Ancient Pyramid of Bosnia

In October 2005 the Ancient Pyramid of Bosnia which is located in Visoko, a northwest town of Sarajevo, Visocica Hill received worldwide publication when Semir Osmanagic a Bosnian-American explorer announced sensational news that the hill was actually a huge man-made pyramid, dating back around 12,000 years to the last ice age. Osmanagic says the hill's excavations have revealed a narrow entrance (thought to be 2.4 miles (3.8km) long) to what could be an underground network of tunnels. The satellite photographs and thermal imaging showed two other, smaller pyramid-shaped hills in the Visocica Hill, which archaeologists believe the tunnels could lead to. Based on anthropologists research data, they also found evidence of 7,000 year old settlements. Other archaeologists from German found around 24,000 Neolithics artifacts one meter below surface ground.

During excavations on the site, Osmanagic's team found huge blocks of stone, probably from the tunnels or outer layer of the pyramid. The archaeologists team speculated it could be a ventilation shafts of the structure. Osmanagic believes the hill is man-made, one-third much taller than the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt,and has named it “the Pyramid of the Sun” due to it’s similarity with the Sun Pyramid at Teotihuacan city, Mexico. Osmanagic says there is a complex of ancient structures on the excavation site, including the Temple of Earth, the Bosnian Pyramid of Love, the Bosnian Pyramid of the Dragon, and the Bosnian Pyramid of the Moon.

A tourist industry has booming around the magnificent discoveries in Visocica Hill, with souvenir models of the pyramid already available shortly after the worldwide publication. However, there is growing unease among archaeologists throughout the world about the genuineness of the discovery. Many archaeologists believe that Osmanagic's findings are actually the remains of Roman and medieval structures on the hill. Professor Anthony Harding, president of the European Association of Archaeologists, who visited the site, believes the hill to be a natural formation. Harding has expressed his disbelief at the idea that the Upper Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers who roamed the area at the end of the last ice age would have had the time, resources, or inclination to construct such a vast edifice.

 Bosnian Pyramid, Visocica Hill in 1973

Some of Osmanagic's claims certainly demonstrate a lack of knowledge of European prehistory. For example, his statement that Visocica Hill "is actually Europe's first pyramid in the heart of Bosnia" is untrue. There are at least 16 examples of pyramids in Greece, the oldest being the pyramid of Hellinikon, located southwest of Athens in the Argolid. Although this pyramid has been dated to 2720 B.C., some archaeologists dispute these results, and believe a date at the end of the fourth century B.C. more likely. In appearance, the Greek pyramids resemble those at Giza in Egypt, though they are much smaller in size.

A report by the Egyptologist named Nabil Mohamed Abdel Swelim was published by the Archaeological Park in 2007, which claimed that the Pyramid of the Sun in Bosnia, was the largest pyramid in the wolrd. After a couple visits to Visoko, he finally released a report in 2007, which was concluded: "Arguments in favour or in disfavour have no effect on the fact that the pyramid concept and the properties are there for everyone to see". However in 2010 he reported that he doesn't said that the pyramid is man-made, but he was use the term natural or artificial, which is a geometrical-shaped pyramid. He does not exclude the possibility it's man-made.

Sources:
Hidden History: “Lost Civilizations, Secret Knowledge, and Ancient Mysteries” by Brian Haughton;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosnian_pyramids;
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4912040.stm

Pic Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1973_Visoko.jpg