Welcome to the Thunderbolts.info podcast for july 15, 2016.
In the last two episodes, David Talbott, the director of the Thunderbolts project,
has outlined the foundations of his working relationship
with one of the world's leading plasma physicists, Dr. Anthony Peratt
and the impact that this relationship had on Peratt's life work and career.
As David described, Peratt's research proves undeniably that high energy plasma events
occurred in the earthly sky within human memory and were recorded in rock art
and cave drawings in various locations including the American Southwest.
In this episode, David explorers, in greater depth,
one of the most remarkable rock art motifs
which has an explicit counterpart in laboratory experiments with plasma
and that is the Stickman figure, carved on stone around the world.
Evidence gathered from around the world has made abundantly clear
that in ancient times intense electrical activity above observers on earth
was the subject of massive collective endeavors to record the forms on stone.
Especially compelling is the rock art theme called the Stickman.
The illustrations shown here compare a well documented
electric discharge form in the laboratory
to the remarkably similar rock art carvings from different parts of the world.
These rock art Stick-men are taken from Tony Peratt's 2003 paper
in "Transactions on Plasma Science",
published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
Peratt states his conclusion forthrightly.
The recurring petroglyph patterns are reproductions of plasma phenomena in space.
Of course 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.
Rather, they tell us, the ancient artists projected onto stone
the subjective content of shamanistic trances.
Peratt's investigation say the opposite,
that the most fundamental patterns of rock art occur globally through massive labors,
some apparently taking whole lifetimes, according to Peratt.
The artists carved onto stone, observed electric discharge phenomena in the heavens.
The stickman configuration occurs when a disc or donut like torus,
around a linear discharge column,
is bent by magnetic fields induced by intense 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
not only occurs around the world, it is among the most fundamental forms
appearing in highest energy electric discharge in the laboratory.
To appreciate the evolution of the discharge configuration,
these graphics must be visualized three-dimensionally.
Illustrations show the structure of a translucent plasma discharge
whose 3d configuration would not be self evident in a rendition carved on rock.
Here is a key consideration, rotating the configuration on its axis
would not change the basic form or appearance to the observer.
Our idealization here of the dynamic geometry show slight variations
between the upward pointing and downward pointing components,
consistent with common variations in the laboratory and in rock art.
The upper champagne glass form results from a distortion of a 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 we've noted in this series
are all characteristic of intense electric discharge in the laboratory.
In the case at hand, the idealization of the hourglass discharge form,
accents the visual relationship of the two symmetrical dots or circles
to a transparent donut like torus - viewed edge on.
But many other nuances of such discharge configurations must be taken into account
since the warping of the upward and downward extremities of the hourglass form
can occur in almost limitless variations.
If Peratt's conclusions are correct, then several thousand years ago
the terrestrial sky was ablaze with the electrical activity.
The ramifications of this possibility will directly affect
our understanding of cultural roots the world over.
What was the impact of the recorded events on the early civilizations,
what was the relationship to the origins of world mythology,
to the birth of the early religions
or to the massive ancient investments in monumental construction?
Both the rock artists and the mythmakers had true perils on their minds.
The rock artists recorded and the mythmakers interpreted electrical events in the sky
as plasma discharge sequences moved through discreet phases,
some of celestial beauty, others intensely violent and terrifying.
The most essential issues concern the connectedness
between seemingly different rock art themes.
For example was there relationship between the Kayenta pictograph previously noted
and the global Stickman image?
Why is the Kayenta form more sparsely recorded than the worldwide Stickman archetype?
There is good reason for this, according to Peratt.
The Kayenta pictograph signifies a critical moment,
just prior to a collapse of that more complex form into the simpler Stickman form.
The synchrotron radiation proceeding that transition would have been deadly,
making it close to impossible for humans to record the form while standing in the open.
This means that the relationship between the two,
never mentioned in Prior rock art studies,
is crucial to an understanding of both global themes.