Sarcophagus

"We believe that to use the sarcophagus would drain the good from our hearts."

- Martouf

The alien species Goa'uld use a device called a sarcophagus to rapidly heal injuries and extend their lifespans. The device can also bring the recently deceased back to life. Even due to the fact that the Goa'uld are scavengers and thieves of technology, there are a few of them who have come up with quite impressive adoptions of technology they have stolen and/or studied. Based on the Ancient healing device, but heavily modified so a human can use it, the sarcophagus is one of the more impressive Goa'uld inventions.

Overview
Originally Daniel Jackson encountered a sarcophagus for the first time after being killed by a blast from a Jaffa's staff weapon, awakening inside with no wounds on his body.

He used the device again to revive his wife Sha're, who had been killed by another staff. Later, after falling in love with an alien princess, Jackson began using the sarcophagus more often and soon became addicted to the device, demonstrating symptoms common to the Goa'uld who regularly use them, including paranoia, egotism, and megalomania. He eventually recovered from the side effects.

Function
A sarcophagus is based on the Ancient healing device technology. It can heal all illness and damage done to the body, but can not (according to Jacob Carter/Selmak) repair extensive brain damage. Using it very occasionally produces no ill effects. However, when using regularly, especially when unneeded, the psychological side effects can include megalomania and intense notions of superiority. This is one of the reasons that make the Goa'uld and Tok'ra different from each other, as the Goa'uld are evil and megalomaniacal. Some Goa'uld, such as Yu use the device nearly every day.

History
The first sarcophagus was created by an ancient Goa'uld known as Telchak. The sarcophagus was derived from the Ancient healing device (recovered from South America by Daniel Jackson), a technology which was too powerful itself to be used upon normal humans. The Tok'ra do not use the sarcophagus, claiming that it damages the soul. However, a sarcophagus is known not only to give life, but to actually sustain life in a form of stasis for several thousand years (as demonstrated by the Goa'uld Hathor, who had been sealed away in a sarcophagus for almost 2,000 years, without any age or ill effects). Another Goa'uld, Marduk, was known to have been sealed away in a sarcophagus for 4,000 years, along with a vicious and dangerous creature intended to devour the Goa'uld.

Because of the sarcophagus's special ability to keep the Goa'uld alive, it may have taken the vicious creature a long while to slowly devour the Goa'uld. For the Goa'uld trapped inside, it was a long, painful, and agonizing process that resulted in an "eternal torture." The Goa'uld use the device on prisoners when their torture methods accidentally or intentionally kill their victims. The limits of the sarcophagus were demonstrated by Lord Yu, whose extreme age reduced the effectiveness of the sarcophagus's regenerative powers. This confirmed that as powerful as sarcophagus technology is, it cannot grant true immortality.