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Can You Solve the Mystery of Bosnia's Pyramids?

The Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun in Visoko
The Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun in Visoko | © TheBIHLover

What if I told you that Bosnia is home to a complex of pyramids that make the Pyramids of Giza look like a child’s toy? Local archaeologist Semir Osmanagic makes this claim, and more. He says they’re at least 30,000 years old, 20,000 earlier than our accepted version of advanced human civilisation. But, the scientific community is sceptical, and I was too.

But then I saw the Bosnian Pyramids with my own eyes.

The Bosnian Pyramid from a distance

What are the Bosnian Pyramids?

They’re a complex of five pyramids or hills (depending on which side of the argument you fall on) in a small town 30 kilometres (18.5 miles) northwest of Sarajevo.

The Pyramid of the Sun reaches a height of 220 metres (722 feet). Giza is tiny in comparison, at just 147 metres (482 feet). Others include the Pyramid of the Moon, Love, Earth and the Dragon. However, archaeologists claim this to be a complete hoax by Dr Semir Osmanagic, in order to secure funding and drive tourism to Bosnia after the devastating events of the Bosnian War in the 1990s. Scientists say they’re just hills. Excavations began in 2005.

The Claims

Carbon dating of organic fossils found inside the excavated chambers suggest the pyramids’ age to be approximately 30,000 years old (an error of +/- 400 years). Our current understanding puts the earliest human civilisations at 10,000 years ago.

Like the Egyptian Pyramids, the Bosnian ones orient to the cosmic north. But, they’re 15 times more accurate than the Pyramid of Giza, with an outstanding error of just 0 degrees and 12 seconds. The peaks of the Sun, Dragon, and Moon also form a perfect equilateral triangle.

Overlapping layers of concrete on the surface of the Sun appear to be deliberate for structural integrity. Tests in Bosnian, Italian, and French labs confirm the concrete is ‘not of natural origin’, and has a ‘strength and water resistance superior to known material’.

The best quality concrete in the world at 134 megapascals?

Electromagnetic beams come from the peak of the Bosnian Pyramids, and get stronger as it extends further away. Ionisation levels in the underground chambers that extend for several kilometres are also much higher than outside. Osmanagic says they even have healing properties. Tests show these phenomena don’t exist in areas away from the pyramids.

The Scepticism

Almost all of the scientific community have debunked Osmanagic’s claims as pseudoscience. Visoko’s Hills, they say, are natural. The pyramid shape comes from surreptitious and deliberate excavations. And Europe was in the midst of an ice age 30,000 years ago, making the region uninhabitable. Further speculation of extra-terrestrial involvement in their construction also attract scepticism.

What Do You Think?

On the one hand, the whole concept of an ancient civilisation creating the strongest concrete ever and building giant structures 30,000 years ago seems implausible. On the other, the probability of a natural phenomenon or hand-carved pyramids so aligned with the north and each other is colossal.

If this turns out to be true, it will revolutionise our current understanding of human civilisation. Osmanagic says the scientific community won’t accept the facts because everything they know about human civilisation would be wrong.

The Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun’s information board

The Bosnian Pyramids

Statistically, they seem unlikely to be natural. Scientifically, they seem too dubious to be true. The world isn’t going to agree anytime soon. See the Bosnian Pyramids with your own eyes and make up your mind.

About the author

Sam is a self-confessed travel addict who loves exploring the places most tourists don’t covering just over a third of the world's countries to date. When he’s not travelling, he’s writing. When he’s not writing, Sam follows his other passions in life: long distance running and reading.

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