Anthony Lee Peratt

A past intense solar outburst and its effect on Earth was proposed by Gold (1962 Pontificiae Acad. Sci. Scr. Varia 25 159) who, along with others, based his hypotheses on strong astronomical and geophysical evidence. The discovery that objects from the Neolithic or Early Bronze Age carry patterns associated with high-current Z-pinches, as would result from an intense plasma impinging Earth, provides a possible insight into the origin and meaning of these ancient symbols produced by humans. Peratt (2003 Trans. Plasma Sci. 31 1192) dealt with the comparison of graphical and radiation data from high-current Z-pinches to petroglyphs, geoglyphs and megaliths. Peratt (2007 Trans. Plasma Sci. 35 778) focused primarily, but not exclusively, on petroglyphs of some 84 different morphologies; pictures found in laboratory experiments and carved on rock. These corresponded to mankind's visual observations of ancient aurora as might be produced if the solar wind had increased at times between one and two orders of magnitude, millennia ago (Gold 1962 Pontificiae Acad. Sci. Scr. Varia 25 159). In Peratt (2007 Trans. Plasma Sci. 35 778), the data were given on the source of light and its temporal change from a current-increasing Z-pinch or dense plasma focus aurora. Orientation and field-of-view data are given as surveyed and contributed from 139 countries, from sites and fields containing several millions of these objects, the latest data coming from a 300 km survey along the Orinoco river basin in Venezuela. In this paper, we include additional petroglyph figures derivable from experiment and computer. This information allows a reconstruction of the auroral form presumably associated with extreme geomagnetic storms and shows, based on existent geophysical evidence, relativistic electron flow inward at Earth's south polar axis and hypervelocity proton impacts around the north polar axis.

This article traces the spread and development of the motif of the ouroboros, or circular serpent, and proposes that it originated in descriptions of an intense aurora. The earliest artistic examples of the ouroboros date to [+ or -] 5000-[+ or -] 3000 BCE. The theme proliferated in Egypt and spread to the classical world during the Hellenistic period. In the earliest traditions, emphasis was on the ouroboros' associations with the sun god, the creation of the world, the circular ocean, darkness or underworld thought to surround the earth, and a mythical combat. From late antiquity onwards, the ouroboros acquired more sophisticated meanings, including a link with the ecliptic band or the zodiac, the lunar nodes, the alchemical process, and eternity. In China, the ouroboros largely remained a purely decorative motif, while its most common role in the equatorial regions of America, Africa and Oceania was as a form of the cosmic ocean. In reviewing hypotheses concerning the origin of the motif, we consider the antiquity of the theme, its near-universality, its geographic link with the outermost boundary of the visible world, and aspects of the dragon's prosopography--such as its precious orb, its filamentation, its twin aspect, and its radiant color scheme. It is proposed that the archetype was inspired by a surge of intense auroral phenomena including a plasma instability type known as a diocotron instability, witnessed by human beings towards the end of the Neolithic period.

The discovery that objects from the Neolithic or Early Bronze Age carry patterns associated with high-current Z-pinches provides a possible insight into the origin and meaning of these ancient symbols produced by humans. Part I deals with the comparison of graphical and radiation data from high-current Z-pinches to petroglyphs, geoglyphs, and megaliths. Part I focused primarily, but not exclusively, on petroglyphs of some 84 different morphologies: pictures found in laboratory experiments and carved on rock. These corresponded to. mankind's visual observations of ancient aurora as might be produced if the solar wind had increased (T. Gold) at times between one and two orders of magnitude, millennia ago. Part II focuses on the source of light and its temporal change from a current-increasing Z-pinch or dense-plasma-focus aurora. Orientation and field-of-view data are given as surveyed and contributed from 139 countries, from sites and fields containing several millions of these objects. This information allows a reconstruction of the auroral form presumably associated with extreme geomagnetic storms and shows, based on existent geophysical evidence, plasma flow inward at Earth's south polar axis.