D. H. Parsons

 

 

Over the past many seasons, television has been blessed with one of the most innovative and fascinating shows ever produced.  STAR GATE SG-1 is now history, having ended its incredible run by spinning itself off into an equally creative and wonderful new series, STARGATE ATLANTIS, thankfully retaining the lovely Amanda Tapping in her recurring role as Sam Carter.  (Yes, I am her greatest fan and I am in love with her ... who isn't?).

 

Not only was this show immensely creative, its science was sound - being meticulously detailed by its talented production team, and then delivered to the viewers in accurately researched script-form, by perhaps the most well cast team of actors ever assembled.

 

The very basic premise of SG-1 was as follows:  An ancient system of intergalactic STARGATES is discovered, which enables the SG-1 team to travel from planet to planet in a matter of moments.  During their travels, the team is harassed and threatened by several different villains.   The most predominate of the villains is the "Goa'uld," a nasty race of Egyptian-stylized beings who are controlled by symbiotic snake creatures implanted inside them.  It has been a thrill watching these four incredibly well-matched SG-1 characters - an Air Force officer, an astrophysicist, an archaeologist, and an alien warrior - battle the Goa'uld throughout every episode.

 

But for those in the audience who have a background in archaeology, astrophysics or Egyptology, SG-1 is more than a mere TV show, it is an absolute delight. The reason being that someone has done his or her homework.

 

Besides the pure entertainment value of STARGATE SG-1, the recurring theme - which proposes a connection between Ancient Egypt, the Goa'uld, and nearly every planet in the galaxy - has been incredibly well researched and meticulously presented throughout the seasons.  The entire staff, from producers to research specialists, are to be commended for their work in analyzing and presenting faithfully a running archaeological bonanza centered around the Ancient Egyptian culture.  Names, dates, facts, all are delivered in a very systematic and quite believable plot line, so that by the end of the eighth season, the viewer is thoroughly convinced the STARGATE system is truly operative and the SG-1 team really is "out there" somewhere saving the planet Earth from the terrors of the Goa'uld. (Oh please be so!)

 

It is far too complex a task to review the entire series in this newsletter, but that is not the point we wish to approach.  In a manner of speaking, the Bliss-Parsons Institute would like to "go where no one has gone before" (sorry Star Trek ... I loved you too) in the areas of investigative research, conjecture and theory development.

 

Therefore, in consideration of our stated purpose, B-PI wishes to ask the question, "Is the concept presented in STARGATE SG-1 that far-fetched?  After becoming aware of recent credible research in the probabilities of interplanetary travel, terra-forming, and alien contact, one must consider, at least, the possibility that something very like a STARGATE of sorts may be already available and/or in use somewhere in our own galaxy, if not many galaxies.  What is even more fascinating to consider is the possibility that the television show might not be so far off base as one might first believe when it comes to the Ancient Egypt connection.

 

(Keep in mind that the BLISS-PARSONS INSTITUTE is primarily an information gathering organization with the main purpose of judging the credibility of such theories as just stated.  But in judging credibility, one must also present alternative ideas - even if the ideas might seem a bit "different," or disagreeable with the mainstream scholarship. Also keep in mind that the Institute is staffed with those who are highly qualified in Astronomy, Archaeology, Astro-Physics, as well as, Egyptology)

 

Whether we are Americans, British, Middle Eastern, South American, Mexican, Chinese, or whoever, we all have many things in common.  We are all bipeds, we are all of the same species, we all have similar lifespan limitations; we all breathe air and live on dry land.  We are similar in our emotional and physiological makeup.  We build things, we invent things and most of us work for a living.

Within our various home cultures there are similarities as well.  Regardless of your race or the country you live in, it is pretty much a given that (except in the cases of dictatorships) we all are influenced by the following:  a hierarchical form of government or ruling class, a structured system of socio-economic variables, and a mythological or religious belief system that can actually vary greatly from culture to culture.  All of these things seem to be evident in most cultures and are easily explained as to how they came about.

 

What is not so easily explained are some of the more mysterious landmarks dotting the surface of our world, among which are the Pyramids of Ancient Egypt.  These giant structures are well known to nearly every person on earth.  They are first revealed to us in elementary school as one of the Seven Wonders Of The Ancient World, and we think we have a fairly accurate understanding of who built them, how they were built and what they were used for ... but do we really?

 

Some of the common theories that have been hypothesized over the years and which have been pretty much set in concrete by our historians are:  The Pyramids were built as mausoleums for the sun-worshiping Pharaohs who enslaved large numbers of workers over a period of decades in order to finish them.  The building blocks, some of which weighed as much as two hundred tons, were quarried from granite quarries located 600 miles away, and then somehow transported from the quarries to the pyramid site by rolling them over logs.  Once the blocks were on the site, the slaves then carved them to perfection using only copper knives (all they had available at the time.) The blocks were hoisted into place using a rope and timber crane system, and then fitted very carefully together using no mortar or sealant of any kind. (It must be noted that the blocks are so precisely fitted that a razor blade cannot be inserted between them, and the totality of their construction into the final Pyramid shape we know today is so perfectly aligned north-south-east-west that it's accuracy has baffled scientists for years.)  The outer surface of the Pyramids were then covered with large slabs of polished limestone which gave them a brilliant and beautiful, mirror-shine effect, that must have been absolutely spectacular to witness first hand.

 

Consider this: the Great Pyramid at Giza contains 2.5 million blocks averaging in weight at 2.5 tons each.  It rises above the surface of the desert some 481 feet.  Within its interior are found several chambers, vents and passageways, which were apparently a part of the original blueprint, as they too are fitted into the entirety of the design with almost no noticeable variance in measurement.  In short, it is without question the most perfectly designed structure ever erected upon this planet ... all done at the hands of a culture with very limited means of accomplishing such a feat, and long before the technology for doing such a thing was ever even dreamed of.

 

Now ... these are the common theories that have prevailed in our history books for many years and which have been adopted as gospel truth among the professional circles of Egyptologists and Archaeologists everywhere.  But if one takes even a superficial glance at history one is forced to exclaim, "Wait a minute!  How is this possible?"

 

Copper knives cannot carve granite; logs with two-ton, solid granite blocks on top of them cannot be rolled through sand - in fact, larger blocks would crush the logs before they were rolled; timber and rope hoists would not be able to hold the weight of such massive blocks while trying to place them where they needed to be; the ancients had no way to polish the limestone to such a brilliant finish; without the aid of satellites and precision astronomical equipment it would have been impossible for this culture to align the Pyramids to the stars with such accuracy.

 

And these are just a few of the questions and concerns being raised by some today - questions that seem so obvious we wonder why they were never raised before.  New research  - some of which is controversial - has arisen over the past few years that not only brings older scholarship into question, but also offers fresh solutions to these age-old dilemmas.

 

Consider two works that have created quite a stir among Egyptologists and archaeologists since their creation - both within the past ten years.  THE SIRIUS MYSTERY, by Robert Temple, and THE ORION MYSTERY, by Robert Bauval and Adrian Gilbert.

 

The Sirius Mystery presents the theory that an advanced civilization from the Sirius star system, located in the constellation of Canis Major, may have visited our planet at some point between 7,000 and 10,000 years ago.  During that visit these superior aliens were either responsible for building the pyramids or they instructed the ancient Egyptians on how to build them and, perhaps, provided the technology and machinery for the actual construction.

 

This book is a fairly lengthy work packed with detail upon detail of reasonably accurate research and conjecture.  There have been a few who have attempted to dispute its contents, however, the arguments against it pale in comparison to the weight of the evidence in its favor.  In fact, much of what the author presents is not only highly enticing, it is by no means impossible to consider as being a viable explanation for some of the unanswered questions about the mysteries behind the Pyramid construction era.  One might ask:  "Can you give me a better theory?" after reading this work.

 

In The Orion Mystery, the authors defy current established explanations regarding the reasons for the construction of the pyramids, and present one particularly touchy little jab at old school thought, by suggesting the ancient Egyptians were not as enamored with sun worship as we think they were.  Bauval and Gilbert present quite conclusive evidence that the Pharaohs were far more centered on the stars than they were the sun.  Of particular interest is the Orion Constellation, which just happens to line up perfectly with the layout of the Giza Pyramids.  The authors of The Orion Mystery present the possibility that not only were the Ancients more concerned with the stars than the sun, but the Pyramids represented an exact mirror image of the Orion System, which they believed to be the "Heaven," or "Duat," of their "Ennead" - the nine main gods and goddesses responsible for just about everything in the universe. The Pyramids below represented the microcosm of the macrocosm of Heaven above. Like Robert Temple, these authors also provide a very convincing base of evidence that in most respects appears far more credible than the original theories we have lived with for years.

 

What does this all have to do with STARGATE SG-1?  Simple ... do these books not, at least indirectly, suggest that some sort of interplanetary travel might be existent already, and if so, it would have to be something far beyond what we mere "Terrans" believe is possible.  This kind of technology would fly in the face of the old "not being able to travel faster than the speed of light" limitation.  This would even suggest that so-called "wormholes" are no longer the theory de jour, but that some other, far more imaginative mode of travel, must be waiting "out there somewhere" for us to discover on our own ... or to be handed to us on a platinum platter by an advanced culture.

 

Consider also the possibility that if such a mode of travel exists, and if we have already been visited as far back as 10,000 years, is it too far a stretch to imagine that this same alien race has been visiting and observing us for centuries? Is it possible that they may "walk among us" even now?

 

As I am editing this article today I have on my desk a news article that is reporting a large increase in the number of UFO sightings all over the world. And these are clearly not "weather balloons, or Stealth Fighters.  These are far beyond anything we have ever manufactured on this planet, including, "an object that was a mile long and a half mile wide flying silently over the ground that was later chased by Air Force jets which it outran with ease and disappeared somewhere in deep space.

 

Although most people are familiar with the Pyramids of Ancient Egypt, how many are aware that Pyramids of a similar nature exist on nearly every continent on Earth.  Everyone has heard of the South American Pyramids and the Pyramids at Machu Picchu, but what about the Pyramids in China?  Britain?  Even America!  There is an archaeological attraction in the state of Illinois, called the Cahokia Mounds (not too far from St. Louis, Missouri) that presents for all the world to see the remains of a giant Pyramid.  This Pyramid was manufactured by a group of what has been referred to as "mound builders," but in the case of this particular site, the so-called "mound" is clearly a very large Pyramid.

 

Questions:  How did these pyramids all get there?  Where did they all come from?  Why are they so incredibly alike?  Why do they all have similar function, as well as, astronomical alignment?  How were they all made using only the primitive tools and limited knowledge of their day?

 

Most baffling, how did they all appear almost simultaneously (in the grand scope of time) on several continents that were many thousands of miles and at least one ocean apart?  Most of these civilizations did not have a clue that the others even existed, let alone did they have any means to communicate with them.  And in all probability, had they known of each other's existence, they would have been far more concerned with eradicating each other from the face of the earth than sharing architectural design and technique - for such seems to be the nature of our species.

 

Could it be that the Pyramids of planet Earth did not arise randomly and out of nowhere?  Could it be that they were not built by the ancients at all, but by a species far in advance of our own?  Could it be that every Pyramid was constructed for a specific purpose on a specified section of land and even to this day there is a reason for their existence.

 

Research suggests that even though it may be improbable that we will one day locate a Stargate of sorts buried somewhere under the sands of the Sahara desert, or in the jungles of Peru, it is within the realms of possibility that some sort of interaction between an alien culture and our own may have occurred in the distant, or even not so distant, past.  It is even possible that we are the offspring of that interaction.  The fact is that such guesswork is impossible to prove or to disprove until further information is discovered, or until someone "out there" chooses to reveal to us things that will no doubt change everything that we are.

 

It is the policy of the BLISS-PARSONS INSTITUTE not only to investigate such possibilities as these, but also to stimulate new ways of thinking and propose ideas that are on the cutting edge of science, history or theology.  We do not believe that the information currently enjoyed within the hallowed halls of established research is necessarily 100% correct, nor is it necessarily complete.  We prefer to propose that one day even a STARGATE might be as commonplace to the civilization we will become in the future, as a jetliner is to the one we enjoy today.  For such is not merely the "stuff of dreams," but also a matter of prudent scholarship.  In any case, Amanda Tapping, I love you, wherever you are.