Tuesday 27 March 2007

CONFRONTING PSEUDOARCHAEOLOGY IN BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA: NEW INITIATIVES

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.

 

Posted by stultitia at 13:06:10 | Permanent Link | Comments (18) |
Comments
1 - Hi,
the letter was also posted on "rogueclassicism" : http://www.atrium-media.com/rogueclassicism/Posts/00005646.html

Irna (Comment this)

Written by: Irna at 2007/03/27 - 14:59:38
2 - Thanx, Irna! Added :-) (Comment this)

Written by: Stultitia at 2007/03/27 - 15:19:34
3 - Scholars face threats for challenging an archaeological claim that has sparked national pride in a war-torn Bosnia

I dont know what this people want to achive with this letter. (They need to be clear what they want to achieve). They want only to be heard (we are here as well...). Everything is done legally with a permissions and diggings are being done where we did not expect to find archaeological sites before. These archaeologists should join a Foundation to speed-up a thing to share there knowledge but they are against it (scared of digging or what).
If they stop digging they will make a legend of the site.

This is typical bosnian mantality to be against changes. We forgive everything except being succesfull.(opositon to everything).


Check for more details www.bosnianpyramid.com
 (Comment this)

Written by: Mario Vrankic at 2007/03/27 - 15:29:40
4 - Mr. Vrankic, the letter of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian scientists is very specific on what they want to achieve - if you had bothered to take a look at the letter, you would've seen the four demands.

Bosnianpyramd.com is the pseudoarchaeological propaganda site associated with Osmanagic's Foundation. Furthermore, the money donated to the Foundation via the PayPal link on that and other similar sites go into private bank accounts of the Foundation coordinators.

What is being asked in these initiatives is the trasparency and accountability of all archaeological research in Bosnia-Herzegovina. It appears that scares the people associated with this pseudoarchaeological project more than anything else. (Comment this)

Written by: Stultitia at 2007/03/27 - 15:47:01
5 - Bosnian 'scientist'.
One of your scientists is ready to burn himself alive if they prove there is a pyramid. He told this on national TV b4 digging even started.
This 'scientist' is for mental hospital and he is the on who signed your letter. Mr Lovrenovic is in charge of Royal Town On Visocica Hill (because of his expertise this town does not exist anymore, disappered). He is doing nothing, only talk. Someone to be scientist and to come on TV to say clear and loud, this is MAD.
This kind of people are opposing MR Osmanagic, they are joke. All of them are in charge of fallen projects in Bosnia. Now they see chance for themslves because everybody is talking about archaeology (osmanagic made average people interested). If someone gives a money to foundaion who is charitable organisation, It's problem because It's Bosnia we are talking about. Everybody thinks about scam, nobody belives into fair-game.(country been through a lot recently in the 1990's)
Mr Osmanagic clearly invited your 'scientists' to come to help, NO they just talk. (typical Bosnia)
PayPal do not exist in Bosnia and only way to set-up account is through the private account in th EC. PayPal does not exist on the foundation site (You can use bank accounts to do that).

Guys we are here need to prove If this is genuine site or NOT. Your 'scientists' are just fighting for themselves to get some money. It's not Foundation problem if some museums do not have heating. Thats a problem of director of that institution. Bosnians are still in the Komunism they think someone else will do things If they raise a voice. (Comment this)

Written by: Mario Vrankic at 2007/03/27 - 22:55:14
6 - "Now they see chance for themslves because everybody is talking about archaeology (osmanagic made average people interested)."

You too have interested average people like in Kazahstan? I like, high five! (Comment this)

Written by: Borat at 2007/03/28 - 17:36:36
7 - Those people are respectable Prof's, but surely not good diplomats. The end of the letter sounds like an intimidation. You cannot set up a letter like this and send it to an important person like Mr. Schilling. Sorry to insist, but the cultural level those people is not very high. (Comment this)

Written by: Bob at 2007/03/29 - 11:46:25
8 - Cultural level ? and what is, pray, the cultural level of a man who says : "I do not believe that this was created by nature and the sceptic scientists who claim so should come here, make an experiment and prove it"? So the man is important ? yes he is, and all the more responsible for what he did, said, and let M. Osmanagic do and say using his name and position for his propaganda.
Irna
 (Comment this)

Written by: Irna at 2007/03/29 - 15:14:04 in reply to: 7
9 - Yeah, yeah, go ahead, sulk and split hair. Kleenex, anyone? Actually, from what can be heard unofficially, Mr. Schwarz-Schilling is rather angry that he has been set up like that by Osmanagic and the Foundation. Aparently he has not been told everything he should have known before he gave those statements of support. So, yeah, someone's cultural levels really need to be checked when trying to manipulate and instrumentalize an important person like Mr. Schilling.

Have a nice rest of the life, Bob and Mario. ;-) (Comment this)

Written by: Stultitia at 2007/03/29 - 15:14:50
10 - Dear Mrs. or Mr. Irna & Stultitia,

Please read again the end of the letter. It sounds like "Dear Mr. Schilling, the World risks another Nazi-invasion, if you don't stop it, you will be responsible for the consequences". Doing such War Proclamations about an archaeological finding is really exaggerated. It also gives a strong impression about priori mentality of the people who wrote the letter. If you like to compare yourselfs as "The Good Ones", well, it just means that Modesty is not your strong side.

Please don't jump down my throat. Thank you.

Best Regards
Bob from the U.S. (Comment this)

Written by: Bob at 2007/03/29 - 15:55:14
11 - Maybe, to stop the project, they can ask the NATO for Military Intervention?

link http://www.nato.int/



 (Comment this)

Written by: aframbelo at 2007/03/29 - 16:19:59 in reply to: 10
12 - Well, Mr. Bob from the US, the letter doesn't say "Dear Mr. Schilling, the World risks another Nazi-invasion", does it? Actually, it's very clear on why it ends in the sharp way it does. But I understand that some people might be disappointed now that this other, scientific side, got the same media space the pyramidiots have been monopolozing for a year and a half. So don't jum down your own throat - I haven't really seen any of your culturally concerned comments when it came to pyramidiotic claims and attitudes.

Stultitia (Comment this)

Written by: Stultitia at 2007/03/29 - 16:25:09
13 - Mr. Aframbelo, would you be so kind as to quote us the sentence from the letter that says: "The project has to be stopped."? Please, do humor us. (Comment this)

Written by: Stultitia at 2007/03/29 - 16:26:58
14 - "Mr. Aframbelo, would you be so kind as to quote us the sentence from the letter that says: "The project has to be stopped."? Please, do humor us."

Ohhh I see you won't stop the project (after several petitions promoted to stop it), you would like to stop the Foundation, I see. It means your strategies changed now and you admit they are pyramids in Bosnia.

Please do not humor others, because this seems more and more a big Zirkus. Yours is just HYPOCRISY! (Comment this)

Written by: aframbelo at 2007/03/30 - 11:31:17
15 - An interesting thing I noticed in people who have a thing for pseudoscience and conspiracy theories is that they always, at any cost, avoid direct quotations to support their claims and instead always interpret rather than just give a quote. LOL (Comment this)

Written by: Stultitia at 2007/03/30 - 14:32:43
16 - "An interesting thing I noticed in people who have a thing for pseudoscience and conspiracy theories is that they always, at any cost, avoid direct quotations to support their claims and instead always interpret rather than just give a quote. LOL"

Said by a PseudoSkeptic it must surely be true!

Where all this Hate comes from, I wonder...

Bob from the U.S. (Comment this)

Written by: Bob at 2007/04/01 - 16:35:22
17 - Oh, that's right, Bob! (slapping myself on the forehead) I just remebered reading something in Freud, saying that if one asks for a specific quote, it actually means a lot of suppressed hate and anger. You have yourself a great day now! ;-) (Comment this)

Written by: stultitia at 2007/04/02 - 12:34:36
18 - Bob, are you another of Semir’s henchman fighting the lost cause called Bosnian “pyramids” on various forums? It is interesting that you appear like mushrooms after a heavy rain whenever your pathetic project is in a deep s..t. Give up, son. Your time is almost up. Speaking of cultural levels, is the USA the country where George Bush is THE PRESIDENT, Mr. Bob from the USA?? Enough said, case closed. (Comment this)

Written by: Alchemist at 2007/04/02 - 16:02:33
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