Bosnian hill is man made and might be primitive pyramid, geologist say

Photo: Bosnian hill is man made and might be primitive pyramid, geologist say

Barakata is the first expert from Egypt to visit the Visocica hill and offer an opinion on whether huge stone slabs excavated on the site could form the sloping sides of a massive step pyramid.

Semir Osmanagic, an amateur Bosnian archaeologist who has been investigating Latin American pyramids for 15 years, claimed last year that the Visocica hill, about 20 miles (30 kilometers) northwest of Sarajevo, is a pyramid. If correct, it would be the first ancient pyramid ever found in Europe.

Osmanagic's team, made up mainly of volunteers, began excavations last month on the 2,120-foot (650-meter) hill. The team found that Visocica has 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.

Osmanagic's theory has been disputed by a number of experts who claim that at no time in Bosnia's history has there been a civilization able to build monumental structures and that the hill is simply a weird natural formation, the AP reports.