2008, archaeology versus pseudo-archaeology


This section's articles

Saturday 11 October 2008
by irna

Translations of this article: [français]

Of transparency and scientific integrity

Mr. Osmanagic’s "Archaeological Park: Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun" Foundation claims that its work is "transparent" (en) (see also its statutes (bs)). One particularly notable example of this "transparency" and scientific integrity is that of the report by the archaeologist Andrew Lawler. I have (...)
Monday 22 September 2008
by irna

Translations of this article: [français]

Tunnels, fossilized wood and radiocarbon dating

So, the great "international scientific conference" (en) that Mr. Osmanagic organized in Sarajevo has come to an end; the Chinese archaeologists talked about the Chinese pyramids, the Egyptian archaeologists talked about the Egyptian pyramids... and Mr. Osmanagic’s associates gave their usual (...)
Saturday 13 September 2008
by irna

Translations of this article: [français]

One more, one less...

One more Mr. Osmanagic definitely has no luck with the archaeologists. He could not obtain, from the few Egyptian archaeologists and egyptologists he managed to invite to his "international scientific conference" (en), more than a few vague conclusions (en) saying that it is necessary to (...)
Tuesday 26 August 2008
by irna

Translations of this article: [français]

Some thoughts about Dr. Nabil Swelim’s report

After Dr. Barakat’s report in November 2007, a second report from Egypt about the "Bosnian pyramids" was published in March 2008 by the team of Mr. Osmanagic’s Foundation. This one is Dr. Nabil Swelim’s report (en), written in February 2008 following his visit to Bosnia from the 30th August to the (...)
Saturday 16 August 2008
by irna

Translations of this article: [français]

"What happened to the objective and unbiased journalism?"

"WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OBJECTIVE AND UNBIASED JOURNALISM?" was the title of an article published on Mr. Osmanagic’s Foundation website (en) in December 2007. It was an attack on the journalist Vuk Bacanovic, of the magazine BHDani (bs), following the publication of articles disclosing various (...)
Thursday 14 August 2008
by irna

Translations of this article: [français]

Beneath contempt

Beneath contempt: what other way is there of describing the events of the last few days at Visoko? As can be seen here, during the night of 6th-7th of August, the excavations of the mediaeval fortress of Visoki, at the top of the hill of Visocica, which Mr. Osmanagic persists in describing as (...)
Monday 11 August 2008
by irna

Translations of this article: [français]

The fortress that just wouldn’t go away…

«There’s nothing up there at all! Not so much as one stone on top of another! When the Turks burned it to the ground 500 years ago, they left nothing standing.» These were the words that, whilst giving a presentation about the  “pyramids” of Visoko at the end of the summer of 2006, Mr. Semir (...)
Saturday 26 April 2008
by irna

Translations of this article: [français]

In which the "proto-Bosnian" alphabet is mentioned again

Readers will perhaps recall that one of the most outlandish claims of Semir Osmanagic’s Foundation was the discovery of certain symbols in the Ravne Tunnel, three kilometres from the Pyramid of the Sun. Muris Osmanagic, their "finder", considers them to be a proto-Bosnian alphabet, "the ancestor (...)
Wednesday 13 February 2008
by irna

Frauds, myths and mysteries: Feder on "Bosnian pyramids"

Extracts from Kenneth L. Feder’s book, "Frauds, myths and mysteries - Science and Pseudoscience in Archeology", sixth edition, pages 276-278. Pyramids in Bosnia? The charismatic archaeologist, expedition leader, project director, fund-raiser, and author, Semir Osmanagic (in his day job, he’s a (...)
Sunday 10 February 2008
by irna

Translations of this article: [français]

Brick-a-brac...

In lack of "scientific reports", quite rare these last months (and that’s not surprising, see here), and in lack of new "discoveries", the Foundation website doesn’t offer these days, beside some promotional material about Mr. Osmanagic’s presentations, more than a few revivals of old photographs: (...)
Wednesday 30 January 2008
by irna

Translations of this article: [français]

In search of the lost reports

This was the title of an article published on the 11th of January 2008, in the Bosnian magazine BHDani, by Vuk Bacanovic. It seems that the magazine was sent some interesting documents, ones that Mr. Osmanagic would probably have preferred never to be made public. Below appears a translation (...)
Thursday 24 January 2008
by irna

A correspondence with Dr. Barakat

About a month after the publication of this article (en) on my website, containing a few comments about Dr. Aly Barakat’s report, I received a mail from the Egyptian geologist. Following this first contact ensued an interesting correspondence that I publish here, of course with Dr. Barakat’s (...)

News items

My favourite howlers 11

Monday 2 May 2011

From Mensur Omerbashich, King of Bosnia and other realms:

"Gravity is found herein to be the repulsive mechanical vibration of the aether, meaning that aether-detection experiments have yet to become sensitive enough."

"To test my claim I propose a Space mission to collect on-site measurements of eigenperiods of the Sun, its planets, and their satellites."

My favourite howlers 10

Wednesday 16 February 2011

From Nenad Djurdjevic, alias "Hyperborean", trying to explain why the Turin Polytechnic report has never been published:

"To reveal the chemical composition of the high strength concrete of the Bosnian pyramids would be like revealing the formula for Coca-Cola. I do not think that Osmanagic, who is an excellent businessman, would be so naive and stupid as to do so. Just imagine the value of this formula in construction."

My favourite howlers 9

Wednesday 16 February 2011

From Paolo Debertolis, alias "Pablito", dentist and big fan of pseudoscience, about his interlocutor who was trying to understand why the "reports" from the Foundation were not translated or not published:

«Ma come medico credo che il problema sia da ricercare da qualche altra parte e sia di natura psicologica.»
«But as a doctor I think the problem is to be found somewhere else and is psychological in nature.»

My favourite howlers 8

Wednesday 16 February 2011

From Mrs. Sabina Alikadic, journalist, today Mr. Osmanagic’s wife, in an email to her future husband:

"So, we’re cheating for the sake of truth :)"

My favourite howlers 7

Wednesday 16 February 2011

From Dr. Muhamed Pasic, who needed one year to study samples of sandstone from the "pyramid of the Moon":

"I came to very important results, on which basis I conclude that it is a sediment of siliceous origin."