Credit: Anthony Peratt, IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science
Feb 28, 2007
Plasma on StoneA number of independent researchers today insist that our early ancestors witnessed intensely energetic, heaven-spanning plasma discharge formations above them. According to these researchers, ancient artists chiseled plasma configurations by the millions on stone.
Many global patterns in ancient rock art are indeed highly unusual, revealing unique details such as the two dots or circles to the left and right of a central "stick" figure in the images above.
The examples here were gathered by plasma scientist Anthony Peratt. For over three decades Peratt's laboratory research concentrated on the instabilities that develop in high-energy discharges, and he documented the evolution of the these formations through dozens of unique configurations. In supercomputer simulations, using the very equations that have reproduced galactic structures in space, he has replicated the dynamics of laboratory discharge, with surprisingly accurate results.
Could Peratt's laboratory science illuminate the enigmatic rock art patterns? The majority of rock art authorities argue that only images of the sun, moon, and stars reflect real celestial phenomena. But cross cultural comparison proves the experts incorrect, as the above examples show. Many specialists attribute the more unusual elements in rock art to subjective shamanistic trances, explaining the "unnatural" representations as unique expressions within each culture. Universal patterns, however, suggest a universal experience.
Intrigued by the striking similarities between rock art patterns and plasma discharge formations, Peratt began his own investigation. The geometric illustrations above (beneath the rock art images) graphically illustrate the laboratory and simulation formations observed in the phase of intense plasma discharge corresponding to the rock art images shown here. The illustrations are taken from Peratt's recent paper in "Transactions on Plasma Science" of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, in December 2003.
Peratt states his conclusion forthrightly: The recurring petroglyph patterns "are reproductions of plasma phenomena in space".
By comparing rock art images from around the world and adjusting for line of sight, Peratt found more than 80 patterns corresponding to phases of plasma discharge he had documented in the laboratory. In many instances the different regional images then align to the degree that they are "cookie cutter" templates of each other. Through computer processing of images from different regions of the world, 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 pictograph images on stone and the complex evolution of the plasma instabilities.