AP Photo: Semir Osmanagic, an amatuer archaeologist points to the geometrically cut stone blocks, at the excavations...
Posted on 04/19/2006 9:14:14 PM PDT by Flavius
VISOKO, Bosnia-Herzegovina - Researchers in Bosnia on Wednesday unearthed the first solid evidence that an ancient pyramid lies hidden beneath a massive hill — a series of geometrically cut stone slabs that could form part of the structure's sloping surface. ADVERTISEMENT click here
Archaeologists and other experts began digging into the sides of the mysterious hill near the central Bosnian town of Visoko last week. On Wednesday, the digging revealed large stone blocks on one side that the leader of the team believes are the outer layer of the pyramid.
"These are the first uncovered walls of the pyramid," said Semir Osmanagic, a Bosnian archaeologist who studied the pyramids of Latin America for 15 years.
Osmanagic said Wednesday's discovery significantly bolsters his theory that the 650-meter (2,120-foot) hill rising above the small town of Visoko is actually a step pyramid — the first found in Europe.
"We can see the surface is perfectly flat. This is the crucial material proof that we are talking pyramids," he said.
Osmanagic believes the structure itself is a colossal 220 meters (722 feet) high, or a third taller than Egypt's Great Pyramid of Giza.
The huge stone blocks discovered Wednesday appear to be cut in cubes and polished.
"It is so obvious that the top of the blocks, the surface is man made," Osmanagic said. He plans to continue the work throughout the summer, "after which the pyramid will be visible," he said.
Earlier research on the hill, known as Visocica, found that it has perfectly shaped, 45-degree slopes pointing toward the cardinal points, and a flat top. Under layers of dirt, workers discovered a paved entrance plateau, entrances to tunnels and large stone blocks.
Satellite photographs and thermal imaging revealed two other, smaller pyramid-shaped hills in the Visoko Valley.
Last week's excavations began with a team of rescue workers from a nearby coal mine being sent into a tunnel believed to be part of an underground network connecting the three pyramid-shaped hills.
They were followed by archeologists, geologists and other experts who emerged from the tunnel later to declare that it was certainly man-made.
The work will continue for about six months at the site just outside Visoko, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) northwest of the capital, Sarajevo. Two experts from Egypt are due to join the team in mid-May.
"It will be a very exciting archaeological spring and summer," Osmanagic said.
AP Photo: Semir Osmanagic, an amatuer archaeologist points to the geometrically cut stone blocks, at the excavations...
Pointy Old Stones Ping
Was Sophia not attributed as being an Egyptian Queen?
I always thought that hill looked a little shady...
Isn't Sophia a Greek word, meaning wisdom, and deemed a saint in the Orthodox church? (There's a church called St. Sophia.)
Archaeologists and other experts began digging... Semir Osmanagic, an amatuer archaeologistAs a fellow amateur archaeologist, I feel the need to point out that this "pyramid" and these "cubes" and "blocks" are just natural in origin.
I agree. I looked at all nineteen of the photos in the slide show and saw nothing man-made except for the excavations and the stuff they were adding. I saw stones that were glacier honed... but not tooled.
Yeah, I think these guys are running plays from the "Hey I found an Ark on Mt. Ararat now gimme some money so I can go back!" playbook.
Is some old gaffer from the village going to, anyday now, say, "oh, that? My dad & his buddies dug that in 1939, as an air raid shelter."
Perhaps older, but still military, considering the history of the Balkans.
Root cellar...BIG root cellar?
If I'm wrong, then all those flat, geometrically shaped "cut & polished" slabs of limestone screwing up otherwise perfectly good fields on our ranch are "Indian ceremonial dance floor pavings". Not sure where the 'associated tunnel' goes, as the opening is a bit tight for me to squeeze through...and I never know if Mr. Bobcat is home or not. :)
well this is balkans lets not get lost in all this scientific talk
But, they have a cute girl on site ~ all those men, and still they were able to attract a cute girl.
A couple of more suggestive pics here:
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/060419/481/sar10104191351
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/060419/481/sar10504191403
Yeah, we looked at all of them in the slide show last night, and could only conclude, "cut, fitted, & polished so precisely that you can't get a knife blade between them."
We also marveled at the innovative, diagonal-course technique of laying giant stone blocks to form a pyramid. It is so much more challenging than laying flat courses. It is also obviously easier, as all you have to do is soap the top surface of the last stone, and instantly have a ramp to slide the next stone up! Wonder why the Egyptians never thought of that?
Some, especially the one (#2, IIRC) taken from the top, looked more like a zig-zag trail up the hill.
:')
The World of the MayaI mentioned earlier the Maya "keepers of knowledge" who are even today left on the planet. In the book "The Mayan Factor" (by Dr.José Arguelles, 1987), I came across this: In the beginning of 1985 I was contacted by a Maya by the name of Humbatz Men. In our conversations I learned that he was using seventeen different Mayan calendars. Archeologists know about only six of them. I met Humbatz finally in Boulder, Colorado where he was giving a lecture entitled "the Astronomy of the Maya." The key part of his presentation and his knowledge was given in his concluding remarks. Humbatz stated that our solar system is the seventh such system which has been mapped by the Maya so far.
by Sam Osmanagich
[English version]
linked from...
Sancta Sophia in Istanbul was the greatest church in Christendom until Constantinople fell to the Ottomans. The name (in that context at least) doesn't refer to an actual "saint" but to "holy wisdom" or "divine wisdom."
"The Church of the Divine Wisdom."
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