Piramida (Bosnian Pyramids)

So OK, you are wondering what I am doing talking about Pyramids when I am so far from Egypt (Egipat in Bosnian), but you might be suprised to learn that there are pyramids in Bosnia and they are the only pyramids in Europe (take that, snobby western europe!)! [OK, I have just received a comment form someone reading my blog that is studying other European pyramids, and there ARE other ones. To learn more, you can see her website at www.european-pyramids.net. thanks Gabriela for correcting this misinformation I was given].

A few years ago an archaeologist was visiting Bosnia and saw these hills that looked just like the right geometry to be pyramids... and everyone laughed him out the door. But he persevered and eventually they started excavating and doing geometric measurements and found out that under these hills (which people live on!) are actually several pyramids from 12,000 years ago!


Here you can see some hills which are actually pyramids: the biggest one is the pyramid of the sun and the smaller one to the left and a bit closer is the pyramid of love. So... not only are they there, they are also laid out in a perfect grometric pattern, so the three main ones actually form a triangle between them. Each pyramid had a 60 degree angle going up, and they are all oriented to north-south, east-west. The north sides all face the north star. In one of them, they have found some hieroglyphs that may be the oldest sample of European writing! Amazing!

This hill is actually not a hill or a pyramid. They believe it is a temple and they call it ˝The Temple of Mother Earth.˝ This whole area is called ˝The Valley of the Pyramids.˝

So there is the pyramid of the sun (Piramida Sunca) which is the biggest one, over 220 meters (like 700 feet). It is 1/3 taller than the Great Pyramid in Egypt (take that, Egyptians!).

Getting there requires a very long uphill walk (after walking very far out of the small town Visoko) and climbing many stairs! You have to earn the view of the pyramid! Actually, I was climbing up stairs for so long I was so tired and I came upon these people sitting in the shade who asked if I needed help. I said I was looking for the pyramid and they laughed. ˝You are walking on it!˝

One of them volunteered to me my guide and showed me the stuff there was to see (which was good, because otherwise I would have climbed all those stairs and would have ˝missed˝ the pyramid!). After we finished, she asked me for my comments and took my photo to put up on the website, which ia apparantly www.piramidasunca.ba (see if you see me!)

She showed me where they have excavated and found blocks and plates made from a material similar to concrete but apparantly much stronger than our modern stuff. I saw where they had 7 layers excavated and I could tell this was definately the work of human hands, not nature!

There is a huge crack that they found (which is like a natural air conditioner-- at least 20 degrees cooler in there!).

There is a room inside the the crack in the pyramid which I guess the archaeologists have gone in to and found air ducts and 90 degree angles forming the walls, ceilings, and floors. More evidence it was made by people.



Here is me with some of the blocks and plates that were excavated. You see how I would have just thought they were big rocks without my guide!







Nearby is the Pyramid of the Moom (Piramida Mjesaca) which is made of sandstone. Another collossal hike up to the spot they have excavated, but much cooler looking than the other excavation.

Here you can see the bricks that form part of the pyramid (with some kind of ˝shadowy˝ person also sneaking in to the photo.

More bricks!


So it was a pretty neat day trip (the town of Visoko is only thirty kilometers away from Sarajevo) and now I can honestly say I did not spend my entire three weeks here in Sarajevo.


Me with sandstone excavation in background!

Under these haystacks are also pyramids!



Just kidding! They are only haystacks.