UNEARTHING EUROPE'S OLDEST PYRAMID COMPLEX (3)

Philip Coppens

Investigating the pyramids' construction
So, what is the Bosnian Valley of the Pyramids? The Pyramid of the Sun, which dominates the skyline over Visoko, has been the main focus of investigations. The structure does not merely look man-made, but with a height of 220 metres it is much higher than the Great Pyramid of Giza and thus would be the tallest pyramid in the world.
As is the case with the Great Pyramid, each side of the Visocica Pyramid of the Sun is perfectly aligned with the cardinal points. Indeed, as one approaches Visoko, it is hard to believe that it took until 2005 before someone seriously pondered the notion that the hill could be a pyramid. In fact, in 1984, one local author, Pavao Andelic, referred to Visocica as a "town pyramid", but nothing further was done to investigate the claim.
The bottom of the Visocica Pyramid has been built upon, and the streets of Visoko are extremely steep. Most interestingly, Osmanagic was told early on in his research that several home-owners in Visoko had wanted to build cellars but could not because of a cement-like layer hidden approximately one metre below the surface. During the civil war of the 1990s, it was reported that the hill resonated when hit by artillery fire: whereas artillery impact normally produced a sound that lasted one to two seconds, when it hit the hill it created a type of echo that lasted five to six seconds. It was clear that the hill had something unusual about it.
The most visited excavation site, about one-third of the way up the hill, has revealed the presence of large blocks of conglomerate between 50 and 100 centimetres below the surface. Similar excavations have been conducted on the other sides of the pyramid; in each case, a layer of this conglomerate has been found just below the surface. It has been suggested that the entire hill once had a six-metre-thick covering of conglomerate.
Just next to the main "tourist" site, however, the surface layer, comprising approximately 40-80 cm of sand, has been removed over a much bigger area to reveal a uniform, cement-like (conglomerate) coating. This coating leaves little doubt in the eyes of the visitor that it is indeed man-made. However, none of the sceptics has ever referred to this section; instead, they've focused on the much smaller and less interesting site nearby.
As mentioned, Egyptian geologist Dr Ali Barakat has concluded that these blocks are man-made. Moreover, laboratory analysis results from the Civil Engineering Institute of Tuzla, made public by geophysicist Dr Enes Ramovic in September 2006, have determined that the cement comprising these blocks had been poured in situ. In addition, a biology expert has maintained that the experiment of planting trees on the hill 40 years ago should be deemed a failure, as the tree roots have not been able to penetrate the conglomerate (cement) layer. He argued that this suggests the layer is man-made, as tree roots normally have no problem penetrating natural rock.
Furthermore, with renewed interest in Visocica, the ancient Bosnian city on its summit has recently been excavated. Here, it is clear that the layer of conglomerate (cement) found lower down the slope goes all the way to the top. Inside the structure, holes had been dug so that posts could be erected, either for roofs or for a mezzanine type of floor.
The western side of the pyramid was partially excavated by the Pyramid Foundation in 2006. Here, too, the team found large rectangular slabs just under the surface, as well as clearly man-made stone structures on the slope of the plateau. The overall impression is of a paved access plateau to the pyramid-a plateau which measures no less than 420 metres in length.
Work of a different nature on Visocica has been carried out by Russian scientist Oleg Khavroshkin, of the Schmidt Institute of Earth Physics at the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow. He performed a geophysical analysis between 20 July and 4 August 2007. These scans suggested "...the existence of hollow cavities below the ground.. These inhomogeneities were registered at Vratnice, Pljesivica [Pyramid of the Moon] and the tunnels. In the vicinity of the well shaft at the Pyramid of the Moon, clusters of frequencies were observed, resulting probably from such nonhomogenous cavities." In short, potential chambers.Dr Muris Osmanagic, one of Bosnia's most eminent mining engineers and professors (as well as the father of Sam Osmanagic), has concluded in his book, About the Cultural Layer of the Bosnian Pyramid Builders, that "...the only possible and rational solution is that the great Pyramid of the Sun was a natural hill (composed of clay marl), modified into a pyramid. In such a case, the coating layer of concrete blocks make[s] up 6.28 per cent of the body of the pyramid, composed of clay marl, or 2,6 mln m3 [2.6 million cubic metres], [on a par with] the volume of the Khufu Pyramid stone blocks. This was already within the realm of the possible for this then highly developed civilisation."
Finally, a bit of theatre was produced when historian Dubravko Lovrenovic, who heads the Bosnia- Herzegovina Commission for the Preservation of National Monuments, stated on federal public television that he would burn himself alive on top of Visocica if it turned out to be a pyramid! Later, he denied he'd ever said this, but with the help of Gavrilo Grahovac, the Federal Minister of Culture and Sports, he stopped all excavation on the Pyramid of the Sun-perhaps to make sure he didn't have to commit suicide in such a public manner?

More pyramid discoveries
Indeed, there is more than one pyramid here. So far, possibly seven pyramids have been identified, though only two have been archaeologically explored. "Only" 190 metres high and situated lower in the valley is the Pyramid of the Moon. The foot of this pyramid has become a second showcase of the Pyramid Foundation's work. Here, excavations show a type of "floor" lying on sandstone, followed by a second layer in approximately one-metre-high steps. Nearby, the team probed the location where two faces of the pyramid meet and found a free-standing stone structure. It is but one fortuitous discovery in a series of enigmatic findings.
Extensive excavations on the top of the Pyramid of the Moon have revealed the same type of "flooring". Archaeologists uncovered a layer of topsoil with natural layers of sandstone below, but separating both is a thin layer of rectangular stone blocks that look similar in size to modern paving slabs. In substance, they look as if they were poured and laid side by side. Interestingly, some are broken, but these fractures are always random; their "original shape" is always rectangular. Whether they are natural or man-made remains a subject of intense debate, but, if natural, it is clear that this is one of the oddest geological formations on Earth, say leading geologists.
Austrian researcher Gabriele Lukacs has found that next to the Pyramid of the Moon, right on a bank of the Fojnica River, there is a quarry with an excellent example of perfectly cut sandstone blocks still sticking out of the quarry wall. That the sandstone blocks used in the pyramids were therefore cut by humans is the likeliest explanation.
The Pyramid Foundation team has identified other potential sites of interest in the valley. One is the Pyramid of the Dragon, which together with the pyramids of the Moon and the Sun makes a perfect equilateral triangle when lines are drawn connecting the apex of each pyramid, each side having a length of 2,173 metres. No work has been carried out on this third potential pyramid due to the presence of land mines on its slope, but it is clear that nature rarely creates such perfect triangles-especially not when the structures consist of three-dimensional triangles: pyramids.
Furthermore, observations by engineer Goran Cakic have revealed that there is also a "solar show" occurring between the pyramids of the Sun and the Moon. On 21 June 2008, he observed that the shadow of the Pyramid of the Sun at noon formed a "parallel pyramid" of the same height next to the Pyramid of the Moon. Even more interesting is that on 20 August, between 18:30 and 19:30, the Pyramid of the Sun's shadow touched the entire Pyramid of the Moon. Coincidence, perhaps, but more likely design-perhaps part of a sacred light show that typifies many ancient cultures. Opinions vary as to whether or not these hills are "pyramid hills" or natural, but, as previously mentioned, a substantial body of scientists now agrees that they have been artificially enhanced.