Roland Emmerich and 'Dean Devlin' were sued for stealing the storyline from someone who submitted the story to them about ten years before the movie was made (they "rejected" the story at the time). The person that sued the men (a student of Egyptology) even had a well-respected Egyptologist from Johns Hopkins University vouch for him, since he put his own theories into the story. The only differences between the story and the movie are slight name variations. The issue was finally settled out of court.
Present during the Giza excavation in 1928 (when she was a young girl), Catherine Langford's lifelong pursuit to uncover the mysteries of the Stargate brought her both joy and tragedy. It was her father, Professor Langford, who led a team of engineers in opening the gate in 1945 by random dialing. They believed the device to be a "doorway to Heaven," but were uncertain of its true function. At the time, the professor's co-worker Dr. Earnest Littlefield was very close to asking permission to marry Catherine -- but he was lost through the Stargate when they established a connection to another world, and could not return home.
Catherine spent much of her adult life petitioning the U.S. government to reactivate research regarding the ancient artifact. Finally, circa 1995, a Pentagon team was created, including Samantha Carter, Barbara Shore and Gary Meyers, who worked with Langford to uncover the gate's true nature and functioning.
It was two years later when she discovered Dr. Daniel Jackson, an archaeologist shunned by the scientific community for his unorthodox theories. Landford hired him to analyze the symbols on the cover stone placed over the Stargate when the ancient Egyptians buried it. Two weeks later he found the answer, and Langford bore witness to the shimmering pool of the event horizon within the Stargate when it was activated for the first time in over 50 years.
Born on July 8, 1965, Daniel Jackson is the only child of Melburn and Claire Jackson, archaeologists who were crushed while supervising the placement of a piece of Egyptian art in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Daniel's maternal grandfather and only living relative, Nick Ballard (played by Jan Rubes), was a noted Dutch archaeologist and too busy to take the orphaned Jackson under his wing. Though placed in foster care, Daniel visited his grandfather in a mental institution until they had an argument over his failing career and Daniel left. Daniel became an archaeologist and linguist who speaks 23 earthly (plus several extraterrestrial) languages—he is shown speaking at least English, Russian, German, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, Egyptian, Goa'uld, Ancient, and Unas.
James Spader as Daniel Jackson in Stargate
In his introduction in the film Stargate, the character of Daniel is introduced in a scene in which he is presenting a lecture at an academic seminar. However, he finds little acceptance there of his theory that the Pyramids of Giza are much older than they are thought to be. An aged woman named Catherine Langford approaches him to offer him a job deciphering the cover-stones of a device found in Egypt. Jackson uses his knowledge of ancient Egyptian languages to make the device, named the Stargate, function.
Jonathan J. O'Neill, also known as John or, most commonly, Jack, is a Lt. General, in the United States Air Force, who served eight years in the Stargate Program until he was transferred to The Pentagon to become the head of Homeworld Command (also called Homeworld Security). He was the original leader of SG-1 and later became the commander of Stargate Command. As Brigadier General Jack O'Neill he takes over command of Stargate Command in the season 8 opener
Originally posted by SimonGray at ATS
The previous threads regarding the idea of a device called a "Stargate" actually being real have been closed because there is alot of chatter which takes place, but nothing more in-depth than:
"I think its real, the show is a way of covering it up"
or
"Its real, but whenever we mention it we get shouted down as kooks"
If this thread is to continue, lets try and give some insight, evidence, at least a little backup please.
Originally posted by SimonGray at ATS (http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread256723/pg2#pid2862137)Photo courtesy of US Air ForceQuoteOriginally posted by madnessinmysoul
well, richard dean anderson was made an honorary brigadier generalby the air force chief of staff
Just in case anyone is interested, here is Richard Dean Anderson at the Pentagon in 2004 being honoured by the USAF.
In the below photo we can see General John Jumper giving Anderson the honourary General stars.
(http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/staff/simongray/pentagon.jpg)
In an official statement from the Pentagon, a spokesperson commented:
"The Air Force was extremely honored to have Richard Dean Anderson visit the Pentagon on 14 September. During his visit he graciously took the time to sign autographs and have photos taken with anyone that asked, he was a true professional. We are very proud of his portrayal of Colonel, now Brigadier General, Jack O’Neill. Gen. O’Neill may at times be brash and irreverent, but there is no doubt of his patriotism and dedication to his job. We also congratulate Mr. Anderson on his promotion to 'Honorary Brigadier General - USAF.' "
The Walter Reed Medical Center released the following statement:
"It was very gracious of Richard Dean Anderson to visit service members who were wounded, injured or became ill during Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. He was very generous with his time, and our patients and staff enjoyed receiving advice from the noted medical authority, 'Dr. Jeff Webber'. We thank Mr. Anderson and the many other celebrities who have visited our patients at Walter Reed. We’re grateful to all of them."
Originally posted by b3rgY at ATS (http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread197741/pg33#pid3081416)
Yes stargates are real. It's black hole transport.
As I write to technology forum about advanced technologies like antigravity and AI there is also project like this I'll post military links here.
This is Air Force Research Lab project:
Teleportation Physics Study (http://www.fas.org/sgp/eprint/teleport.pdf)
Presentation about this project to mil stuff (http://www.americanantigravity.com/documents/Eric-Davis-STAIF-2005.pdf)
If there is any question I am happy to answer.
The following is my brief attempt to describe what is, in essence, super-science in a way that those with little or no scientific background can understand and use. In this paper, it is my intention to give you, the basic SG Team member, the tools you will need to understand the Stargate. By the time you’re done reading this, you should understand how (and hopefully why) wormholes behave the way they do, and what you can (and can’t) do with them.
Over the course of this paper, I’ll talk about naquadah as it applies to the construction and operation of the Stargate, Goa’uld and Ancient crystal technology as it applies to the DHD, Goa’uld energy weapons as they apply to the interaction between the Stargate and the wormhole, and what little we know about the wormholes themselves.
The Stargate
The device we know as the Stargate (a literal translation provided by Dr. Daniel Jackson of the Goa’uld word ‘chappa’ai’) is a ring-shaped device, roughly 22 feet wide from outside edge to outside edge. On the front face is a ring of symbols that rotates behind 9 “chevrons.” The ring of symbols rotates, and the chevrons can “lock” that symbol, storing it in the Stargate’s memory. This is how addresses are dialed. A Stargate address generally consists of seven different symbols, which represent star constellations and provide a point for which to designate a position within three-dimensional space. When six of these points are designated, the destination is determined. To chart a course, the last symbol, the point of origin, is locked in, and the wormhole opens.
In order for the Stargate to form a stable wormhole, it must have power. Generally, this comes in the form of electrical energy supplied by the crystals of a DHD, but the Stargate can accept standard direct current, a lightning strike, and energy generated organically-based cold fusion as well. The Stargate’s ability to store and use this energy is closely tied to its composition: a metal refined from an ore called naquadah.
Naquadah in the Stargate
Naquadah is a mineral ore based on a previously unknown element (approximately number 234 on the periodic table, but naquadah is far too valuable, classified, and dangerous to be subjected to standard atomic testing, so this has yet to be confirmed.) The mineral ore naquadah does not exist anywhere in our solar system, and is rare beyond it. Only certain solar systems are composed of the necessary materials to create naquadah, and only certain planets have naquadah as a natural part of their makeup. Naquadah is the primary building block of all Goa’uld technology, and is used by advanced races such as the Asgard in great quantity.
It is naquadah’s unique interaction with energy that makes it so valuable. Naquadah can store electrical energy within its matrix, like a battery. It can conduct many forms of energy with higher efficiency than many other conductors. It can also amplify the effects of destructive energy, such as conventional and nuclear explosions, as well as some energy weapons, by a factor of several hundred. It can even be used to generate electrical energy when used as part of a naquadah reactor. It can also be blended with other metals, such as steel or trinium, to form very strong alloys.
The naquadah that makes up the Stargate is used for two purposes. First, it stores the electrical energy required for the Stargate to form a stable wormhole. The naquadah in the gate acts as a capacitor, building up and harnessing the electrical energy, storing it until the wormhole is ready to open. Once charged, the Stargate can remain charged indefinitely. The other purpose of the naquadah is to focus the subspace field through which wormholes travel, locking the wormhole into place.
Once the naquadah in the Stargate has enough energy, and the address has been correctly dialed, the wormhole begins to form. Each step of the forming wormhole is covered below.
The “Flush”
The “flush,” to use Col. O’Neill’s term, is really an unstable vortex of energy, probably a proto-wormhole restrained by the subspace field generated by the charged naquadah of the Stargate. This unstable proto-wormhole will destroy any matter caught within its path, breaking apart atomic bonds and reducing formerly solid matter to free electrons. Interestingly enough, if a barrier of sufficient size is placed only a few microns over the forming event horizon (see “The Iris”) the unstable vortex does not materialize. The reason for this is as yet unknown.
The unstable proto-wormhole expands out from the forming event horizon, approximately 30 feet long and 18-20 feet in diameter, roughly centered on the gate. It expands out for about two seconds, then retracts back into the event horizon in about a second. The proto-wormhole is assimilated into the event horizon.
The Event Horizon
What we perceive as the surface of the wormhole is, in fact, the event horizon. Not exactly a part of the actual wormhole, it acts as a kind of buffer between our dimension and the subspace reality through which the wormhole travels. It also acts as a kind of “waiting room” for matter about to enter the wormhole.
One can place parts of objects into the event horizon and remove them without any ill effect. Entering the event horizon is not entering the wormhole. Basically, the “other side” of the event horizon, the “waiting room,” is a one-dimensional space in which matter exists “between” the event horizon and the wormhole. You can, for example, place your hand through the event horizon, entering this one-dimensional waiting room. You can then remove it, and suffer no ill effects. If, however, more than fifty percent of an object’s mass passes through the event horizon, the event horizon actually pulls that object in. Once the entirety of an object’s mass is through the event horizon, it is shunted into the wormhole and transferred to the other end of the wormhole (and the accompanying opposite event horizon).
The event horizon can accomplish some interesting feats, such as the phenomenon of “shoveling” into a Stargate. On several Goa’uld-occupied worlds, naquadah ore is delivered by human slaves who pick up a shovel-load of ore, place it in the event horizon, dump the ore, and pull the shovel back out. In this instance, the ore — once dropped from the shovel’s basket — is translated into the wormhole and sent to its destination. The shovel, which never left the event horizon, is pulled back out to claim another load.
Another example can be found when part of an object is in the event horizon when the Stargate disengages. As happened to Major Kawalsky after his infection by a juvenile Goa’uld, the matter existing within the event horizon is destroyed as the Stargate is disengaged and the wormhole and accompanying event horizon collapses. This appears to violate the Law of Conservation of Matter, which states that matter cannot be created or destroyed, only changed in phase and potentially converted into energy. So far, I have yet to find a way to explain where the destroyed matter goes, or how it would be converted to energy, or into what type. The only available solution is to say it is destroyed, and keep looking for a theory that adequately meshes with both the known scientific law and observed fact.
A third interesting observation about the event horizon entails its ability to send part of an object through the wormhole to the destination, so that the object exists on both sides of the Stargate — a clear violation of the “all or nothing” policy the Stargate generally seems to operate under. It is, as yet, unclear under which conditions this can happen. I’ve only seen it once, when Teal’c used a rope to climb “up” through a horizontal destination gate, but clearly, the phenomenon exists.
The “Back” of the Event Horizon
What we perceive as the “back” of the event horizon is, in simplest terms, not actually there. The actual “back” of the event horizon doesn’t exist in our multi-dimensional space-time, but in the one-dimensional subspace field that connects the event horizon to the wormhole proper. What we see when we look at the rear of an active Stargate is simply a visual representation of the subspace “fracturing” of our multi-dimensional reality as it is compressed by the event horizon into the one-dimensional subspace “waiting room,” mentioned above. Col. O’Neill has asked me a few times why we can’t go in the back of the Stargate. Simply put, we can’t enter the back of the Stargate because it doesn’t have one. We can only enter the wormhole through the event horizon, and we can only enter the event horizon through the front of the Stargate, as that is the only part of the event horizon that actually exists in our reality as we perceive it.
The Wormhole
The wormhole is the actual guts of Stargate travel, the thing that transports you nearly instantly from one point to another light-years away, automatically matching relative velocities. Keep in mind that even though to us the Stargate is a stationary object, it rests on a planet that rotates at nine hundred miles an hour, and orbits the sun at around nineteen miles a second. The sun itself moves at nearly one million miles a day, and the galaxy itself, or at least the part we’re in, spins at almost forty thousand miles an hour. When you compare all these different velocities and directions of movement, it’s quite a wonder that we don’t go flying off the planet we step through to at a truly obscene rate of speed. The only vector and velocity the gate takes into account is subjective speed and direction of movement. If you walk straight into the gate at an average walking speed of 3 miles per hour, you’ll exit the gate on the opposite side going straight ahead and traveling at 3 miles per hour, relative to that Stargate. This is something you can use to your advantage, since speed is a constant through the wormhole to the other side. An object neither gains nor loses momentum from entering one event horizon to exiting the other.
The wormhole works by breaking down matter into patterns of energy, and sending that energy along a matter stream that’s conducted via subspace. Exactly how that works is still a mystery to human science. When we understand how it works, we’ll probably be able to build our own Stargates. Matter can only travel one way through a wormhole, if it tries going “against the flow,” the matter is destroyed. I believe that the matter stream is directional, flowing from point to point like lightning. An energy pattern traveling the wrong way is smashed and disintegrated by the matter stream going against it.
Despite this, some kinds of energy, such as low-frequency radio waves, can be translated backwards through a wormhole. Heat energy, radiation, and even gravity can all be translated through an outgoing wormhole from the destination gate. This means that some worlds, such as P3W-451, are inherently dangerous to dial. P3W-451 was destroyed (or will be destroyed, depending on your frame of reference) by a black hole. Any gate dialing that gate will have the gravity waves translated back through the open wormhole, experiencing all the various negative effects: extreme gravity, time dilation, etc.
Once through the event horizon, a traveler is shunted through the wormhole, into the event horizon of the destination gate, where the energy pattern is reconverted to matter in the one-dimensional space of the “waiting room.” Once reintegrated, the traveler exits the event horizon at the same relative velocity and trajectory as he entered the origin event horizon.
The part of the Stargate that is, in essence, a crystalline supercomputer receives the energy pattern transmission. This transmission includes the instructions for properly reintegrating the energy patterns into matter as they pass out of the wormhole and into the event horizon. Theoretically, it is possible for this computer to fail, and for the energy patterns to be reintegrated into matter in an incorrect way. The consequences of this failure range from the embarrassing to the grotesquely painful to the horrifically fatal. So far, there is no way to safeguard against such malfunctions; one can only trust the Ancients and pray.
The Buffer
Each Stargate contains a buffer, a sort of “hard drive” where it stores the energy patterns of all the travelers. This buffer is overwritten every time a new wormhole is established, preparing it for the massive amount of data required to successfully disintegrate and reintegrate matter, thumbing its crystalline nose at Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle.
As far as we know, the buffer has no upper limit as to the amount of data that can be written on it, and thus there is no practical upper limit as to the amount of matter that can be translated through a wormhole at one time. Bear in mind, however, that the practical upper limits have yet to be tested. In all likelihood, we will be limited more by the physical size of the gate itself, rather than the size of the buffer.
The “Rough Ride”
When we first activated the Stargate, travelers experienced what came to be known as the “Rough Ride,” a extremely disorienting, chilling, nauseating sensation. The reason for this was improperly locked wormhole coordinates. Stellar drift caused the planets’ locations to change, and thus render the locations of the points that defined their position in space according to the addresses unusable. Between Earth and Abydos, relatively close to each other, the Stargates could still lock on to each other, though the lock was imperfect. The wormhole had to “stretch” from its intended exit point to reach a Stargate, causing a number of effects. One of the most prominent was an added momentum to objects going through the gate; one would enter a wormhole from the origin side at a slow walk, and exit the destination side at a brisk run. Additional side effects were a severe drop in the body’s surface temperature, so severe it would cause frost to form on the person’s cheeks. Headaches, dizziness, and nausea were also common.
The new dialing program compensates for stellar drift by adding a “bending” calculation to the address system. In essence, the program takes the symbols that designate the target world, and tells the Stargate to “bend” the meeting point to get a lock on the world’s actual location. This not only revises the coordinates to prevent the “Rough Ride” between Earth and Abydos, but it allows us to get flawless locks on other planets. Most of the time, anyway.
If you do experience a “Rough Ride,” beware. . . something, somewhere, went wrong with the calculation, and the wormhole had to “stretch” to lock onto the Stargate.
In the next part of this paper, I’ll discuss a few other points of interest regarding gate travel, it’s effects, and things to look out for.
Moving a Stargate
A Stargate does not need to be in a specific place to function. In fact, it can operate over a vast distance. . . considering that the Earth orbits at one AU (about 100,000 miles) from the sun, Earth’s orbit alone caries it over a nearly 200,000 mile differential from one point to another over the course of a year. Add that to the fact that we’ve had Stargates activate while in orbit above a planet, and it becomes clear that the wormhole can lock onto a gate over a relatively vast area of space. At this time, it’s unknown how far a gate must be carried before it can no longer lock on to its co-ordinates, but I assume a differential of 3 AUs is required.
Also, a Stargate need not be on the planet it was built for to function. The gate on board Apophis’ ship was able to establish a wormhole to another planet from Earth’s orbit, and Earth itself has had two different Stargates on it for several thousand years. The tricky part is being able to chart a new point of origin, or force the gate to use an existing one. The latter is much easier; the Stargate will lock onto the point of origin it is at if one hits the normal POO symbol on the DHD. For example, the POO symbol for the planet where Apophis’ ships rallied is not the same as the POO for Earth, yet the gate aboard Apophis’ ship locked onto Earth’s POO when Dr. Jackson punched in the gates regular POO. In the former case, one must actually go into the DHD’s programming and tell it to alter it’s POO symbol from the previous location to the new one. This would be done if you were, say, moving a Stargate from a world to a world previously without a Stargate.
The Iris
The Iris is Earth’s defensive measure against incoming attacks through the Stargate. The iris in its current form is a trinium-reinforced titanium shutter that irises closed over the Stargate. When closed, the iris rests three microns above the event horizon, so close that matter is not allowed to reintegrate. Essentially, anything traveling through the gate and striking the iris has its molecules squashed against the barrier. This is, of course, a drastic oversimplification, but it gets the point across.
The iris, as mentioned before, prevents matter from reintegrating, but it won’t impede the progress of energy waves, subatomic particles, etc. Radio waves, gravity waves, radiation, energy weapon blasts, and the like can reintegrate, but the iris is structurally strong enough to withstand most attacks.
The iris won’t affect the formation of an incoming wormhole, but it will stop the formation of the unstable proto-wormhole (see “The ‘Flush’”, above.) The reason for this remains unknown.
There are other barriers which can operate like an Iris. Molten rock covering an active Stargate can create the same effect, as could Goa’uld force-fields, at least theoretically.
Wormhole “Jumping”
A wormhole is essentially an energized tunnel traveling through subspace. An analogy for this is a lightning strike. Lightning occurs when static electricity of one charge builds up in a cloud, and a source of static electricity of the opposite charge drifts close enough. The oppositely charged electrons attract each other, and the electrons that have built up in the cloud stream down to the oppositely charged electrons in the object.
A wormhole functions in a similar manner. The matter stream is attracted to the destination gate by opposite electrical charges. The wormhole then follows the path of least resistance to arrive at the destination. As such, a sufficient overload of power can cause the matter stream to jump to an alternate location. This appears to be one of the gate network’s many safety protocols. The electrical charge sufficient to cause the wormhole to jump by its very nature causes instabilities in the ability of both gates to maintain functional wormholes. Since the only gate that matters in this equation is the destination gate, the Stargate network decides to “jump” the wormhole to the nearest viable gate. As Col. O’Neill and I painfully found out, on a world with two Stargates, this would be the non-Primary gate. On worlds with only one Stargate, the wormhole will jump to the nearest planet with a Stargate. The farther away the world is, the less likely the wormhole is to jump there. Many other factors can affect to which world a wormhole will jump. . . most seem to rely on when during transit the energy surge that caused the wormhole to jump occurred.
The energy surge also seems to affect several other variables within the wormhole. One of the most noticeable is velocity. An energy surge of this magnitude increases the velocity of traveling objects by a varying degree. . . in our first (and, thankfully, only) encounter with such a surge, Dr. Daniel Jackson exited the wormhole so fast that he didn’t even remember hitting the ramp. Col. O’Neill and I were likewise thrust forcefully out of the event horizon, so hard that Col. O’Neill broke a leg and a few ribs.
The 38 Minute Window
A stable wormhole cannot be maintained longer than 38 minutes. This is because the Stargates cannot store enough energy to maintain the wormhole’s integrity for any longer than that. (When one considers the astronomical amount of energy required to open and maintain a stable wormhole, it’s amazing the Stargates can keep them open for that long.) When the Stargate begins to run out of energy, the wormhole begins to destabilize. As a safety precaution, the gate shuts down rather than allow others to risk themselves traveling through an unstable wormhole.
During the crisis on P3W-451, it was my considered opinion that the Stargate was drawing power directly from the black hole. I have since been informed by Mapep of the Tok’ra that this is impossible. According to everything he’s learned about the Stargate, it is not possible for the gate to draw energy directly from its environment. It is his contention that the time dilation was such that, even though our gate had passed the 38 minute window, the gate on P3W-451 hadn’t. The time dilation could have been so severe that the gate on P3W-451 could have had days, months, or even years left on its “38 minute” window, relatively speaking.
AUTHOR’S NOTE: It appears a gate can draw energy from outside sources, as happened on the Waterworld the Russians reached with their Stargate. The energized “water” managed to power the Stargate for days, and could probably have powered it indefinitely. It is Mapep’s opinion, however, that the energy needed to be deliberately conducted into the Stargate; he still maintains that the Stargate cannot simply draw on an energized environment, no matter how energized it might be. I have to admit, given the naquadah bomb test on the Waterworld, his theory does hold water (no pun intended).
Hawking Radiation
Hawking radiation, named after the man who theorized it, renowned physicist Stephen Hawking, is based on a rather straightforward theory, which states that there are constantly pairs of virtual particles being created and destroyed constantly throughout the universe. We never notice them because they destroy each other with exactly the same amount of energy required to create the next pair. As such, the net effect of their existence is zero. Hawking radiation would occur near any event horizon, such as the event horizon formed by a Stargate. There is a chance, due to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, that one of these two virtual particles would be sucked through the event horizon, leaving its partner to ricochet around the environment with astronomical amounts of energy behind it.
As near as we can figure out, the Ancients incorporated into the gate a field to repulse these virtual particles, keeping them from entering the event horizon, and maintaining their reaction. Or course, it is possible the Dr. Hawking is wrong, but I’m certainly not going to be the one to say it.
The DHD
The DHD, short for “Dial Home Device,” is the Stargate’s primary control mechanism as well as its main power source. The DHD functions on a very simple principle: punch in the symbols of the address you wish to dial, depress the central control crystal (or “Big Red Button”) and the gate becomes active. In practice, however, this can become a difficult, if not virtually impossible, feat under the wrong circumstances.
The DHD is both the control computer and power source for the Stargate. Without an active DHD, dialing out becomes problematic at best. The DHD may be incapacitated in a number of ways. If the master control crystal (the “Big Red Button”) is damaged or destroyed, the DHD will cease to function. Though the power crystal may still be intact in this case, destruction of the control crystal effectively shuts down the DHD to prevent catastrophic power overloads. Coaxing power out of a DHD in this state is difficult at best.
Alternatively, the power crystal of the DHD may be damaged or drained. In this case, if one could supply power to the DHD, one could dial out as normal.
While the DHD is a resilient piece of technology, it can be damaged in other ways. Keys could be broken or missing, secondary control crystals could be damaged or destroyed, the linkages from the DHD to the gate could be severed or missing; any number of things could make an otherwise functional-looking DHD nothing more than a fancy paperweight.
“Trumping” Stargates
On worlds with multiple Stargates, one gate will always be the Primary gate, through which all traffic returns. This is generally the gate that receives the most use. However, a gate with a DHD always trumps a gate not attached to a DHD, regardless of the traffic each gate receives. If both gates are attached to DHDs, then the Stargate Network routes wormholes to the gate with the most traffic.
It is also theorized that a gate actually on the planet always trumps an orbital gate, no matter what the orbital gate has attached to it.
Alternative Dialing Methods
When the DHD is broken, unusable, or missing, there are other options to dial the Stargate. Probably the easiest is manual dialing, though it is fraught with its own complications.
In order to manually dial the gate, first the naquadah in the Stargate needs to be charged with enough energy to open a stable wormhole. Only then will the inner ring unlock and rotate freely. This is a safety measure. . . if the Stargate were activated without enough energy, unstable wormholes could form. The effects of unstable wormholes can only be speculated, but it’s highly doubtful they would be pleasant.
Once the inner ring begins to rotate, it’s simply a matter of manually turning the ring (a great feat of strength, but possible) until the appropriate symbol is in the appropriate chevron. Once the ring stops moving, the symbols will automatically lock in sequence. It’s important to keep the ring moving, to avoid accidental misdials. Once the seventh chevron is locked, the wormhole opens as normal.
Also, if one has the necessary equipment, one can construct a DHD not unlike the dialing computer the SGC uses. This is, sadly, beyond the capabilities of most laptop computers, but a high-end model should be able to handle at least a low-grade dialing program. Of course, this is still contingent on the gate having enough power to open the wormhole and one being able to interface the Stargate with the laptop.
Special Thanks
Special thanks to those who helped make this volume possible: Lance Corporal Benjamin J. Reilly and his Tok’ra symbiote Mapep, Dr. Sevtlana Markov, Dr. Earnest Littlefeild, The Nox, The Tollan, The Tok’ra, The Ancients, and all the people whose hard work and dedication made the Stargate Program a reality. Without you, none of this would have been possible.
A Zero Point Module, abbreviated ZPM, is a power source device in the Stargate universe.
Definition
A ZPM is capable of generating immense amounts of energy by utilizing zero point energy which derives from a phenomenon known as the quantum foam (subatomic wormholes opening and closing constantly in and out of subspace). A ZPM contains an artificially created region of subspace from which this power is drawn. Since this process is thermodynamically irreversible, every ZPM (if used) will eventually reach maximum entropy, at which point it is depleted and can no longer provide power.
February 25, 2011 by Lisa Zyga
PhysOrg.com) -- Wormholes are one of the stranger objects that arise in general relativity. Although no experimental evidence for wormholes exists, scientists predict that they would appear to serve as shortcuts between one point of spacetime and another. Scientists usually imagine wormholes connecting regions of empty space, but now a new study suggests that wormholes might exist between distant stars. Instead of being empty tunnels, these wormholes would contain a perfect fluid that flows back and forth between the two stars, possibly giving them a detectable signature.
Teleportation is the name given by science fiction writers to the feat of making an object or person disintegrate in one place while a perfect replica appears somewhere else. How this is accomplished is usually not explained in detail, but the general idea seems to be that the original object is scanned in such a way as to extract all the information from it, then this information is transmitted to the receiving location and used to construct the replica, not necessarily from the actual material of the original, but perhaps from atoms of the same kinds, arranged in exactly the same pattern as the original. A teleportation machine would be like a fax machine, except that it would work on 3-dimensional objects as well as documents, it would produce an exact copy rather than an approximate facsimile, and it would destroy the original in the process of scanning it. A few science fiction writers consider teleporters that preserve the original, and the plot gets complicated when the original and teleported versions of the same person meet; but the more common kind of teleporter destroys the original, functioning as a super transportation device, not as a perfect replicator of souls and bodies.
In 1993 an international group of six scientists, including IBM Fellow Charles H. Bennett, confirmed the intuitions of the majority of science fiction writers by showing that perfect teleportation is indeed possible in principle, but only if the original is destroyed. In subsequent years, other scientists have demonstrated teleportation experimentally in a variety of systems, including single photons, coherent light fields, nuclear spins, and trapped ions.? Teleportation promises to be quite useful as an information processing primitive, facilitating long range quantum communication (perhaps unltimately leading to a "quantum internet"), and making it much easier to build a working quantum computer. But science fiction fans will be disappointed to learn that no one expects to be able to teleport people or other macroscopic objects in the foreseeable future, for a variety of engineering reasons, even though it would not violate any fundamental law to do so.
In the past, the idea of teleportation was not taken very seriously by scientists, because it was thought to violate the uncertainty principle of quantum mechanics, which forbids any measuring or scanning process from extracting all the information in an atom or other object. According to the uncertainty principle, the more accurately an object is scanned, the more it is disturbed by the scanning process, until one reaches a point where the object's original state has been completely disrupted, still without having extracted enough information to make a perfect replica. This sounds like a solid argument against teleportation: if one cannot extract enough information from an object to make a perfect copy, it would seem that a perfect copy cannot be made. But the six scientists found a way to make an end run around this logic, using a celebrated and paradoxical feature of quantum mechanics known as the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen effect. In brief, they found a way to scan out part of the information from an object A, which one wishes to teleport, while causing the remaining, unscanned, part of the information to pass, via the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen effect, into another object C which has never been in contact with A.
Later, by applying to C a treatment depending on the scanned-out information, it is possible to maneuver C into exactly the same state as A was in before it was scanned. A itself is no longer in that state, having been thoroughly disrupted by the scanning, so what has been achieved is teleportation, not replication.
As the figure suggests, the unscanned part of the information is conveyed from A to C by an intermediary object B, which interacts first with C and then with A. What? Can it really be correct to say "first with C and then with A"? Surely, in order to convey something from A to C, the delivery vehicle must visit A before C, not the other way around. But there is a subtle, unscannable kind of information that, unlike any material cargo, and even unlike ordinary information, can indeed be delivered in such a backward fashion. This subtle kind of information, also called "Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) correlation" or "entanglement", has been at least partly understood since the 1930s when it was discussed in a famous paper by Albert Einstein, Boris Podolsky, and Nathan Rosen. In the 1960s John Bell showed that a pair of entangled particles, which were once in contact but later move too far apart to interact directly, can exhibit individually random behavior that is too strongly correlated to be explained by classical statistics. Experiments on photons and other particles have repeatedly confirmed these correlations, thereby providing strong evidence for the validity of quantum mechanics, which neatly explains them. Another well-known fact about EPR correlations is that they cannot by themselves deliver a meaningful and controllable message. It was thought that their only usefulness was in proving the validity of quantum mechanics. But now it is known that, through the phenomenon of quantum teleportation, they can deliver exactly that part of the information in an object which is too delicate to be scanned out and delivered by conventional methods.
This figure compares conventional facsimile transmission with quantum teleportation (see above). In conventional facsimile transmission the original is scanned, extracting partial information about it, but remains more or less intact after the scanning process. The scanned information is sent to the receiving station, where it is imprinted on some raw material (eg paper) to produce an approximate copy of the original. By contrast, in quantum teleportation, two objects B and C are first brought into contact and then separated. Object B is taken to the sending station, while object C is taken to the receiving station. At the sending station object B is scanned together with the original object A which one wishes to teleport, yielding some information and totally disrupting the state of A and B. The scanned information is sent to the receiving station, where it is used to select one of several treatments to be applied to object C, thereby putting C into an exact replica of the former state of A.
To learn more about quantum teleportation, see the following articles and links:
C.H. Bennett, G. Brassard, C. Crepeau, R. Jozsa, A. Peres, and W. Wootters, "Teleporting an Unknown Quantum State via Dual Classical and EPR Channels", Phys. Rev. Lett. vol. 70, pp 1895-1899 (1993)
(the original 6-author research article).
Tony Sudbury, "Instant Teleportation", Nature .362, 586-587 (1993) (a semipopular account).
Ivars Peterson, Science News, April 10, 1993, p. 229. (another semipopular account).
Samuel Braunstein, A fun talk on teleportation
Q&A on Teleportation by BBC News Online science editor David Whitehouse
Wikipedia article
Experimental Articles
D. Bouwmeester et al. Nature 390, 575-9 (1997) (photons)
D. Boschi et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 1121-1125 (1998) (photons)
A. Furusawa et al. Science 282, 706-709 (1998) (coherent light field)
M.A. Nielsen et al. Nature 396, 52-55 (1998) (nuclear magnetic resonance)
I. Marcikic et al. Nature 421, 509-513 (2003) (photons, long distance)
M. Riebe et al. Nature 429, 734-737 (2004) (trapped calcium ions)
M.D. Barret et al. Nature 429, 737-739 (2004) (trapped beryllium ions)
R. Ursin et al. Nature 430, 849 (2004) (photons, long distance)
Theoretical Articles
G. Brassard Physica D 120 43-47 (1998)? Teleportation as a quantum computation
?Gottesman and I Chuang Nature 402 390-393 (1999),? teleportation as a computational primitive
X. Zhou, D. Leung, I. Chuang Quantum gate constructions from teleportation-like primiitve
L. Vaidman quant-ph/0111124? Using teleportation to measure nonlocal variables
For recent experimental and theoretical articles, do a title search on "teleportation" in the ArXiv E-print Archive (http://www.arxiv.org/form/quant-ph?MULTI=form+interface)
In 1958/60 Don Max Portugal Zamora, a Bolivian archaeologist, learned of it's existence Pastor Manjon. Mr. Portugal "baptized" the site with the name it bears today, "Fuente Magna"--in our view an accurate assessment. Instantly it's rescuing was studiously embarked upon. Through the mediation and negotiation of General Armando Escobar Uria property was swapped for another parcel in the neighborhood of Sopocachi.
Safely under the protection of the honorable, municipal, mayoralty Mr. Portugal began to restore it by applying cement to the parts that showed chipping and deterioration minor repairs for effect, in our view. He lost no time in attempting to decipher the writing inside the object turning to the texts known as "Qellga Llippichi" one of those interpreted by Don Franz Tamayo. He also consulted a publication by our illustrious friend, Dr. Dick Edgar Ibarra Grasso, entitled "Indigenous Andean Writing" (HAM La Paz 1953), it ends as you might expect (fruitless). The limits of his honest efforts. The writing is undoubted from the Old World.
Hebraic from the sinaitic appearance influenced by cuneiform, or simply cuneiform of possible Sumero-Akkadian origins, this being the take-off point on which we announced our extraordinary discovery. Two mayors (local guys) don Armando Escobar Uria and Don Mario Mercado Vaca Guzman have been looking after our investigation until very recently with many restrictions since we cannot count on the support of the state.
Nevertheless, work has continued on what we call the "Rosetta Stone of the Americas", for lack of a better name. If our method of investigation holds up several things are worthy of note:
1. We are dealing with an object which was made in keeping with Mesopotamian tradition.
2. It contains two texts, one in cuneiform and another Semitic language of possible Sinaitic extraction cuneiform influences.
3. According to the symbols used one would be before an object that evidently shows itself to be from the transitional period between ideographical writing and cuneiform.
4. Chronologically, this leads us to the 3500/3000 B.C., the Sumerian/Akkadian period.
Cuneiform Writing on the Fuente Bowl
To translate the cuneiform I used Samuel A. B. Mercer's, Assyrian grammar with chrestomuthy and glossary (N.Y.:AMS Press,1966) to compare the signs found on the Fuente bowl with the cuneiform syllabary. To read the Sumerian text I used John L. Hayes, A Manuel of Sumerian: Grammar and text ( Malibu,CA:Udena Publications, 2000) and John A Halloran, Sumerian Lexicon, http://www.sumerian.org/sumerlex.htm
I will translate the Sumerian cuneiform in panels 1 and 2 of the cuneiform text reading from right to left.
In the first panel there is no mention of Shamash the sun god. This is the Akkadian word for the sun god, the name of the sun god in Sumerian was Utu. Reading the text from right to left top to bottom we find the following;
Ti Kur kur kur kur (determinative for divine names) Nia (lit. ni-ash) (Figure 1)
Translation:
"Approach in the future (one) endowed with great protection the great Nia".
"This favorable oracle of the people to establish purity and to establish character [for all who seek it]".
This first panel is very interesting. There are three Proto-Sumerian signs in this panel. Here we also find the use of the divine determinative. Hayes, page 35 (figure 5a) discusses this sign.
I have interpreted the sign Ni-ash as Nia, because of the fact that when a syllable is joined to a consonant vowel form the adjoining sign becomes a single vowel. If we read the signs as Ni-ash it means: "unique awe".
The Sumerian goddess was Nammu, we know very little about this goddess because much of the knowledge about her was lost at the beginning of Ur111. According to Hayes she was recognized as "the mother who gave birth to heaven and earth", the primeval mother, who gave birth to the gods" (Hayes, p.35). This passage suggests that the original name for Nammu was Nia. The quote from Hayes makes it clear that Nammu-Nia was highly regarded and was worshipped as the main god before the rise of any other Sumerian gods.
In the second panel reading from right to left, top to the bottom we find the following:
Transliteration Panel 2:
Pa en ash sa tur
Translation:
"Sprout [oh] diviner the unique advise [at] the temple"
This translation of the first two panels of the cuneiform writing reads as follows:
"Approach in the future (one) endowed with great protection the Great Nia".
"[The Divine One Nia(sh) to] Establish Purity, Establish Gladness, Establish Character"
"[Use this talisman (the Fuente bowl)] To sprout [oh] diviner the unique advise [at] the temple".
Here we have panel 3, of the Fuente bowl. The signs on this panel are very interesting, as in the other panels we see a combination of Proto-Sumerian and cuneiform signs.
Panel 3
Reading from right to left, top to bottom. We have the following:
Zi esh
The righteous shrine
Esh esh esh esh
Anoint the shrine, anoint the shrine
Pap pa ge
The leader takes an oath [to]
Lu ta mi du lu ta
Establish Purity , a favorable oracle (and) Establish character
Bar nu ash
Open up a unique light [i.e., knowledge, for all]
Ash ti en
Wish for a noble life
The entire panel reads as follows:
"The righteous shrine, anoint (this) shrine, anoint (this) shrine; The leader takes an oath [to] Establish purity, a favorable oracle (and to) Establish character. [Oh leader of the cult] Open up a unique light [for all], [who] wish for a noble life".
Commentary
The cuneiform writing was interesting for two reasons. First, we find that these panels have proto-Sumerian symbols mixed with the cuneiform symbols.Secondly, whereas, the wedges of most Sumerian cuneiform text point leftward, the wedges of the Fuente cuneiform signs point rightward. This may result from the fact that in the Fuente text , the letters are read from right to left, instead of left to right like the cuneiform text from Mesopotamia.The passage on the cuneiform panels of the Fuente Bowl seems to be very similar to the Proto-Sumerian inscription on the right side of the bowl. This translation makes it clear that the passage complements my earlier decipherment of the Proto-Sumerian text also found on the left side of the Fuente Bowl.
Editor's note: During demolition of the Ames 14' Wind Tunnel, a Stargate was discovered. The dialing device for the Stargate has not been found and may have been destroyed during the first phase of demolition. However, one rumor circulating at Ames refers to a large object being shipped to Google Headquarters late last night that matches the description of the dialer. Perhaps this is why Google was so interested in Ames (Google Stargate?) The discovery of this device also confirms long held suspicions as to why former Reagan era Star Wars participant, Brig. General Pete Worden was so interested in coming to Ames (see Worden's official portrait from a secret DoD website)
Of course, now that Ames has a Stargate, MSFC will try and take it away.
Editor's update: Looks like someone activated the Stargate - during working hours - before it could be moved to its new location inside Hangar One. Now there will be no way that NASA and Google can deny this. After all, they couldn't figure out how to hide a simple thing like a 767 jet ...
Editor's additional update: A NASAWatch reader has helped unravel this mystery. There is another operational Stargate. It would seem that ARC is tapping personnel expertise across the world - via Stargate - from CERN. They commute daily via Stargate from Switzerland!
Archaeological Institute of America
Abstracts Volume 54 Number 3, May/June 2001
Secrets in the Skeletons
by Brenda Baker
Disease and deformity attest the hazards of daily life.
Thousands of people were buried at Abydos between the Predynastic period and Greco-Roman era, giving it the potential to provide us with a portrait of a population over some 3,500 years. So far, we have excavated and analyzed more than 100 burials and huge concentrations of disturbed and commingled human remains.
In 1991, six burials of infants and young children were discovered under the floor of a house dating primarily to the First Intermediate period (2134-1797 B.C.). One infant showed evidence of a rare congenital disease, osteopetrosis or "stone bones." Burials from the nearby Middle Cemetery provide further evidence of congenital abnormalities among the First Intermediate period residents of Abydos. The abundance of developmental defects in the burials implies that the townspeople were exposed to as yet to be determined environmental hazards that triggered abnormalities or had a high degree of genetic relatedness.
Middle Kingdom burials from the North Cemetery have also yielded a wealth of information. Childhood nutritional stress was ubiquitous, contributing to short adult stature. Men averaged 5 feet, 5 inches tall, and women, 5 feet, 1 inch. People in their late teens show wear and tear in their skeletons associated with repetitive stress such as carrying heavy loads. Infectious disease was prevalent.
Brenda Baker is assistant professor of anthropology at Arizona State University.
Source: Secrets in the Skeletons (http://www.archaeology.org/0105/abstracts/abydos5.html)
© 2001 by the Archaeological Institute of America
www.archaeology.org/0105/abstracts/abydos5.html
used for Educational Purposes Only
The Jaffa are a fictional alien race, in the television series Stargate SG-1. They are a mutation of humanity, descended from genetically modified people from Earth who were kidnapped by the Goa'uld using the Stargate during antiquity. They were modified to serve as warriors and incubators for larval Goa'uld.
Description and Dating
The artifacts consist of ~130 mm (~5 inch) tall terracotta jars (with a one and a half inch mouth) containing a copper cylinder made of a rolled-up copper sheet, which houses a single iron rod. At the top, the iron rod is isolated from the copper by asphalt plugs or stoppers, and both rod and cylinder fit snugly inside the opening of the jar which bulges outward towards the middle (reverse hourglass shape). The copper cylinder is not watertight, so when the jar was filled with a liquid, this would surround the iron rod as well. The artifact had been exposed to the weather and had suffered corrosion, although mild given the presence of an electrochemical couple. This has led some scholars to believe lemon juice, grape juice, or vinegar was used as an acidic agent to jumpstart the electrochemical reaction with the two metals.
König thought the objects might be Parthian (between 250 BC and 224 AD) because the village where they were excavated was Parthian. However according to Dr. St. John Simpson of the Near Eastern department of the British Museum, their original excavation and context were not well recorded (see stratigraphy), so evidence for this date range is very weak. Furthermore, the style of the pottery (see typology) is Sassanid (224-640), so they are probably much more recent than König thought.
Most of the components of the objects are not particularly amenable to advanced dating methods. The ceramic pots could be analysed by thermoluminescence dating, but this has apparently not yet been done; in any case, it would only date the firing of the pots, which is not necessarily the same as when the complete artifact was assembled. Another possibility would be ion diffusion analysis, which could indicate how long the objects were buried.
Beneath the Temple of Hathor at Dendera there is a crypt with walls inscribed with some very strange reliefs. Krassa and Habeck describe the site in their book "Light for the Pharaoh":
The walls are decorated with human figures next to bulb-like objects reminiscent of oversized light bulbs. Inside these "bulbs" there are snakes in wavy lines. The snakes' pointed tails issue from a lotus flower, which, without much imagination, can be interpreted as the socket of the bulb. Something similar to a wire leads to a small box on which the air god is kneeling. Adjacent to it stands a two-armed djed pillar as a symbol of power, which is connected to the snake. Also remarkable is the baboon-like demon holding two knives in his hands, which are interpreted as a protective and defensive power.
Pictures from the Crypts of Dendera
Excerpt
It is a widespread belief in alternative science that our forefathers possessed a much greater technological knowledge than our schoolbook science is willing to accept. Many of those theories are lacking serious foundation and are often based on overdrawn speculations, like the Manna machine I discussed before. But the theory that electricity was known and used in antiquity seems to rest on a much more stable foundation.
The key to the whole theory lies a few hundred kilometers east of Egypt, in today's Iraq. There some strange pots were found. Some contained watertight copper cylinders, glued into the opening with asphalt. In the middle of the cylinder was an iron rod, held in place also with asphalt. The excavator who found the first of these pots in 1936 was sure: this is a galvanic element, a primitive battery. Reconstructions did indeed show that it was possible to create electricity with it. {See Baghdad Battery}
Hathor-Temple in Dendera
In this temple in Dendera, several dozens of kilometers north of Luxor, some experts found the light. A Norwegian electrical engineer noticed that the object shown on the relief on top of this page coud work as a lamp. An Austrian colleague was able to construct a working model, and two well known authors in the AAS, Peter Krassa and Rainer Habeck, could even work out a real theory based on it.
What we see is without question a form of bulb, with two arms reaching into it near its thick end, and a sort of cable at the other end, from where a snake is leaping out to touch the arms on the other side. The whole ensemble really looks like a lamp.
On the basis of this picture engineer W. Garn constructed a working device which indeed gave some light. In the book of Krassa/Habeck we find he following sketch and description:
In his book The Eyes of the Sphinx pp. 171-173, Erich Von Däniken writes that the relief is found in "a secret crypt" that "can be accessed only through a small opening. The room has a low ceiling. The air is stale and laced with the smell of dried urine from the guards who occasionally use it as a urinal." The room is not so secret, however, as many tourists visit and photograph the room every year. Von Däniken sees the snake as a filament, the djed pillar as an insulator, and claims that "the monkey with the sharpened knives symbolizes the danger that awaits those who do not understand the device." This "device" is, the reader is assured, an ancient electric light bulb.
A Crookes tube is an early experimental electrical discharge tube, invented by English physicist William Crookes[1] and others around 1869-1875,[2] in which cathode rays, streams of electrons, were discovered.[3]
Developed from the earlier Geissler tube, it consists of a partially evacuated glass container of various shapes, with two metal electrodes, one at either end. When a high voltage is applied between the electrodes, cathode rays (electrons) travel in straight lines from the cathode to the anode. It was used by Crookes, Johann Hittorf, Juliusz Plücker, Eugen Goldstein, Heinrich Hertz, Philipp Lenard and others to discover the properties of cathode rays, culminating in J. J. Thomson's 1897 identification of cathode rays as negatively-charged particles, which were later named electrons. Crookes tubes are now used only for demonstrating cathode rays.
Wilhelm Röntgen discovered X-rays using the Crookes tube in 1895. The term is also used for the first generation, cold cathode X-ray tubes,[4] which evolved from the experimental Crookes tubes and were used until about 1920.
undo - reply to post by antar at ATS
yeah i posted these on another thread . they are both vases from abydos
family trees? some of them have feet. some don't. some of them look like tall reptilians. some look like greys.
weird pic!
(http://files.abovetopsecret.com/files/6e77301ac273a7c4.jpg)
underwater scene, complete with seaweed, an underwater pyramid, and a couple of mermen??? weird pic!
(http://files.abovetopsecret.com/files/aee027514bb01531.jpg)
have you ever seen egyptian vases like these before? well that's because they are from abydos, and are some of the oldest pharaonic egyptian vases, naqada period.
these are the kinds of things being smashed at the moment, if the reports are true.
you won't be seeing any more of these if the robbers aren't stopped.
Snakes await at the foot of a steep tunnel in a scene painted on the walls of Pharaoh Seti I's tomb, above the real-life tunnel (file photo).
The image adds to evidence that the tunnel may have been planned from the beginning, according to Egyptian archaeologist Mustafa Waziri. The scene may refer to the ancient Egyptian Book of Hours, in which a snake guides good people into the afterlife, Waziri said.
While the rest of the tomb is covered with ornate reliefs, the tunnel is almost entirely blank. Archaeologists, however, did find red graffiti on the steps and what appear to be instructions from the architect: "Move the doorjamb up, and make the passage wider."
The Osirion or Osireon is located at Abydos at the rear of the temple of Seti I. It is an integral part of Seti I's funeral complex and is built to resemble an 18th Dynasty Valley of the Kings tomb. It was discovered by archaeologists Flinders Petrie and Margaret Murray who were excavating the site in 1902-3. The Osirion was originally built at a considerably lower level than the foundations of the temple of Seti, who ruled from 1294 - 1279 BC. While there is disagreement as to its true age, despite the fact that it is situated at a lower depth than the structures nearby, that it features a very different architectural approach, and that it is frequently flooded with water which would have made carving it impossible had the water level been the same at the time of construction, Peter Brand says it "can be dated confidently to Seti's reign.
The Osireion was unknown until an excavation in 1902 supervised by Petrie. However the actual work was largely carried out by Margaret Murray and Petrie's wife. The whole site was not finally uncovered until 1926 by Henri Frankfort.
The name 'Osireion' was invented by Petrie for this unique structure. Which he interpreted as a symbolic tomb of Osiris.
It dates from the reign of Seti I in the New Kingdom period.
It is situated to the West of Seti's Temple at Abydos.
The Osireion is not orientated on the compass points as it sits approximately at 45° to a North South axis. North is in the bottom right hand corner of the photograph opposite.
The discovery of the Osirion (Osireion or Osiron)
In the winter of 1901-2 Mr. St. G. Caulfeild undertook the further examination of the temple of Sety (Seti I) at Abydos (Abtu or Abdju). Our work there resulted in finding the temenos (enclosure) wall, and showing the connection between the planning of that temple and the Royal Tombs of the early kings on the desert behind it. These results, and his careful study of the plan of the temple appeared in the last volume of the research account. But he also made other discoveries which have been followed up during the next winter by Miss Murray with the results here issued in this volume.
When Mr. Caulfeild began to excavate, I noticed some thick masses of crude brick, and suggested that they might be mastabas. He cleared along them and found that they formed a continuous wall, which we then identified as the temenos wall of the temple. I observed that parallel with this there was a slight long hollow on the surface, and proposed that he should clear it out. Some time after, on looking at the site I was told the men had found desert a few feet down. This seemed strange, and on looking at it I saw there was only blown sand. So they were told to go deeper. Again, after some time, on going there again, the same story of desert at the bottom was repeated; only this time about fifteen feet down. On examining it I found blown sand. So a third time they were told to go down, and soon after they struck some great blocks of limestone. The final result was that we found the pavement of the hall was forty-one feet under the surface; a depth filled with some Roman rubbish and much blown sand over it.
After the excavations by Miss Murray and my wife, we realized that these great stones which we first found were the remains of the doorway to a limestone chamber near the north-west corner of the temenos, which had been entirely carried away for lime burning in Roman times. From the place of this doorway Mr. Caulfeild carried on excavations, continually expecting to come to an end of the entrance passage to the south, and find a door of approach to the subterranean constructions; but after continuing for a couple hundred feet this seemed as far off as ever; and the season being at an end nothing more was done.
Miss Murray, then, entered on the work, with the certainty of a long inscribed passage to be cleared and copied, and its terminations to be found. Various attempts were made to settle the beginning of it by surface workings, tracing the filling of made earth which lay over it. And these resulted in showing that it turned at right angles, and led up towards the back doorway of the temple. But it could not be found at it's beginning owing to the immense rubbish heaps thrown out in Mariette's clearing of the temple halls. The work was therefore concentrated on a point where the filling seemed to be undisturbed over the construction, hoping to find there the roof intact, and so enter an unbroken part of the passages.
But on descending we found that the filling in had only been left because there was no roof under it there; and the whole of the ancient roofing had been removed, so far as we were able to ascertain, excepting one cracked lintel. Thus nothing short of removing the whole forty feet of stuff over the whole construction can ever clear it. This season only sufficed for the trial working, and clearing the great hall, one chamber, and part of a passage. To do the whole clearance is beyond the slight resources of the Egyptian Research Account; and it is much to be hoped that the Department of Antiquities will undertake to open and maintain this unique hypogeum of Osiris as a part of the great temple which is one of the main attractions of Egypt.
It was most fortunate that we had the knowledge of Miss Murray and the artistic copying of Miss Hansard available for such a work, which required long and tedious facsimiles to be prepared, with due attention to the inscriptions. The elaborate study of Osiris which Miss Murray has issued will, it is hoped, serve to clear up and emphasize the various aspects and connections of one of the fundamental deities of the Egyptian worship and beliefs.
W. M. F. P. (Sir William Flinders Petrie)
While every New Kingdom temple in Egypt is different, adapted to the attributes of the god (neter) that it serves, they also have many characteristics in common. For example, all are built at ground level from stones of one or two tons weight and all have nearly every available space carved and painted. The Osirion breaks those rules. The floor is located 40 feet below the present ground level, the stones used in its construction often weigh 60 tons, and most of the walls are not decorated.
Abydos is the cult center of Osiris, the god of death and rebirth and there is little doubt that this strange structure is dedicated to him. But when was it built? The conventional explanation is that it was Seti I or his grandson Merenptah who caused it's construction, but advocates of an earlier, lost, pre-dynastic civilization in Egypt have noticed that the Osirion resembles only two known buildings - the two temples beside the Sphinx.
At the rear of Seti I temple a tAbydos is a very strange structure called the Osirion that holds a number of mysteries.
The Osirion was originally meant to be entered from the Transverse passageway leading from the back of Seti's temple, but at the moment this passageway is not open to the public, and visitors must exit Seti's temple at the rear and approach the Osirion from above at modern ground level. The first thing of note is the enormous size of the red granite blocks used in its construction, which draws parallels with similar Old Kingdom megalithic structures, like the Valley Temple, and the Sphinx Temple at Giza. The similarities are inescapable - the stark and simple megalithic design, the lack of prolific inscriptions, and the fact that some of the larger stone blocks weigh up to 100 tons. This suggests that the Osirion pre-dates the temple, dated to around 1300 bc, by at least a thousand years.
Inscribed on some of these blocks and visible from the metal staircase can be seen a number of 'Flower of Life' patterns of interlocking circles, which were first drawn to my attention in the writings of Drunvalo Melchizedek. Many wild claims are made for the dating of this pattern, which can now safely be dispelled.
A possible clue to the origin of these designs can be found in some barely noticeable text that adjoins the patterns. Although I am no Greek scholar it is obvious that this is Greek writing for the following letters can be clearly made out:
In the beginning when the Creator’s thought emerged from the void, it contained the patterns of creation. After the creation of this Seed of Life, the same vortex’s motion was continued, creating the next structure known as the Egg of Life. This structure forms the basis for music, as the distances between the spheres is identical to the distance between the tones and the half tones in music. It is also identical to the cellular structure of the third embryonic division (the first cell divides into two cells, then to four cells then to eight). Thus the same structure as it is further developed, creates the human body and all of the energy systems. If we continue creating more and more spheres, we will end up with the structure called The Flower of Life. This Flower of Life, which also contains a secret shape known as The Fruit of Life, contains thirteen spheres that hold many mathematical and geometrical laws. These laws represent the whole universe and are represented by Sacred Geometry. The Flower of Life pattern and can be found throughout the world in all the major religions and although its origins are lost in time, was first discovered in ancient Egypt more than six thousand years ago.
When man was created we thought as one, but things changed. We came to believe that we were separate from each other and from Source, our Creator who is in everything that exists. Sacred Geometry and the symbol for The Flower of Life which is the strongest geometric shape in the world, opens the heart for physical and emotional healing and will, when contemplated, deepen our understanding of our oneness with Source and each other.
The construction was originally completely subterranean (underneath a hill with trees) and accessed via a long (128m) corridor (decorated by Pharaoh Merneptah on the left wall the Book of Caverns and on the right the Book of Gates), which gave access to a large hall filled with water. In the middle of this basin emerges a rectangular island bordered by heavy granit pillars, to which two staircases grant access (while there is no staircase to enter the basin).
The original temple of Osiris in Abydos is destroyed. It has been suggested the construction erected by Pharaoh Seti I (ca. 1290 - 1279 BCE) in the XIXth Dynasty is a copy of this original, and has been called "the Osireion". Although supposedly a cenotaph of Seti I, later graffiti suggests it was dedicated to the cult of Osiris (cf. "the secret place of the netherworld", "Hail to thee, Isis, in the place of birth !"). Its architecture and inscriptions underline this.
Iona
Thor's Gate
Columcille draws its inspiration from Iona - a tiny island of four-billion-year-old stone off Scotland’s West Coast. The island has been a source of spiritual guidance and awakening for centuries. Written accounts of Iona as a place of pilgrimage date back to the seventh century and oral histories and legends preserve traditions that stretch back to the earliest times.
Today, Iona is perhaps best known for the monastic community established by St. Columba (Colum Cille) and a group of twelve companions who sailed from Ireland in a small coracle in 563 AD. The monastery influenced the emerging spirituality of Celtic Christianity through its prayers, art and education, and missionary work. Its influence became so great that by the eighth century Iona was referred to as the "cradle of Christianity in the Western Highlands."
But Iona has another, more ancient history as well. According to Hebridean legends and oral history, early Celts saw Iona as a ‘thin place’ where one’s spirit could travel through the veils that separate the worlds. Early Ogham inscriptions call the island Iona after a moon goddess, or Hy Brassail -- a reference to the sacred isle of Tir Nan Og -- the Irish Other World. Some early maps list the island as Innis nan Druidnean, Isle of Druids, and show Iona covered with sacred oak groves. At one time, more than 350 standing stones marked sacred sites on Iona. Only in the nineteenth century, at the instigation of a Presbyterian clergyman, were the last of these stones torn down and cast into the Bay.
For centuries pilgrims to Iona have been struck by the tiny island’s lyric mysteries. "There are parts of the earth’s surface," wrote one pilgrim, "where the spirit behind appearances seems to be closer, where a welling-up of power is felt, where the walls of the material are thinner." Iona is one of these places.
Columcille is another. Rooted in the rich spiritual legacy of Iona and grounded in the four-billion-year-old stones of the Appalachians it, too, has become a place of pilgrimage where the veil is thin and myth and mystery are close at hand.