Thursday, March 20, 2008

The Bosnian Pyramids of the Sun



It must be only a coincidence, but after I've started to read Zlata's Diary, a journey of a 12-year-old girl from Sarajevo during the days of shells and destruction, I've been finding a lot of interesting stuff about the city in other books and mags.
The last one, was about the Bosnian Pyramids of the Sun. It is in Dazed and Confused latest issue. I've got impressed to know that there's a pyramid bigger than the one in Egypt in the middles of the Balkans and the archeologists just realize that years ago.

"Visoko is named after the Visoki Castle and the town of Visoki, which occupied Visočica hill, Podvisoki, Mile (today's Arnautovići), Biskupići and Moštre — together known as Visoko valley. Visoki and its castle were the center of the once powerful medieval Bosnian kingdom. Many historical charters were made and written in Visoko valley, including the charter of first Bosnian king Tvrtko I Kotromanić in 1355, in castro nostro Vizoka vocatum.
A site known as Visočica hill, in the Bosnia-Herzegovina town of Visoko, northwest of Sarajevo, became the focus of international attention in October 2005, following highly controversial claims that it is actually an ancient man-made pyramid, the so-called Bosnian pyramids."
2The 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 Houston-based expatriate Bosnian author and metalworker 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. Osmanagić has claimed that the dig involved an international team of archaeologists from Australia, Austria, Bosnia, Scotland and Slovenia, however many archaeologists named have stated they had not agreed to participate and were not at the site. The dig began in April 2006."