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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, geogiyphs, and megaliths. Part I focused primarily, but not exclusively, on petrogiyphs 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. Index Terms--Archaeoastronomy, aurora, dense plasma focus (DPF), global information systems, magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) instability, petroglyph, plasma, plasma universe, Z-pinch.

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 ± 5000-± 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., Since the beginning of history, few characters of world mythology have captured the imagination as much as the dragon. One of the most conspicuous forms assumed by the dragon is [...]

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 man. This paper directly compares the graphical and radiation data from high-current Z-pinches to these patterns. The paper focuses primarily, but not exclusively, on petroglyphs. It is found that a great many archaic petroglyphs can be classified according to plasma stability and instability data. As the same morphological types are found worldwide, the comparisons suggest the occurrence of an intense aurora, as might be produced if the solar wind had increased between one and two orders of magnitude, millennia ago. Index Terms--Aurora, high-energy-density plasma, magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) instabilities, petroglyphs, pictographs, stonehenge, Z-pinch.