Bosnian pyramid claims

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Visočica overlooking Visoko

A site known as Visočica hill (43°59'20.10"N, 18°10'12.97"E), in the Bosnia-Herzegovina town of Visoko, northwest of Sarajevo, became the focus of international attention in October 2005, following controversial claims that it is actually an ancient man-made pyramid.

The 213 metre Visočica hill, once the centre of the medieval Bosnian capital Visoki, has a generally symmetrical pyramid-like shape when viewed from certain angles. The idea that it constitutes an ancient artificial edifice was publicised by expatriate Bosnian author Semir Osmanagić, whose subsequent excavations at the site have uncovered what he claims to be a paved entrance plateau and tunnels, as well as stone blocks and ancient mortar which he has suggested once covered the structure. The dig, involving an international team of archaeologists from Australia, Austria, Bosnia, Scotland and Slovenia , began in April 2006.

Osmangić's interpretation

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Locations of the Pyramids of the Sun, Moon and (Bosnian) Dragon, according to the hypotheses of Semir Osmangić

Osmanagić has named Visočica hill the "Pyramid of the Sun", while two nearby hills, identified from satellite and aerial photography, have been dubbed the "Pyramid of the Moon" and the "Pyramid of the (Bosnian) Dragon" (and another two, one named the "Pyramid of the Earth", have been mentioned in reports). Newspaper reports have quoted Osmanagić as claiming that they were constructed by ancient Illyrian inhabitants of the Balkans as early as 12,000 BCE. But in an interview with Philip Coppens in Nexus Magazine (April-May 2006), Osmanagić rectified this statement, stating he was misquoted: he does claim that they were most likely constructed by teh Illyrians, who lived in the area from 12,000 BCE to 500 BCE, and that the pyramid was therefore most likely constructed between those two dates - not <in> 12,000 BCE.

Currently Osmanagić states the excavation has produced evidence of building blocks one metre below the surface of the hill . Earlier geological work has also indicated that human activity had shaped the hill. Additionally Osmanagić has found tunnels in the hillside which he interprets as ventilation shafts. He plans to date the tunnels by analysis of stalactites found within them.

Osmanagić believes his discoveries around Visoko will have further implications for world prehistory. By comparing the varying heights of the tallest pyramids in Mexico and Egypt with Visočica hill he concluded that the pyramids may all have been built by the same peoples with the Bosnian Pyramid the last to be built . However, upon further thought he has decided that this dating mechanism may not be reliable and has now announced Visočica hill could be "the mother of all Pyramids". This is corroborated by the existence of sacral geometry and further numerological study of messages left in the pyramid for future generations.

Research program

The Archaeological Park: Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun Foundation have published a research plan outlining a program of activity from 2006 to 2010. In 2006 the plan to to restore the top of the Pyramid of the Sun, though no attempt will be made to restore the medieval capital of Bosnia at the same time. There are also plans to upgrade transport links in the region and produce marketing material. In 2007 the plan is to continue digging and promote the hill of Pljesevica as the Pyramid of the Moon. Further research activity will consist of opening more areas of the Pyramid to tourists. The main research focus from 2008 onwards will be the provision of more tourist facilities until 2010, when it is planned to install a plaque declaring the site a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Additionally the Foundation has protected the names Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun, Bosnian Pyramid of the Moon, Pyramid of the Bosnian Dagon (sic) and Bosnia's Valley of Pyramids. This is unusual in academic practice, but an accepted convention in works of fiction. Typical archaeological practices such as post-excavation analysis or scientific publication are absent from the program.

Excavations

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Criticism

Semir Osmanagić's claims, widely reported in the mass media, have been challenged by a number of experts, who have accused him of promoting pseudo-scientific notions and damaging archaeological sites with his excavations. Penn State University Professor Garrett Fagan is quoted as saying "They should not be allowed to destroy genuine sites in the pursuit of these delusions[...] It’s as if someone were given permission to bulldoze Stonehenge to find secret chambers of lost ancient wisdom underneath."

Boston University's Curtis Runnels, an expert in prehistoric Greece and the Balkans states that, "Between 27,000 and 12,000 years ago, the Balkans were locked in the last Glacial maximum, a period of very cold and dry climate with glaciers in some of the mountain ranges. The only occupants were Upper Paleolithic hunters and gatherers who left behind open-air camp sites and traces of occupation in caves. These remains consist of simple stone tools, hearths, and remains of animals and plants that were consumed for food. These people did not have the tools or skills to engage in the construction of monumental architecture."

Enver Imamovic of the University of Sarajevo, a former director of the National Museum of Sarajevo, concerned that the excavations will damage historic sites such as the medieval royal capital Visoki, said that the excavations would "irreversibly destroy a national treasure".

In a letter to the editor of The Times on 25 April 2006, Professor Anthony Harding, president of the European Association of Archaeologists, referred to Osmanagić's theories as "wacky" and "absurd" and expressed concern that insufficient safeguards were in place to protect Bosnia's "rich heritage" from "looting and unmonitored or unauthorised development".

Osmanagić, who has also published under the name Sam Osmanagich, is the author of a book entitled The World of the Maya that presents an "alternative history" that fits within the genres of pseudoscience, pseudoarchaeology, and pseudohistory. His book concludes, "The Maya inherited knowledge from their ancestors at Atlantis and Lemuria (Mu). Cities were planned and built around the main square toward which the pyramids and temples were turned. They communicated with the movement of the Sun and the paths of other heavenly bodies... Many cultures around the world, from India, Sumeria, Egypt, Peru, the Indians of North and Central America, the Inca and the Maya, call themselves the 'Children of the Sun' or the 'children of light.' Their ancestors, the civilizations of Atlantis and Lemuria, erected the first temples on energy potent point of the Planet. Their most important function was to serve as a gateway to other worlds and dimensions."

Osmanagić's concept is similar to that popularized by William Perry and Grafton Elliot Smith in their book The Children of the Sun (1923). Smith and Perry suggested that all ancient civilizations could trace their history to ancient Egypt. Their work represented a school of thought known as diffusionism, also represented in the scholarship of Gustaf Kossinna. However, Osmanagić adds to this a belief the "lost continents" of Atlantis and Lemuria. Smith and Perry's theories of hyperdiffusionism have been rejected on the basis of subsequent research and models concerning Atlantis and Lemuria are not taken seriously by the majority of professional archaeologists and historians.

See also

• Egyptian pyramids
• Nubian pyramids
• Mesoamerican pyramids
• Chinese pyramids
• French pyramids
• Pseudoscience
• Pseudoarchaeology
• Pseudohistory
• Pyramidology

External links

• Bosnian pyramid location: 1 2 — Google maps
• Archaelogical Park: Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun Foundation — Official Site
• Bosnian Pyramid — News, information and details about the Bosnian Pyramid
• Pyramids of Bosnia — Documentary Feature, currently in production
• BBC News: Europe's first pyramid? (a few paragraphs down) — early report, 26 October, 2005
• Dig for ancient pyramid in Bosnia – more detailed BBC coverage of the findings, 15 April 2006
• ABC News story — update on first excavations as of April 20, 2006
• Bosanska Piramida Sunca — Osmanagic's book on the subject
• AntiPyramid Web-Ring (webring devoted to the debunking of the myth of the Bosnian pyramid)
• The Bosnia-Atlantis Connection - from Archaeology magazine