The alleged ‘Bosnian Pyramid’ shot back into the limelight last week, with the “First International Scientific Conference on the ‘Bosnian Valley of the Pyramids'” taking place from August 25th to 30th. Philip Coppens attended, and posted a detailed review of the event on his website.
To cut a long story short, the “Committee for Recommendation” concluded that there were important questions that should be answered about the site. This Committee had a number of archaeological heavyweights involved, including Egyptologist Dr Nabil Swelim, Dr Hassan El-Saady (historian and vice-dean of the Faculty of Arts at the Alexandria University) and Dr Mostafa El-Abbadi (historian and Founder of the modern Library in Alexandria (Bibliotheca Alexandrina):
The conclusions and recommendations were as follows: “We, the participants of the First International Scientific Conference “Bosnian Valley of the Pyramids” (ICBP 2008) conclude:
- Work at the archaeological location “Bosnian Valley of the Pyramids” in Visoko, Bosnia and Herzegovina, is an important geo-archaeological and epigraphical research that requires further multidisciplinary scientific research which should answer the origin of the Bosnian pyramidal hills and the extensive underground tunnel network as well as other archaeological sites in the vicinity;
- ICBP Conference recommends that Second International Scientific Conference about the Bosnian Valley of the Pyramids should be held in Sarajevo in two years (2010) and gather experts in pyramid research from all over the world;
- ICBP Conference introduce the initiative to establish Centre for Pyramid Studies with headquarter in Sarajevo;
- ICBP Conference recommends universities in Bosnia and Herzegovina to establish study at the graduate level for archaeology as a support to the research project ‘Bosnian Valley of the Pyramids’.”
We’ve reported previously that open-minded investigators such as Robert Schoch have concluded that the ‘pyramid’ is not man-made (see also Issue 6 of our free PDF magazine Sub Rosa for a full report), so this may perhaps mark a turn-around in the fortunes of Sam Osmanagic’s archaeological project. Certainly, the presence of some of these ‘big names’ is a boost for the prestige and credibility of his investigation of the ‘Bosnian Pyramids’ (Incidentally, I don’t agree with Filip’s summation that Robert’s investigation was an “unscientific dismissal”).
On the other hand, when Filip points out that Dr. Mohamed El-Anbaawy, one of the more critical members of the panel, argued that “much remains to be done in order to get satisfactory explanations for all geological and manmade features in the ‘Bosnian Pyramidal Region’”, I don’t read it as positively as Filip does (“satisfactory explanations” for “manmade features”?). Indeed, the cautious wording of the Committee’s conclusion (“geo-archaeological” etc) still suggests to me that the verdict on the ‘Bosnian Pyramids’ remains up in the air. I’m sure we can all agree though that there should be further objective investigation, free of mud-slinging and politics, to bring more clarity to the situation.
Anybody want to revise their vote?
