaths are called
"magnetospheres" because the planetary magnetic field is trapped inside.
Unlike a planet, however, a comet spends most of its time far from the Sun
and takes on a charge in balance with that region of the Sun's electric
field. As it speeds toward the Sun, its charge is increasingly out of
balance with its surroundings. Eventually, the plasma sheath glows in
response to the electric stresses. This is what we see as the coma and ion
tail of a comet. The dust tail is formed when more intense discharge -- in
the form of an elec- tric arc to the comet nucleus -- removes surface
material and launches it into space. The internal electric stress may even
blow the comet apart -- as often and "inexplicably" occurs!

Our claim that comets are electrical in nature can be easily tested. Are
comet nuclei "wet" or "dry"? The standard model of comets explains them as
"dirty snowballs" sublimating under the heat of the Sun. Escaping water
vapor generates the coma and is "blown" away by the solar wind to produce
the diffuse tail spanning up to millions of miles. In the electrical model
a large rock containing no volatiles (ices) but on an elliptical orbit
will still generate a coma and tail as electric discharge excavates
material from the surface. The standard comet model, however, will not
survive the discovery of a comet nucleus free of volatiles. 

Already, the comet question is being answered. As the spacecraft Deep
Space 1 flew by the nucleus of Comet Borrelly, it found that the surface
was "hot and dry." Instruments detected not a trace of water on the
surface. The only water discovered was in the tail, where it could easily
be explained by reactions of negatively charged oxygen from the nucleus
with positively charged hydrogen ions from the Sun.  These reactions are,
in fact, observed. But with no other model than that of the dirty
snowball, astronomers could only assume that water must be present on the
nucleus but hidden beneath the surface. Then, NASA's Stardust probe to
comet Wild-2 (pronounced vilt 2) startled investigators with the best
pictures ever of a comet.

In its approach to the comet, short but intense bursts of microscopic
dust from the comet blasted the spacecraft as it crossed two jets. "These
things were like a thunderbolt," said Anthony Truzollino, a Senior
Scientist at the University of Chicago's Enrico Fermi Institute. To the
bafflement of project scientists, the pictures showed sharply defined
"spires, pits and craters" -- just the opposite of the attenuated relief
expected of an evaporating snowball. The discovery was more than
surprising, "it was mind-boggling," the scientists said. But a ruggedly
etched landscape is predicted by the electric model.

Plasma Cosmology -- The Leading Edge of Science

Two early twentieth century pioneers whose work leads to a deeper
understanding of plasma and electricity are Sweden's Kristian Birkeland
and America's Irving Langmuir. Experiments inspired by Birkeland's work
showed how current filaments in plasma join in entwined pairs, now called
"Birkeland currents." (See illustration and discussion, page 23.)
Langmuir's experimental work gave rise to the word "plasma," due to the
life-like behavior of this conductive medium, and he demonstrated how the
plasma "sheath" insulates a charged sphere from its plasma environment.
This sheath is now crucial to the understanding of the so-called
"magnetospheres" of planets, though few astronomers take into account the
electrical implications.

One of the most respected innovators was Nobel Laureate Hannes Alfvén,
honored as the father of "plasma cosmology," an approach to cosmic
evolution based on electric forces. It was Alfvén who developed the first
models of galactic structure and star formation rooted in the dynamics of
electrified plasma, and his challenges to the "pure mathematics" of modern
cosmology arose from experimental evidence that has grown increasingly
persuasive in recent years. 

Alfven's close colleague, Anthony Peratt, later extended his
investigation, conducting experiments with far-reaching implications for
the understanding of galaxies, stars, and the evolution of planetary
systems. From graduate school until Alfvén's death in 1995, Peratt worked
with the pioneer to define the frontiers of plasma cosmology, a subject
highlighted in the physicist Eric Lerner's popular book, The Big Bang
Never Happened.  Peratt's work included unprecedented three-dimensional
simulations of galaxy evolution and of other plasma structures in space.
Today he is internationally recognized as an authority on plasma discharge
instabilities and their three-dimensional simulation 

Using equations that describe the interactions of electric and magnetic
fields (Maxwell-Lorentz equations), Peratt developed a super computer
program to mimic the effects of electric discharge within a large volume
of charged particles. His "Particle in Cell" (PIC) simulations have
produced formations that are virtually indistinguishable from the
energetic patterns of actual galaxies, as can be seen in the graphic
below.

Peratt's book "The Physics of the Plasma Universe"  has led the way to a
new understanding of high-energy plasma behavior and the role of
electricity in the cosmos. Due in large part to the Coalition of Plasma
Science, of which Peratt is a member, the Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers, the world's largest scientific and technical
society, announced that it would recognize "Plasma Cosmology" as an
official discipline in science.

Plasma Discharge Inscribed on Stone

For over three decades Peratt's laboratory research concentrated on the
unstable formations that develop in high-energy plasma discharge, and he
recorded the evolution of these configurations through dozens of phases.
Some of the most elaborate discharge forms are now called "Peratt
Instabilities" because he was the first to document them.

His most recent work has taken him in a new direction, and the results
offer the strongest link between plasma science and things once seen in
the sky.  In September, 2000, in response to communications with the
authors of this monograph, Peratt became intrigued by the striking
similarity of ancient rock art to plasma discharge formations.  Suddenly
he was seeing, carved on stone by the tens of thousands, the very forms he
had documented in the laboratory. The correlations were so precise -- down
to the finest details -- that they could not be accidental. The artists
were recording heaven-spanning discharge formations above them.

In his investigation of rock art themes, Peratt concentrated his field
work in the American Southwest and Northwest, but he also gathered data
internationally. For his on-site study he used GPS longitude and latitude
positions, always noting the probable orientation or field of view. A
team of about 30 volunteers, including specialists from several fields,
assisted Peratt in the investigation, and he has since gathered more than
25,000 rock art images. While the recorded formations correspond to
nothing visible in the heavens today, they accurately depict the
evolution of plasma instabilities. Peratt reports that "some 87
different categories of plasma instabilities have been identified among
the archaic petroglyphs and there exists nearly none whose whole or parts
do not fit this delineation."  

A plasma instability found globally in rock art is a stick figure with a
circle or dot on each side of its torso. In plasma experiments, this
"squatter man" configuration appears when a disk or donut-like torus is
bent by magnetic fields induced by the current flow. From the viewpoint of
the observer, the edges of the upper disk may appear to point up (forming
"arms") and those of the lower torus may appear to point down (forming
"legs"). The underlying "hourglass" pattern, with many subtle
variations, occurs around the world. 

Virtually all of the variations in the ancient drawings correspond to
known evolutionary aspects of the basic plasma form. To appreciate the
potential evolution, it is essential that one visualize the configuration
three dimensionally, as illustrated by the idealization of the form
below --

The graphic image of the discharge configuration above utilizes a tonal
gradient to indicate the structure of a transparent plasma discharge,
where this structure would not be self evident in a rendition carved on
rock.

Our idealized formation shows slight variations between the
upward-pointing and downward-pointing components, consistent with common
variations in the laboratory and in rock art. The upper "champaign glass"
form results from a distortion of a flattened toroidal disk as the edges
curve upward. In the warping of the disk below, the downward curvature is
interrupted at the extremity, which bends outward to create a "squashed
bell" appearance. The rock art images given on the previous page include
other variations as well.  

Often, the "arms" and "legs" of the "squatter man" are more squared than
in our graphic representation here (examples on right), but this variation
too is characteristic of laboratory discharge.  

Our illustration of the hourglass discharge form accents the central
torus and its visual relationship to the two symmetrical dots or circles
seen in the corresponding rock art images. But many other nuances of such
discharge configurations must be taken into account. It is unlikely that
this torus would have always been visible, for example, and a great
number of "squatter man" rock art images do not display the two dots or
spheres. Also, the warping of the upward and downward extremities of the
hourglass form can occur in almost limitless variations. A more
comprehensive treatment of this subject would require systematic
analysis of the global variations in the rock art forms, comparing the
wide-ranging patterns to the implied discharge evolution.

A New Approach to Rock Art

Peratt's findings are particularly significant in their contrast to
traditional explanations of rock art. The majority of rock art
authorities, particularly those with primary interest in Native American
sources, argue that only images of the sun, moon, and stars reflect actual
celestial phenomena. Apart from such associations, most authorities claim
that global patterns do not exist. Peratt's investigations say the
opposite, confirming numerous universal patterns of rock art. Through
massive labors, some apparently taking whole lifetimes according to
Peratt, the ancient artists recorded immense discharge phenomena in the
heavens.

Following an intensive investigation, Peratt began summarizing his
findings. He wondered if the ancient artists might have witnessed an
episode of high-energy plasma incursion into Earth's atmosphere, what he
called an "enhanced aurora."  His first article, "Characteristics for the
Occurrence of a High-Current, Z-Pinch Aurora as recorded in Antiquity,"
was published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, in
its "Transactions on Plasma Science"  for December 2003. Here he states
his conclusion forthrightly: the recurring petroglyph patterns "are
reproductions of plasma phenomena in space."

Stacked Toruses

In laboratory experiments and in computer simulations, Peratt demonstrated
how electric forces in a plasma discharge generate rapidly changing
configurations. One of the most common and fascinating patterns is a
stack of disks or toruses (donut-like rings) around a central axis, a
configuration that evolves through many variations. This dynamic sequence
culminates in a highly energetic collapse. But according to Peratt, the
prior phases of the stacked toruses are relatively stable and numerous
variations were inscribed on stone everywhere in the world.

The discharge sequence leading to the stacked toruses begins with two
braided current filaments ("Birkeland currents," named after Kristian
Birkeland), as illustrated on the following page. Under the magnetic
forces generated by the currents, the two filaments tend to draw closer.
As they do so, they rotate about each other faster and faster. If the
current is strong enough, it may "pinch off" in what is known as a
"sausage" instability, forming a series of cells that look like a string
of sausages or a string of pearls. The sausage "links" then form spheroids
that evolve into disks or toruses (thick rings or "donuts") of electrical
current circling the initial line current (two images on the previous
page). This formation remains stable for a relatively long period,
accreting matter at the center of each torus. As the sequence progresses,
the disks or toruses will flatten and the outer edges will begin to curve
upward or downward like the rims of a saucepan. To an observer looking
through the transparent toruses they will have the appearance of stacked
"arms" or "legs" strung along the axis of the discharge. Of such a
configuration, thousands of examples exist around the world.  Eventually
the formation reaches a threshold point and explosively breaks apart.
This culminating phase of the discharge sequence is so energetic that
direct human observation of such a configuration close to Earth would
likely be deadly.

Nevertheless, an exceedingly rare but precise replication of this phase is
given in a petroglyph from Kayenta, Arizona (above). When Peratt received
this image from one of the authors (Talbott), he had no doubt of its
significance.  The configuration's unique features make the plasma
explanation definitive, Peratt reported.

The upper terminus shows the twin filaments of tightly bound Birkeland
currents of the plasma column below. In high energy discharge, the
terminal filaments typically flare out as the discharge column evolves.
The flat disks or toruses with upturned edges ("saucepan" formations) are
typical of diocotron instabilities, rapidly revolving plasma contained
and configured by magnetic fields. At the "base" of the formation is a
larger, thicker and transparent torus, permitting the observer to see
through the inner shells, presenting a view that might be compared to an
automobile tire cut in half and viewed edge on. Peratt writes --

	Six flattened tori [toruses] are depicted ... whose features can
	be shown to be exact in detail. The spacing and the shape of the
	`bars' as well as the fine structure at the tips of the disks are
	precise. Slight curvature in the `bars' indicates that state
	transition is imminent. It should also be noted that the lowest
	disk is about one-half the size of the stack above. The stack also
	opens out slightly in the direction of Terminus

Peratt reports that this pictograph represents "the onset of a chaotic
change of state." This is the most energetic phase, meaning that humans
would have needed to shield themselves from the intense radiation at all
cost. It is not surprising that direct pictorial representations of this
phase are almost non-existent, in contrast to earlier phases recorded by
the tens of thousands.

Eye Mask

A key component in the Kayenta pictograph above is the "eye mask" seen at
the base of the image. For decades this elementary form has intrigued
symbolists and rock art specialists, but no consensus was ever reached
as to its meaning.

Occurrences of the "eye mask" on stone and in ancient art range from
Easter Island in the southern hemisphere to North America, Europe, ancient
Mesopotamia, and elsewhere. If primitive artists were recording something
they saw in the sky, then there can be no doubt that it was seen from both
hemispheres.

Peratt immediately identified the eye mask as a "low opacity torus" or
thick ring, seen from a vantage-point not too far from the plane of the
torus. The most intense currents in a plasma torus are concentrated at the
center and surrounded by a number of concentric "shells." Because the
outer shells have a low opacity, an observer can see deeply inside the
torus. The center of the torus cross section becomes more visible at
optical wavelengths as the outer plasma shells become less opaque. In
addition, the torus tends to flatten with increasing current, a
characteristic revealed by innumerable instances of the eye mask
globally and as seen in the ancient Sumerian symbols of the goddess Inanna
and the Native American "She Who Watches"

A "Complete Match"

Peratt was impressed not only by the precise accord of rock art images to
experimental and simulated forms, but also by the detailed correspondences
between images in different parts of the world. He only needed to adjust
for the different lines of sight to obtain remarkably accurate overlays.
An example of this is seen below, in a category of images Peratt calls the
"Stonehenge" type. Here, Peratt overlays a "Wandjina" pictograph in
Northeastern Australia (1) with a carved granite petroglyph in
northeastern Arizona (2). To adjust for divergent lines of sight, he
digitally tilted the latter 45.3 degrees. Then the fit was perfect (3),
despite the fact that the radiating streamers in the two images were
not symmetrical.

	The overlay is so exact that the only way I could illustrate this
	was to extrude the Arizona petroglyph (in white) and lay a flat
	black Wandjina on top. That is, everywhere you see black on
	white, even the edges, is the overlay. This technique still does
	not do the overlay justice .... My claim that at least a
	lifetime was spent carving some of these petroglyphs in granite
	with stone instruments is based on both the overlay factor and
	comparison to experimental data.

The presence of identical images around the world is a common theme in
Peratt's cataloging of ancient art. "An appreciable number of the
categories contain petroglyphs that overlay to the degree that they are
`cookie cutter' templates of each other," he states. Through computer
processing his data enable him to project what was seen in the sky in
three dimensions. The pictographs themselves can be arranged to form
animation cells, enabling him to produce an animation of the laboratory
sequences using only the pictographs -- a complete match between the
images on stone and the complex evolution of the plasma instabilities.

It now appears that dating of the events is also possible. Where various
figures have been painted on stone and the pigments have leached into the
rock, leaving a residue that is still present, a technique called
"plasma extraction" may yield valuable estimates as to when the events
occurred. Indeed, Peratt exudes confidence on the matter, saying that if
plasma scientists can cross reference the dates from plasma extraction
with laboratory data on the discharge sequence, "extracting dates seems
certain."  He presently estimates that the 87 categories generally fall in
a range from 7,000 BC to 3,000 BC.  This brings the rock art expressions
directly in line with the formative phase of the first civilizations,
raising profound questions about the antique cultures. What were the
cosmic influences shaping human imagination in this enigmatic period of
human history?

Today, more than a dozen qualified individuals, constituting an
interdisciplinary nucleus, are working to reconstruct details of the
ancient celestial dramas. Though the individuals come from diverse fields
of inquiry, all agree that the accord between ancient images and plasma
configurations is too detailed and too specific to be explained as
accidental convergence. All have concluded that immense discharge
formations appeared in the sky of ancient witnesses and that the violent
evolution of these formations must have instilled overwhelming terror.

A New Approach

In the present inquiry science and historical testimony converge,
requiring a radical reassessment of each in the light of the other.
Laboratory experiments not only offer a new perspective on the physical
universe, they connect the leading edge of science to a critical phase of
human history. Disciplines that previously developed in isolation now
require interdisciplinary communication. The physical sciences on the one
hand, and the study of archaic human memories on the other, are brought
into alignment by questioning the assumptions that have affected both.
What, for example, can the reconstructed plasma formations tell us about
the origins of ancient religions, mythology, and symbolism? How might they
explain the mystery to which we alluded in the first pages of this
monograph -- the recurring themes of the mother goddess, the hero, and the
chaos dragon?

Our hope is that doors will open to more holistic approaches within the
sciences, encouraging even specialists, confident in their long-held
assumptions, to wonder again about our universe, the evolution of Earth,
and the influence of cosmic events on human history.