April 20, 2006—Could this hill be hiding Europe's first known pyramid?
Amateur archaeologist Semir Osmanagic recently announced that he has uncovered proof that a four-sided hill in the town of Visoko, Bosnia, is an ancient manmade structure.
On Wednesday Osmanagic said he and his team unearthed large, cut stone slabs on a side of the hill that form the outer surface of an ancient pyramid (see inset photo).
"These are the first uncovered walls of the pyramid," Osmanagic told the Associated Press. "We can see the surface is perfectly flat. This is the crucial material proof that we are talking pyramids."
The discovery comes at the beginning of a six-month excavation at the site. The Bosnian-born Osmanagic hopes the dig will support his theory that an ancient people built a 722-foot (220-meter) step pyramid there some 12,000 years ago.
Last week the dig team, along with geologists and rescue workers from a nearby coal mine, also began exploring a tunnel under the 2,210-foot (650-meter) hill that Osmanagic believes may lead to two similarly shaped hills nearby.
Egyptian scientists are scheduled to join the excavation in about a month to offer their expertise.
"It will be a very exciting archaeological spring and summer," Osmanagic said.
—Blake de Pastino
Accueil 
