APWR Central

As the news that the Bosnian-Herzegovinian government renewed its financial and other support to Osmanagic's project reach international media, here are some details on what exactly it is that our politicians back up with amounts larger than any given for an archaeological research in Bosnia-Herzegovina since the end of the 92-95 war – 200.000 Bosnian convertible marks, roughly 100.000 euros:

„I made a hypothesis that the Visoko pyramid valley was the world's biggest air-condition machine at the time it was built. I reached this idea by analyzing the symbols on the K-1 megalith found in the Ravne tunnel in April 2006. So, the basic ideas of the hypothesis are these: the pyramids of the Sun, the Moon and the Dragon were built like hollow objects, like radiators, like huge water-heaters warmed up by the solar energy. The Ravne tunnel and the KTK tunnel, these are tunnels, these were the ventilation tunnels that sucked up the moist air from the Bosna and Fojnica rivers. With the ventilation tunnels, the air was pumped into pyramids and dispersed from chimneys.“

Hrvoje Zujic, in the TV series Potraga za piramidom [Searching for the Pyramid], July 1, 2007 episode, promoting Osmanagic's project on the Bosnian-Herzegovinian state-owned television every Sunday evening

***

„The story about pyramids starts in Visoko. There, for the first time at the complex of excavations of such objects, directions were found on how to use them. The climatic conditions, at the time when the pyramids were built, on higher latitudes of the moderate belt were bordering on the very edge of life existance. Summers were short and the vegetation scarce. It was the reign of the so-called Ice Age. One civilization stopped further freezing and made conditions for the warming up of the Earth atmosphere. By using the built systems they directly influenced the positive climatic changes, while development of vegetation made an indirect influence. With the help of wind, water, sun and air they made water steam. Water steam is one of the principal regulator of the climate.“

…

„The Earth was on the list of the potential planets for inhabiting. It was necessary to work on its cold climate. Several of them, qualified, with huge assemblies, like plotters, „parked“ over the chosen location and built the system.“

Davorin Vrbancic, in Tvornica oblaka [The Cloud Factory], a report published at „The Archaeological Park: Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun“ Foundation web site

***

Mr. Davorin Vrbancic, listed among the 'experts' and 'scientists' participating in the Foundation's project, in the document with which Mr. Osmanagic applied for financial and other support from the Government of the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina

Instead of displaying photos and publishing information on the real archaeological artefacts found during the last year's diggings in Visoko (as described in the previous post), Mr. Osmanagic's team has produced a whole series of artefacts of their own. Here are just some of those alleged prehistoric objects claimed to have been made by the mysterious civilization which also, according to Mr. Osmanagic, built the Bosnian pyramids.

I

In a document describing a „multidisciplinary project of research in the Bosnian Pyramid Valley“, Mr. Muris Osmanagic, the father of Semir Osmanagic, publishes the following photo, accompanied by this text:

„An extraordinary stone monument which, in our opinion, looks like a monumental cow. It has been completely overgrown by shrub, grass and bush. It was found and cleaned by Admir Tatar, coordinator of works at the archaeological location of Gornje Vratnice, Visoko. Cow has been celebrated for thousands of years in pagan peoples as holy, for feeding the people and families. That is the status it still has in India today. It is hard to believe that this large monument has been built during the Christian era.“

(Caption under the photo: „Fig. 107: Stone monument, found in the village of Gornje Vratnice. It was covered in bush. Looks like a cow, which used to be sacred in all pagan peoples before Christianity. It is still sacred in India today. Next to it is the discoverer Admir Tatar, coordinator of works in the village of Vratnice (Photo: prof. dr. Muris Osmanagic, October 9, 2006)“)

II

Next 'artefact' is a representation of a „one-tooth horse“:

(Caption under the photo: „Fig. 108: A work in stone. With the large tooth, resembles a prehistoric horse. This stone plate was found in the village of Gornje Vratnice, near the surface. At the back of the head, visible letterlike signs, among which the small 'x'.“ (Photo: Admir Tatar, July 15, 2006)“)

III

The next artefact has been described by Mr. Muris Osmanagic as: „Causes admiration with its motive, workmanship and creation.“ He calls it a „dragon with three heads“:

(Caption under the photo: „Fig. 110: „Three-headed dragon“ – a beautiful figurine, found in the KTK Visoko tunnel during putting up the support beams in the caved-in tunnel branch, among smaller stone material that poured from the front of the working place, 15m under the ground. 190mm long. Made from small-grained shiny, very hard cemented sand-sandstone. (Photo: prof. dr. Muris Osmanagic, December 24, 2006)“)

IV

After the dragon comes the snake:

(Caption under the first photo: „Fig. 101: Contour of a fat snake with triangular head (poisonous), carved on the side of the stone megalith K-2 made of yellow sand-stone, at 290m from the entrance into the Ravne tunnel and 18m under the ground. On the snake's body, there are signs visible, with vertical longer and shorter lines, underneath which there are signs: large 'Y', small 'y', reverse small 'y' and 'X' (Photo: prof. dr. Muris Osmanagic, June 11, 2006)“ Caption under the second photo: „Fig. 102: Contour of a fat snake with triangular head from Fig. 101, from a different angle. Visible is the line in the snake's mouth, which circles the entire territory relief, modelled on the stone megalith K-2 (Photo: prof. dr. Muris Osmanagic, June 11, 2006)“)

V

The Bosnian-Herzegovinian archeology is then enriched with a „two-sided human foot“, described by Mr. Muris Osmanagic as: „. . . carried out with virtuosity. It was found in the uncovered paved northern part of the plateau of the Toprakalia hill, in Gornje Vratnice, near Visoko, 1m under the ground. It most probably served as a measure unit to the pyramid builders. In that case it would be precursor of the ancient Roman measure foot, the medieval measure foot and the Anglo-Saxon measure foot. It is 29.0cm long and 9.0cm wide. It is interesting that most people's and women's [my accentuation] foot width today is 9.0cm. In its design and workmanship this archaeological artefact represents the best proof of the high level of artistic ability and civilization of the ancient inhabitants of the Bosnian Pyramid Valley.“

(Caption under the photo: „Fig. 109: Two-sided human foot, found in the uncovered paved northern part of the plateau of the Toprakalia hill, in Gornje Vratnice, near Visoko, 1m under the ground. It reflects the high level of civilization and artistic ability of the pyramid builders (Photo: Admir tatar, July 15, 2006)“)

VI

Some of the more recently found similar artefacts include, in the words of Mr. Goran Cakic, member of the Osmanagic team (caption): „A very interesting stone. Definitely done by human hand. Deposited in the cellar. Not necessary to suggest what it represents. It should be felt personally. Found in the branch DB-1.“

VII

Among such prehistoric artefacts recently found in the alleged labyrinth of tunnels underneath the Bosnian Pyramid Valley, according to today's news release by Osmanagic's Foundation, is this 'wheel':

„Tons of landslided material has been removed from the tunnels. By its careful examination, the parts of a stone wheel have been observed. Its radius is about one meter. Although the wheel has been found in parts, it does not diminish its importance. For now there is no indication to which period it belongs. The wheel has been left on the spot where it was found, for further archaeological processing.“

However, two parts of this emerging 'wheel' have been seen in some photos months before:

This photo was taken in February 2007, by the Aqua Mundi company staff, employed by Osmanagic to conduct a series of research with their specially invented tool. Both the tool, the researchers and their field work can be seen in the Aqua Mundi gallery. It appears that not quite all parts of this wheel have been found in the same spot, as hinted by the Foundation report today. But then again, it does not matter, the Foundation asserts. What matters is that Bosnia-Herzegovina is the birth-place od pyramids, civilizations, scripts and now also, most probably, the wheel.

I

Already in November 2005, the Archaeological Park: Pyramid of the Sun Foundation in Visoko, run by Mr. Semir Osmanagic, published a report about its first diggings at the Visocica hill, at the very foot of the medieval burg Visoki ruins. The report, among other things, describes the finding of stone plates and parts of human skeletons:

The report does not provide information on where the partial skeleton was sent for analyses. That information has not been published by the Foundation to this very day, and neither any information on the results of alleged analyses. The Foundation crew systematically avoids answering questions about this find, although the find is consistent with the claims of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian archaeologists that at the foot of the medieval burg there is also a medieval necropolis. Mr. Osmanagic has on several occasions publicly denied the possibility of the existence of any necropoleis at the 'Pyramid of the Sun'. In the next photo of the so-called 'plateau' of the 'pyramid of the Sun' – click here for a larger image – taken by the APWR team last year in Visoko, you can see: A – the spot where the missing partial skeleton was dug up, B – hidden in the vegetation, remains of some masonry, never further explored nor explained by the Foundation, most possibly ruins of a medieval suburb structure, C – a profiled base of a medieval tombstone, D – the medieval tombstone which Mr. Osmanagic proclaimed a „megalith that had rolled down from the top of the pyramid“:

Also, compare the above Foundation report description of the Visocica skeletal finds in relation to stone plates and this medieval site in the village of Arnautovici, only a few kilometers away from Visoko. It is one of the tombs closed by stone plates, situated within the ruins of a royal church of the medieval Bosnian rulers:

II

On May 2, 2006, only a few weeks after the official begining of the „biggest geo-archaeological excavation in the world“ in Visoko, the local info web site Visoko.co.ba ran a news report with this information:

The partial skeleton mentioned previously was found in the probe nr. 3. Therefore, the organic material in the probe nr. 1, mentioned here, refers to another set of organic material finds at the Visocica hill which was never fully reported and further analyzed by the Foundation.

III

One month later, on June 4, the Croatian daily newspaper Jutarnji list publishes an article titled Pyramids in Visoko already seen by 20.000 tourists with the following statement by Silvana Cobanov, a young archaeologist from Zadar (Croatia), employed last year by Mr. Osmanagic to supervise the diggings:

The neolithic tools and ceramics finds have never been mentioned by the Foundation or Mr. Osmanagic, neither on the official web site nor in any of the official reports.

IV

On the same month, the Bosnian-Herzegovinian archaeologists visited Visocica. Afterwards, Mr. Mirko Babic, director of the Bijeljina regional museum, said for the media:

For the location of the probes illicitly dug up within the area of the protected national monument, click here – A, red arrows, point to the probes near the ruins of the west fort wall; B, blue arrow, points to the location of the medieval fort ruins. Small red arrow points to a probe that is most probably the probe nr. 1, mentioned in paragraph II. Click here to see more of these probes at the west flank of the Visocica hill.

V

On his blog Wing Beat, Ed Weinberg, who used to work for Mr. Osmanagic as a journalist last year, writes about how the young Greek archaeologist Nancy Gallou, excavating a probe at the Pljesevica hill – later renamed into the pyramid of the Moon – found six metal nails, but was told by the Foundation people to disregard the find.

VI

During my own visit to Visoko in August last year, I talked to some of the volunteers on the north flank of the Visocica hill, dubbed the pyramid of the Sun, who were excited that day over the ceramics found by „the Belgrade archaeologists“. It turned out that these „Belgrade archaeologists“ were a man and two teenage girls. They refused to answer any questions about the found ceramics. The „archaeologist“, eager to finish our conversation, said:

„We are all here on the same asignment.“

I never got a chance to find out what that really meant.

VII

On May 12 last year, while the Croatian and the Bosnian-Herzegovinian media reported the above described sketchy and never followed-up on information about ceramics and organic material found in Visoko, the National Geographic magazine published an article about the Visoko project, titled Pyramid in Bosnia -- Huge Hoax or Collosal Find?. Semir Osmanagic gave the following statement to the magazine journalists, implying that no artefacts or finds have been dug up:

VIII

During the presentation of the Bosnian pyramid project in Cairo on March 19 this year, Mr. Ali Barakat, who visited Visoko last year, said:

Semir Osmanagic never informed the Bosnian-Herzegovinian public about this hammer-like tool, the first word about it came in the report by an Egyptian journalist who followed the Cairo presentation.

The tomb to which Barakat refers is the structure uncovered at the Pljesevica hill, but Semir Osmanagic claims that this structure is an entrance into the pyramid. Findings of human bones and other organic material in relation to this structure have never been mentioned before. The datation of the structure given by Mr. Barakat places it within the context way off the one proposed by Mr. Osmanagic: a 27.000 or 12.000 years old pyramid.

Another observation can be made: if the alleged 'arrow-script' found on 'glazed stones' represents, in Barakat's words, „the language used by Bosnians some 1.000 years ago“, then such script must be much younger than the very well known and documented Bosnian Cyrillic, and certainly not the 27.000 years old, pre-Ice Age planetary proto-script as claimed by Semir's father, Muris Osmanagic.

IX

Mr. Barakat visited Bosnia-Herzegovina in June 2006. Four months after Ali Barakat – in his own words – found the above mentioned hammer-like tool and organic material during his visit to Visoko, Semir Osmanagic was holding a presentation about the Bosnian pyramid project in the city of Karlovac, in the neighboring Croatia, on October 14, 2006. During this presentation, as reported by the local Karlovac media, Mr. Osmanagic said:

X

On April 19, only last week, Semir Osmanagic told the local Visoko radio station that the skeletal remains, found in October 2005 and mentioned in the Foundation report in November 2005, are „lost“. In the radio interview, Mr. Osmanagic explained that the bones were sent to Zagreb (Croatia), but did not mention to which institute or laboratory. He said that money was requested to cover the costs of the analyses and since the Foundation did not have the money for it, the bones were then sent to London (UK). And then, Mr. Osmanagic explained, all trace of the bones was lost, but he expressed opinion that they somehow got back to Visoko and were deposited with the local undertaker. Unsure of any of these circumstances, despite the fact that the Foundation should have had enough money for such analyses – having received some 300.000 euros in donations last year (according to an Art Newspaper article from April 2006) – Mr. Osmanagic proceeded to explain that these skeletal remains mean nothing anyway since they were found at an „insignificant depth“, the pyramid being much „deeper than the bones“.

This refusal to date the uncovered skeletal remains comes in sharp contrast to his public addresses last year, when he lectured Bosnian-Herzegovinian experts on „new and modern methods of research“:

- in public TV show Face To Face, spring 2006, speaking to Ms. Zilka Kujundzic-Vejzagic, the Bosnian-Herzegovinian archaeologist and expert on prehistory (to this day, publicly and privately harassed for her critical view of Osmanagic's project):

„I will tell you precisely how long man has been living in these regions. There is a new science called anthropological genetics, where based on results, on DNA testing, one can follow the age and movement of every nation on the planet.“

- in public TV show Centralni zatvor, spring 2006:

A year later, it is evident how that turned out.

All these mentioned but unaccounted artefacts and finds are consistent with the existing knowledge on the archaeology of the Visoko region and particularly with the warnings by the local and international experts that Semir Osmanagic is destroying and endangering real and valuable archaeological locations and finds by conducting questionable and unprofessional diggings on locations most probably revealing neolithic to medieval sites.

The recent article on the alleged Bosnian pyramids in The Chronicle of Higher Education caught the eye of participants at the Hall of Ma'at forum yesterday. One statement from the article got a special treatment by a participant who explained it as a sort of a proof that no real historical and archaeological heritage is being damaged or endangered in the Visoko valley by pseudoarchaeological activities of Mr. Semir Osmanagic:

„Elma Kovacevic, international-relations coordinator of the Pyramid of the Sun Foundation and an adviser to a Bosnian foreign-trade-promotion group, bristles at the critics from abroad: "I never heard the voice of a single one of these archaeologists during the war when other sites were being destroyed and damaged. Now, when we have a chance for the future, they are trying to fight against us."“

The following is my response to such ignorant conclusions. 

In addition to this response, it should be noted that in the previous days, more information has come out on how Osmanagic and his Foundation *lost* some of the finds which they excavated last year at the Visocica hill plateau, namely, the remains of a human skeleton, indicating that the so-called 'pyramid' project has indeed devastated a medieval necropolis and suppressed evidence about it.

Don Barone,

These words of Ms. Kovacevic's slandering of Bosnian-Herzegovinian and international archaeologists proves only to what extent the Osmanagic crew is willing to go in their twisting and manipulation of the information: to proclaim their project to be the measure of patriotic feelings towards Bosnia-Herzegovina. In reality, things are quite different.

Elma Kovacevic is not an adviser to „a Bosnian foreign-trade-promotion group“, but for the official state Foreign Trade Chamber of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Her boss, chairman of the Trade Chamber, is also one of the Board Directors of the Foundation that promotes these 'pyramids'. In any normal country this would raise concerns about some serious legal breach and conflict of interests. Ms. Kovacevic uses her official position as the Foreign Trade Chamber employee to promote Osmanagic's private 'pyramid' project at international trade fairs, as exposed on the APWR English blog in case of a trade fair in Albania - http://apwr-central.blog.com/ . Of course she will want to cover that up as patriotism. Wasn't there someone who said:

„Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.“

Her statement about our and foreign archaeologists during the war is absolutelly shameless – they were, as it happens, risking their lives to save our archaeological and historical heritage. For example, they were running in the open of the National Museum lapidarium under shelling and sniper fire with sand bags in their hands to place them around medieval artefacts to protect them from sniper fire and bomb shards. They were risking being shot or burned alive while rescuing archives and treasuries! These heroic undertakings during the war were made possible by the engagement of the international archaeological and historical community – for starters, people like Ms. Kovacevic and you might want to get yourselves familiar with the war-time activities of the organization called Bosnia-Herzegovina Heritage Rescue and its leader, the late archaeologist and art historian Marian Wenzel. Then you might proceed to reading about the conditions under which these experts worked during the entire war - in an interview with a Bosnian archaeologist, Lidija Fekeza. After reading these two texts, you might want to ask yourself: where were Elma Kovacevic and Semir Osmanagic at that time?

The National Museum in Sarajevo is situated on what used to be the very front line along the river Miljacka during the Sarajevo 92-95 siege and it was the prime target of the daily bomb shelling – the aggressor was taking a particular pride in that: destroying the main institution of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian heritage and memory! Another example of heroicism of our archaeologists is the salvation of the Sarajevo Haggadah from the Museum by the Bosnian archaeologist Enver Imamovic, who happens to be one of the staunchest Osmanagic's opponents. In 1992, while Osmanagic was touring Mexico's pyramids and reading about New Age conspiracy theories, professor Imamovic was risking his life to save the Bosnian Jewish heritage under sniper fire! There is plenty of information on the Internet about these heroic deeds of our archaeologists and historians.

Therefore, I utterly resent statements like Ms. Kovacevic's and ignorant reactions like yours.

S.

Despite numerous protests and appeals from the worldwide scientific community over the last year, the pseudoarchaeological diggings at and under the Visoko hills in search for alleged prehistoric pyramids continue as false archaeology takes even stronger roots in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Following the pseudoarchaeological success of Mr. Osmanagic, another such pseudoscientific theory has recently reemerged after more than two decades – that of one Salinas Price, a Mexican hotel owner, who claims that the Homeric Troy is situated near the small Bosnian-Herzegovinian town of Gabela in the Neretva river valley. Just like Visoko, the Gabela area is an important archaeological region rich with protected national monuments. Mr. Price and his coordinators in Herzegovina recently made some statements indicating that another Visoko-like project could soon be under way in Gabela.

The Bosnian-Herzegovinian scientists and experts are making a final affort of warning the international community about these pseudoarchaeological threats to our real historical heritage, by writing a new letter to Mr. Christian Schwarz-Schilling, the High Representative of the international community in Bosnia-Herzegovina. This letter is even more important since Mr. Schwarz-Schilling himself gave support to the Visoko project last year.

In the previous two weeks, the text of this letter was published in the Sarajevo-based daily newspaper Oslobodjenje and the Croatian weekly magazine Feral Tribune. On this blog, APWR is bringing the English, the French and the German translation of this letter. We are kindly asking you to support this initiative by forwarding this information to a relevant institution in your country or to an institution you consider fit in this case.

The letter also has a declaratory and petitionary charachter, as it has been forwarded last week to various foreign embassies in Bosnia-Herzegovina by the Centre for Balkan Studies of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian Academy of Sciences and Arts, with an aim to familiarize the international community with the efforts of the local scientists in confronting pseudoscience.

This initiative is already reaping some significant results. Appart from responses that the Academy received from various embassies, the Federal Ministry for Culture and Sport of Bosnia-Herzegovina yesterday announced thier own initiative to insist with the Bosnian-Herzegovinian Council of Ministers that our country ratifies two important international treaties on cultural and archaeological heritage as soon as possible.

These two treaties are the European Convention on the Protection of the Archaelogical Heritage (Valetta 1992) and the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage (2001). With these documents ratified by the government of Bosnia-Herzegovina, there would be sufficient legal and other framework to succesfully protect and research our cultural and historical heritage. We kindly ask for your support for this initiative.

Thank you!

The Letter in German, download link

The Letter in French, download link

The Letter in English, download link

Our special gratitude goes to those who made the most of this possible and those who already so generously reported about this initiative at their websites, namely, The Hall of Ma'at, Indo-Eurasian Research Group, Le site d’Irna, The Antiquity of Man, Археолошки дневник vol.1, Archaeoastronomy and Rogueclassicism. Please, let us know if we missed any.

The Rolling Megaliths

A few months ago, on my other blog in BCS, I wrote about the pyramidiots' attempt to reinterpret a stecak at the base of the medieval town of Visoki as a megalith that had rolled down from the top of the 'pyramid'. [* for explanation of the term stecak, please see the end of post].

To recapture: this summer, speaking on the state television about this medieval tombstone at Visocica –

- Semir Osmanagic said:

„This block disperses illusions of domestic historiographers and archaeologists about being familiar with a part of the Bosnian medieval history. It has long been catalogued under the category of stecak. However, here it is a case of a typical concrete block which has its six sides that are clearly set at angles of ninety degrees therefore straight sides and it has nothing in common with the magnificent stecci of the Bosnian medieval history. Further analyses that we received from the Civil Engineering Institute in Tuzla show that exactly these concrete blocks poured on site make the pyramid flanks. It is known that the whole north flank is made of these blocks. On the other hand, here we are on the west flank of the pyramid and here it is obviously a case of one huge block that rolled from the top of the pyramid and because of its weight, it became unusable for the local population. They used the majority of the broken blocks, plates, for building of their homes, for foundations and walls. This one was too heavy for them to roll it to their potential construction sites. Therefore, these several tons here will become a good example to the future generations of how to distinguish illusion from reality. This example proves that the history of Bosnia does not go only six seven eight hundred back but thousands and thousads of years.“

During the same TV occasion, Osmanagic 'forgot' to mention another man-made stone block, positioned only a meter or two away from the rolling *megalith*:

This is the dilemma – did he 'forget' to mention the second stone because it would imply too many rolling stones from a shaky pyramid? Or because its profilation indicates a base of a stecak? Which, as Osmanagic claims, along with necropoleis and skeletons, never existed at Visocica.

Megaliths of Energy Temples

But that is not the first instance of this unscrupulous falsifying of stecci into megaliths. Osmanagic declared war on stecci even before he 'discovered pyramids' in Visoko, way back while writing his Alternativna historija, in the chapter on stone spheres, where he mentiones the stone spheres near the village of Zlokuce in the Kakanj municipality (adjacent to the Visoko municipality). The surrounding areas of this village and that of the nearby Vukanovici are well known for registered medieval and later necropoleis of stecci and nisani [singular: nisan – Bosnian Muslim tombstone form], as well as samotnjaci [singular: samotnjak – loner; single stecak on a distinguished spot, without a necropolis]. In Alternativna historija, Osmanagic 'forgets' to mention that the Zlokuce stone spheres are situated within one such necropolis, but he publishes a photo of one tombstone, giving the following title to it: „Stone monolith on an elevation near Zlokuce – top of a smaller astronomic/energy temple?“:

In this photo, in fact, is the medieval tombstone from the location of Meskovic near Zlokuce, and it was registered as a monument by the renown Bosnian professor Muhamed Kresevljakovic in the study by the Institute to Preserve Monuments, published in 1983 under the title of Evidencija nepokretnih spomenika kulture na području opštine Kakanj [Inventory of the Immobile Cultural Monuments in the Territory of the Kakanj Municipality]. In this study, prof. Kresevljakovic writes that the same tombstone is registered in another, older historiographic source, the significant ethnographic work Visocka nahija by Milenko S. Filipovic.

The above described unscrupulous falsifying of the known and established historical facts is indeed an arrogant spit in the face of the painstaking efforts of generations and generations of our historians and archaeologists who were not Arm-Chair careerists as Osmanagic attempts to portray them, but loving patriots who traversed this country on foot with pen and paper in hand, registering and rescuing from oblivion all this heritage that the Cosmic Beam Catcher wants to erase in one slide. This pyramidiotic humiliation of our experts and their multidecennial work gains an even sadder dimension if one remebers that it was the descendant of the mentioned erudites Muhamed and Hamdija Kresevljakovic who wrote that pitiful and overstretched panegyric to Semir Osmanagic this spring in Oslobodjenje.

In the chapter on stone spheres in Alternativna historija, Semir Osmanagic writes:

„Twenty kilometers from Kakanj in Central Bosnia, in a small village Zlokuce, there are several stone magmatic balls (material identical to that in Trn and Ponikve). On a small ten meter hill, above ground and partially buried, there are balls and elongated stone megaliths. In conversation with the inhabitants we found out that they think that the balls are a part of the "Greek cemetary" (allegedly, in ancient times in these parts there were Greeks who, after "seven severe winters", left this part of Bosnia). Also, they mentioned beneficial effect of the balls on horses that cannot urinate. The owners with horses make a few circles around the balls and afterwards the problem with urinating is solved.“

The idiom and toponym Greek cemetary in the Bosnian tradition and landscape always reveals a medieval necropolis with stecci, but Osmanagic could have seen that himself, while taking photos of his 'elongated stone megaliths' in the medieval necropolis of stecci at the Meskovic Hill near Zlokuce, as I explained above.

But the following falsification is particularly hilarious – attempting to establish as much credibility as possible for his theory of the natural phenomenon of stone spheres being in fact the generators of mysterious energies, Osmanagić used a folk tradition associated with the medieval tombstones and – asigned it to the spheres!

The folk custom of walking the animals with urinary problems around a stecak as a part of a curing process is a folk custom well known in the ethnology of Bosnia-Herzegovina. In the above mentioned study, the Inventory of the Immobile Cultural Monuments in the Territory of the Kakanj Municipality, professor Kresevljakovic registered six other villages in the Kakanj municipality where this custom was still alive: Catici, Slapnica, Varesak, Zagradje, Mramor and Sopotnica. In Sopotnica, the animals would be taken around the entire necropolis instead of one tombstone, as in other villages.

But this custom can be found in other parts of Bosnia-Herzegovina as well, for example, in Rama, where it is practiced by the Catholic population just the same. Nowhere, not in one single instance, has it been recorded that this custom involves any stone spheres. That is a pure fabrication of Semir Osmanagic, Ahmed Bosnic and Jovo Jovanovic.

Along the record-setting 33 medieval necropoleis of stecci and 16 samotnjaka in the Kakanj municipality, professor Kresevljakovic registered hundreds of other monuments, historical remains and folk customs and legends, some involving themes like fairies, enchanted wedding-parties, etc. Not a single one refers to any stone spheres. And as far as belief in the healing powers of some monuments is concerned, there is another tradition from the village of Ticici, associated, again, with the stecak there.

In the Turkish period, the tombstone got overgrown by vegetation and a local man whose wife had fallen ill had a dream that she would be healed if he cleaned the tomb and put a fence around it, to protect it. He did so, and the wife was cured. In memory of this legend, the villagers kept the fence around the tombstone up all untill the 20th century – Kresevljakovic took a picture of it for his 1983 Inventory.

Perhaps it is precisely this authentic, original Bosnian folk tradition – now endangered by the pyramidiotic attempts to falsify it for the needs of New Age fantasies – the one that carries the message of the deep wisdom of our folk: by preserving our authentic heritage, we are preserving ourselves. That is why our heritage must be protected from pyramidiotic falsifications and lies.

* From the website of the Bosnian Institute in London, UK:

„The stecci (singular: stecak), the monumental medieval tombstones that lie scattered across the landscape of Bosnia-Herzegovina are the country’s most legendary symbol. Although a few are found in Croatia and Montenegro, the vast majority are found within the borders of Bosnia-Herzegovina – 60,000 in all, of which approximately 10,000 are decorated (and sometimes inscribed). Appearing in the 12th century, the stecci reached their peak in the late 14th to 15th centuries, before dying away during the Ottoman occupation.“

From The Late Medieval Balkans by John V.A. Fine (pp. 486-87): „Bosnia and Herzegovina (roughly, Hum) are now famous for their enormous medieval gravestones (particularly those from the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries) known as stecci. . . . The stones were carved into various shapes such as great sarcophagi (though these were solid blocks having the deceased buried beneath them), standing slabs, and great crosses. Though the majority are unmarked, some have carved motifs. These vary from simple geometrical designs (e.g., spirals, rosettes, crosses) to elaborate scenes (e.g., tournaments, hunting scenes, round dances, etc.). Some of their creators were excellent artists.“

For some examples of these tombstones from Stecci (1982) by Nada Miletic, please visit the APWR Gallery. In our gallery, you will also find the photo of the stecak at the Visocica plateau, another carved stone which is most probably the stecak base and the large image showing the both stones position at the Visocica plateau in relation to the position where the skeleton remains were found, all indicating existence of a larger necropolis on the plateau.

Tonight, the Sarajevo-based Radio 202 dedicates a part of their Misljen show to demystifying Osmanagic's pyramid myths. The show begins at 21h and you can - providing that you understand BCS - listen to it online.

Important to note: this show is a kind of a benchmark. Since the onset of pyramid-mania, particularly in Bosnian media, this is the first such public media presentation in Bosnia-Herzegovina to question the theories of Mr. Osmanagic on scientific basis.

Enjoy!

People Who Mean Something

“ANCHOR: Have you thought about.. that the whole idea of pyramids in Visoko could be used for preelection purposes? You know, we have elections in October, I don’t know if you’re going to vote, if you’re registered…

OSMANAGIC: Here.. Concerning.. uhm.. mixing politics and this project, I can say only this. This year we have 200 days of research. Untill the end of October. Next year we have 200 days. The following year 200 days. This is a project that will go on for years and decades. And elections will come and go. Political establishments will come and go. My wish is, in fact, that this project has support of all political establishments, because I think that is in the interest of this country. However.. uhm.. the Foundation is a non-political, non-governmental, non-profit organization and it will not interfere with political.. uhm.. elections and..

ANCHOR: What if political elections interfere with the Foundation?

OSMANAGIC: How?

ANCHOR: By Sulejman Tihic coming to kiss you at.. [refering to the May 24 visit by 12 foreign ambassadors in Bosnia-Herzegovina, lead by Mr. Sulejman Tihic, the then President of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian Presidency, and the warm welcome by Mr. Semir Osmanagic on the Visocica hill plateau]

OSMANAGIC: First of all, Sulejman Tihic is the nominal chief of state and we were very proud that a chief of state made a visit to the archaeological site. After him, there were ambassadors..

ANCHOR: Do you think.. sorry for interrupting, do you think that this kiss will not be worth, I don’t know, a thousand votes in Visoko tomorrow? Because you’re not popular only in Visoko, but in that region, have you thought about that?

OSMANAGIC: No.

ANCHOR: Because then it, it’s worth a thousand votes.

OSMANAGIC: Well look, the pyramid was visited by dr. Haris Silajdzic too.. [Mr. Tihic’s presidential opponent in the October elections] ..so how about that? We sent out several invitations to dr. Zlatko Lagumdzija as well, who has not replied yet, most probably because of his other obligations, Mr. Dodik, etcetera. Therefore, uhm.. people who mean something, who are in the decision-making process surely must know.. uhm.. enough about this project. They are regularly informed, updated and I think it’s good that they come to the location so that they can.. uhm.. inform their partners accordingly, etcetera.”

Semir Osmanagic in radio-interview by Sarajevo-based Radio 202, June 16, 2006

After the above quoted inteview with Mr. Osmanagic, made in June this year, there is little room for any doubt about the perception of the Bosnian Pyramid Project in the eyes of the Foundation. The priorities are certainly not to rally relevant domestic and international archaeologists and other scientists, nor to produce detailed scientific reports that could be examined by the wider audience of skilled professionals. These are, obviously, not the people who mean anything in the eye of Mr. Osmanagic. Those who really do mean something are, apparently, the ones from the political establishment.

The inner structure of the Foundation indicates the same tendency – a project aimed at the economic, political and media establishments in Bosnia-Herzegovina, not at science of archaeology or geology.

Amela Odobasic

Ms. Odobasic is the spokesperson of the Archaeological Park: Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun Foundation. Just like Mr. Hadziahmetovic, she also works for the already mentioned Communications Regulatory Agency – as the agency’s spokesperson too – and has a fascinating biography [opens a Word document], which says that she earned a degree in Public Affairs at the PR Institute, London, England.

Jasna Ahmetspahic

Another Foundation's PR person, actually the author of the Foundation's PR strategy [link to download a Word document, saved from the Foundation web site before it was removed along with other similar documents and names this spring], Ms. Ahmetspahic, happens to also be the spokesperson of the Zenica-Doboj Canton government, and the author of the government's PR strategy [.pdf document] as well.

To remind the reader, the Visoko municipality belongs to the Zenica-Doboj canton, and the cantonal government, particularly its Prime Minister Mr. Miralem Galijasevic, has on many occasions expressed staunch support for Mr. Osmanagic. Amazingly, other Foundation’s projects – involving ‘magical stone spheres’ and ‘energetic megalithical temples’ – geographically all fall within this particular canton.

As a matter of fact, the cantonal government dedication to Mr. Osmanagic’s projects is so tight that the Prime Minister Galijasevic even gave the finger, so to speak, to the higher, federal level this March, when the Federal Ministry for Culture and Sport annulled the excavating permits that the Foundation obtained from the Institute to Protect Monuments. As the Sarajevo-based daily Avaz wrote, Mr. Galijasevic refused to issue the order to stop excavations on the Visocica hill.

Both the Zenica-Doboj Canton government and the cantonal Tourism Board are sponsors of the Bosnian Pyramid Project. And just how much the real cultural, archaeological and historical heritage matter to these People Who Mean Something can be illustrated with this example from the Tourism Board web site: the text refers to the remains of the late medieval royal coronation and burial church in Arnautovici, while the images refer to the early medieval basilica in the town of Breza. It doesn't matter if the real monuments get mixed up, or even ordinary hills with pyramids, as long as there's a (tax payers') buck to squeeze.

to be continued…

Of Elites And Establishments

 „In the history of archaeological explorations, not only in Bosnia or even Europe but in the entire world, a phenomenon of an exploration like this one has certainly never been previously recorded. Namely, here we do not speak of an elitistic project by several experts of a narrow research team, here we talk about an open project which started on completelly voluntary basis and, because of such honest approach, it united firstly the Bosnians and Herzegovinians around the world, and secondly a large number of other nations, people who want to participate in this project. The Foundation, which is the leader of these works, is a non-profit, non-governmental and non-political organization.“

Semir Osmanagic, in the Bosnian Federal Television series Search For The Pyramid, August 27 episode 

„ANCHOR: In your.. em.. books, you wrote about this pyramid of power.. on.. on the planet. Tell me now, here, this entire establishment, here, you call them the club, I would add the elitistic club, do you think they belong to one of those pyramids of power that you wrote about?

OSMANAGIC: Things that have been happening in the previous couple of thousands of years are not coincidental in any way. The permanent thing is the concentration of power and knowledge in practically the same hands. In the hands of the elite. And the way in which this elite functions to keep elitistic knowledge for itself, that is, to keep the majority from that knowledge. The majority is served what it needs to be served through media, through the education system, etcetera.“

Semir Osmanagic in radio-interview by Sarajevo-based Radio 202, June 16, commenting the letter warning the UNESCO about the Bosnian Pyramid Project, signed by international archaeologists, anthropologists, historians and geologists

Since the beginning, the creators of the Bosnian Pyramid Project have been presenting it with populist and proletarian rhetorics, calculated to appeal to the wider Bosnian-Herzegovinian population tired of the prevailing post-war corruption, poverty and increasing social differences. To appeal to the masses angry at corrupt political and intellectual elites in Bosnia-Herzegovina and to gain their approval and trust – and eventually their money – Mr. Semir Osmanagic has reached for a discourse well known from our communist period in the former Yugoslavia – intellectualism equals corruption and deceit, ignorant simplicity equals honor and honesty. The logo of the pyramid-believers is a showell accompanied with a paraphrasing of the former communist proletarian motto: Let’s digg to victory! Even the campaigns of volunteers’ digging the Visoko hills are reminiscent of the campaigns organized by the Yugoslav Communist Party after the world war II, only those campaigns – to be honest – were directed at useful things and social priorities: constructions of rail-roads, schools, hospitals, industry objects, etc. Therefore, it is not so surprising that Mr. Semir Osmanagic was, at some point during early summer this year, even compared to Josip Broz Tito by the local Visoko population.

Presenting himself as the man from the masses and of the masses, Mr. Semir Osmanagic has loudly and publicly attacked all opponents, primarily Bosnian-Herzegovinian experts, as Arm-Chair Elitists who live off the back of ordinary people. This Who’s Who will show that things are quite the other way around. We will see how the Bosnian Pyramid Project is, in fact, run by the state officials and people who belong to the (corrupt) Bosnian-Herzegovinian economic and political establishment. As the song says, meet the Flintstones.

Mahir Hadziahmetovic

But that is not all. Mr. Hadziahmetovic also happens to be the Vice-Chairman of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian Communications Regulatory Agency. This Agency “is an independent State institution with sole jurisdiction over telecommunications and broadcasting across the entire territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina.“ So, imagine you are a journalist or an editor of a Bosnian media outlet and you want to make a really detailed report about the Visoko phenomenon, with all kinds of different opinions, and perhaps interview some of Osmanagic's opponents. But then you remember that next month you have to renew your broadcasting licence at the CRA.

Last but not least, Mr. Hadziahmetovic is the Acting Director of the Petrol BH Oil Company, the Bosnian-Herzegovinian subsidiary of the Slovenian PETROL oil company. Today’s, November 27, news update on the Foundation web site says: “The investment sector delegation of the PETROL company from Ljubljana, lead by director Matjaz Martincic, has arrived to Visoko.” Why not? After all – check the Foundation sponsors list – PETROL is one of them.

Elma Kovacevic

If you’re not impressed with Mr. Hadziahmetovic, then you will most certainly be impressed with Ms. Elma Kovacevic. She is the relentless and most dedicated leader of the Foundation’s committee for relations with international institutions. But just like Mr. Hadziahmetovic, she too happens to be working - surprise! - for the Foreign Trade Chamber of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Here is how it works. Today’s news from the Foundation web site (the Bosnian version), for example, carry the following news:

If you’re wondering what is Ms. Elma Kovacevic actually doing on this fair in Albania, here’s your answer: she is there with a delegation of the Foreign Trade Chamber of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Actually, as the Chamber’s official, she organized the participation of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian companies in this fair (link opens a Word document in BCS). And of all those companies and projects, miraculously switching from the Chamber's into the Foundation representative, she is promoting the Pyramid Project to the Albanian Prime Minister.

One wonders whether these people know any more where the so-called “non-profit, non-governmental and non-political” Foundation stops and the Foreign Trade Chamber begins, and vice versa. One also wonders whether these people know that this kind of priviledged position abuse in some civilized countries constitutes a serious economic and political scandal.

At Le site d'Irna you can find an excellent summary of the Visoko valley geological features, explaining why they may look like parts of artificial structures to a layman's eye. Using many technical terms, Irna has writte