Bosnian pyramids

The Bosnian pyramids are a bunch of hills in Bosnia and Herzegovina that rose to international notoriety in 2005 after Semir Osmanagić, a Bosnian businessman who runs a company in Texas, proclaimed them to be man-made pyramids. Much to the dismay of the international archaeological community, he enjoys some support by the Bosnian government who gave him permission to excavate the site and partially funded the "expedition."

Fiction over fact
Pseudohistory
How it didn't happen
v - t - e
“”These are the pioneer steps which can turn the wheel of history in some other direction.
—Semiha Borovac, mayor of Sarajevo, while visiting the site.

The main claim is about the 213-metre (699 ft) Visočica hill, near the town of Visoko (various maps and satellite imagery), which according to Osmanagić is a buried pyramid, "The Pyramid of the Sun." Other nearby hills are "Pyramid of the Moon" and "Pyramid of the (Bosnian) Dragon." The so-called "pyramids" are in fact the product of tectonic uplift. Furthermore, Osmanagić used a backhoe for part of the excavation, conveniently shaping the earth into a more pyramid-like appearance (and simultaneously undertaking one of the least professional archaeological excavations ever).

In 2006 Robert SchochFile:Wikipedia's W.svg (known for promoting alternative Sphinx theories and alternate historical chronologies) examined the pyramids at Osmanagić's request, and in a stopped clock moment concluded that the site held "absolutely no evidence of pyramids per se or of a great ancient civilization in the Visoko region".[1]

If the above crankery wasn't enough, Osmanagić decided to throw in some crystal skullduggery "quartz head skull technology" too, just to make certain that no one should mistake his crank magnetism for an example of Poe's Law.[2] Amazingly, Osmanagić managed to get this published in his 2007 Ph.D. thesis — in Political Science — by presenting it as part of a sociological comparative study of the (lack of) technology in Mayan and modern (Western) civilizations.[3] Adding to his store of crank magnetism, Osmanagić apparently also subscribes to other pseudohistorical nonsense surrounding the various (actual) pyramids, e.g. the ancient astronauts claptrap, but also peddles wholly unrelated pseudohistory, such as a claim that Antarctic dwelling Nazis really control everything,[4] as well as a grab bag of other assorted nuttery involving Freemasonry conspiracies, Atlantis myths, and he even cites crank extraordinaire David Icke with approval.[5]

In September 2016, Jason Colavito wrote on his blog that Osmanagić was now claiming that his Bosnian "pyramids" possessed the same kind of wootastic powers that New Agers have ascribed to the genuine, Egyptian variety.[6]

Mainstream

References
  1. http://download.dailygrail.com/subrosa/SubRosa_Issue6-Spread.pdf
  2. Jason Colavito, September 19th, 2015: Andrew Collins Claims to Have Found the Earliest Depiction of Gobekli Tepe in Art
  3. No, it's not a joke, sadly.
  4. Jason Colavito, March 9th, 2014 Review of The Unexplained Files' Segment on the So-Called Bosnian Pyramids
  5. June 12th, 2006 entry on Osmanagić on a site dedicated to (debunking) the Bosnian and other pyramid schemes, Semir Osmanagic: Archaeologist, adventurer, businessman, crank?
  6. Jason Colavito, September 29th, 2016: Sam Osmanagich Claims Bosnian "Pyramids" Have New Age Magical Healing Powers
This article is issued from Rationalwiki. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.