A cartouche is an oval or oblong figure in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs that encloses characters. The coverstones found over the Stargate in Giza, 1928 contained a cartouche with the gate coordinates for the planet Abydos. After traveling through to Abydos, Daniel Jackson found a corresponding cartouche with the gate symbols for Earth. (Stargate)
After spending a month on Abydos, Daniel Jackson discovered another, much larger, cartouche that contained gate coordinates for a huge gate network. (SG1: "Children of the Gods")
The Abydos cartouche was an extensive list of Stargate addresses, although it didn't comprise all addresses known to the Goa'uld. (SG1: "The Broca Divide")
This cartouche was, with few exceptions, the sole source of gate addresses for the SGC until more were downloaded into Jack O'Neill's mind from the Ancient's Repository of knowledge. (SG1: "The Fifth Race")
The Stargate buried on Tagrea was also covered with coverstones that had a cartouche in the center. (SG1: "Memento")
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- Abydos Cartouche in Kathleen Ritter's Lexicon.
- GateWorld's article on Abydos cartouche in The Stargate Omnipedia