BALKANS: Bosniaks Find a Pyramid of Hope

By Vesna Peric Zimonjic Reprint | | Print |

Vesna Peric Zimonjic

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina, May 3 2006 (IPS) - Claims of the discovery of a buried pyramid have brought new hope to a Bosnian town.

A buried pyramid is said to have been found in the 625-metre Visocica hill overlooking the small town Visoko 40 km northwest of Bosnian capital Sarajevo. Not a day goes by without a local TV station or paper offering new insight into the claim.

Visocica hill and its surroundings are rich with archaeological material from the days of past kings, but no one has suggested before that it may contain remnants that could link it to ancient Egyptian civilisation.

Bosnian-born Semir Osmanagic (45) says he has made just such a discovery. “There is no doubt that Visocica hill hides a colossal, man-made architectural structure,” he told IPS. If he is right, this would be the first sign of a pyramid in Europe.

Osmanagic heads the ‘Pyramid of the Sun Project’ and is directing excavations. He has spent 15 years studying ancient structures in Latin America.

Osmanagic said he “could not miss the regular shape” of the hill when he first visited the site in summer last year. And so he began the excavation work with his own money and donations from friends.

“All the satellite images, thermal and radar researches so far have shown that there are man-made, hand-made structures under this hill,” he said.

Measurements by the Geological Institute of Bosnia-Herzegovina have shown that the Visocica hill has 365-metre long sides forming triangles of 60 degrees on each of its four slopes, Osmanagic said.

Two nearby hills hide the ‘Pyramid of the Moon’ and the ‘Pyramid of the Dragon’, he claims. He plans to look into those later.

The three are connected by tunnels that have been seen by workers from the nearby Zenica and Kakanj coal mines, he said. This excavation site is out of bounds for visitors “due to safety reasons.”

“The tunnels meet at 90-degree junctions and contain significant amounts of oxygen, no carbon monoxide or methane, and at each 30 metres or so, one feels fresh air.”

Volunteers are digging at several places on the hill. So far they have dug out rectangular sandstone plates. Thousands have come to view them.

“This pyramid combines the method of ancient Egyptian and Mexican pyramids,” Osmanagic said. “Huge blocks were put atop each other, with half a metre distance into the slope. The slopes run for 30 metres up to the 2.5 metre wide terraces. The process is repeated up to the top.”

He added: “We have yet to establish if this is the mother of all pyramids.”

Pyramid or not, the excavation has changed the face of sleepy Visoko. Souvenir shops are flooded now with pyramid-shaped items.

The shapes are engraved on newly produced wooden clocks, and printed on slippers and T-shirts. Key chains and ceramic coin boxes are being produced in pyramid shape. A local hotel has been renamed ‘Pyramid of the Sun’. A pizzeria now serves triangular pizzas.

“Visoko is overwhelmed by pyramid-mania,” local souvenir vendor Esref Fatic (45) told IPS. “But that is very good for business as it means positive news from Bosnia after so many years.”

The devastating 1992-95 war between Muslim Bosniaks, Catholic Croats and Orthodox Serbs led to the death of more than 100,000 people, and brought unprecedented economic destruction.

Reconciliation and recovery are still a long way off. The three ethnic groups live separately in areas each kept, or ethnically cleansed in the war. Unemployment stands at 40 percent.

Critics from Bosnian Croat or Serb communities say Osmanagic’s claim is aimed at “promoting Bosniaks (Muslims).” But Osmanagic faces also more serious objections.

“This has nothing to do with science,” head of Visoko Home Museum, Senad Hodovic told IPS. “It is a historical fact that Visoko was the home town of Bosnian kings in medieval times, with the castle on Visocica hill. Excavations nearby have shown that the castle was built on the site of an ancient Roman checkpoint.”

But, said Hodovic, “if this pyramid craze means some hope or improvement for local people, one cannot be against it.”

A group of history and archaeology professors from Sarajevo University have called on authorities to stop a “travesty of science” by “the free researcher Semir Osmanagic.” The experts say there is no scientific basis for any claims Osmanagic is making.

“Whatever there may be under the hill, one cannot be negative,” said local resident Fatmira Mujovic (62) as she climbed Visocica hill carrying a plastic bag full of food and drinks for volunteer diggers. “This digging and everything around it gives us something nice, like hope.”