Oct 29, 2007 -- /prbuzz/ --Arguably the largest digital collection of rock art images in the world is a database currently containing some 4 million items, supervised by dr. Anthony Peratt, of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico. From their computer analysis of ‘abstract’ or ‘geometric’ petroglyphs worldwide, focussing on Neolithic and Bronze Age imagery, Peratt’s team have drawn two important conclusions, both announced in an article recently published in the Transactions on Plasma Science, 35. 4 (2007) of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the world’s leading professional association for the advancement of technology.
Firstly, geometric images of the Neolithic and Bronze Ages display a consistent directionality. The report concludes that “of those petroglyphs accurately surveyed and GPS logged, it was found that the light was observed totally from the direction of the south axial pole of Earth.” This can only be demonstrated incontrovertibly when plotted onto a digital map. The upshot is that these petroglyphs were carved while the artists were looking at the sky in a southerly direction. But what were they looking at?
Archaeologists have long been divided over the meaning and function of rock art. From time to time, specialists have looked to the sky for solutions, arguing that the puzzling pictures of spirals, concentric circles and ‘ladders’ seen on rocks symbolised the sun, comets, or supernovae. Dr. Peratt is a leading plasma physicist. Plasma physics is a branch of physics studying the properties of the ‘fourth state’ of matter – an ionised gas or plasma. Although plasmas are rare on earth – being restricted mostly to the auroras, lightning, fire and neon-tubes – more than 99% of the universe is believed to consist of plasma. The study of the behaviour of plasma, due to its many complexities, is still in its infancy and Peratt’s lifelong research has contributed much to our understanding of plasmas in space. When first confronted with pictures of geometric petroglyphs, Peratt was instantly struck by the striking similarities of these ‘stick-men’, ‘caterpillars’, ladders, spirals and concentrics to well-known plasma configurations he had been observing in space and in the laboratory for decades. According to the report, no less than 84 different matching morphologies were identified and some 40% of petroglyph types could be accounted for. Thus, the second conclusion of the report is that plasma configurations formed the subject of many of these rock art images.
Plasmas seen from the earth and with a fixed link to the south pole must have been a form of aurora australis or ‘southern lights’. The auroras of the type seen today in extreme northern or southern latitudes resemble dancing curtains of fire. Peratt’s computer analysis reveals that the plasma forms recognised in Neolithic petroglyphs represent a far more intense type of aurora – an ‘auroral storm’ of proportions never seen in recent centuries, in which the plasma underwent various types of ‘instabilities’ currently studied by plasma physicists. Using cutting-edge modelling software and the latest experimental devices, Peratt has been able to reconstruct the physical appearance of this super-intense aurora. On this model, the aurora took the form of a stupendous radiant pillar technically known as a z-pinch, which was surrounded by a sheath composed of 56 thread-like filaments. In the course of its development, this high-energy beam of light was pinched into a string of 9 disc-shaped segments, which were warped and fused together, while the surrounding filaments twisted around them. Detail for detail, the plasma model for this extreme auroral event ‘predicts’ the images captured in petroglyphs.
The auroras are caused by fluctuations in ‘solar weather’. In solar flares, the sun spews large amounts of charged particles into space, which travel towards the earth in the solar wind. Friction of the solar wind with the earth’s ionosphere causes excitation of these particles and the auroral glow is the result. According to Peratt’s calculations, an increase of 1 or 2 orders of magnitude in the solar wind must have been responsible for the super-aurora recorded on rock. The spectacle must have been so awe-inspiring that it inspired an unparalleled flurry of rock-carving activity around the world.
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About the Press Release
Prehistoric rock art images were contemporary recordings of an intense ‘auroral storm’, says a report recently released by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
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