Move over Egypt, Europe�s pyramids are older and bigger!

I'm not convinced about this pyramid thing. I have to agree with Voyager here. I also think this 'pyramid' is more of a giant mound construction, common in Europe in "those days". These mounds seem to be a lot bigger than mounds seen before though. But they look more like mounds than pyramids anyways. I'm not saying this this be annoying or negative (just as a pointer).

But keep the debate going. It's interesting.

Mila

No, I am not Cetnik, Serb or even from the Balkans. I was only trying to have a reasonable conversation regarding the (mis)using of the past for political motivations. Yet, if the best answer that you can give me is insult, then I don't augur a nice future for Bosnia.

Also, the historical landmarks that you mentioned in order to "prove" a Bosnian past don't mean nothing if they are not part of a narrative that provides an identity to a people. There are also a lot of historical landmarks where I live and few people care about them because they are not important for their identities. Like I said before, Bosnians are today attempting to create a past. Yet, if you consider that calling someone "Serb" (who also live in Bosnia) is a valid insult, then if I had little expectations about Bosnia's future I have now even less.

Nice to meet you.

Loknar

I don�t mind when someone counters my ideas using sound arguments (after all, this is a Forum), what bothers me is when someone uses nonsensical arguments. Let�s see what you wrote:

its so obvious you are jealous of Bosnians

Why should I be jealous of a country which is only known for a stupid civil war in the 1990�s?

or have a big problem with them

What? Now it is forbidden to make a critique?

I already explained what is (not) so special about pyramids within positivism and yet, you counter my argument invoking �common sense�. Common sense is just an ethnocentrism, which basically means the following: what is obvious for me is obvious for everyone else. If the past is all that obvious, then why the heck do we need history?

Mila

Sorry to disapoint you, but all the evidence I've seen so far in this thread indicates that this "pyramid" is just a natural mound with remains of human ocupation. That is something that is quite common throughout Europe, with thousands of similar hills like that. Also, the man responsible for this "discovery" is anything but reliable: just a second-hand copy of Indiana Jones. He even wore the (fantasy) hat that in public imagination is associated with archaeologists in order to give himself more credibility. All this not to mention a lot of crap that I saw in some pictures such as the "tunnel", which is just a small hole made in the ground. Actually this story should be hilarious for me, if it wasn't simultaneously tragic. What we are seeing here is just another example of the past being used for political reasons grounded in our contemporary world.

First of all, some clarifications about pyramids. Unbeknownst to many people is that there isn't nothing special about pyramids.These structures are just the imitation of mountains. And since pre-history, mountains have been sacred for humanity. Since mountains touch the Heavens, they are the places where gods live and since they also connect Heavens and Earth they are also the place where gods and humanity meet. The first mounts that were sacred were obviously natural features. Think about Mount Olympus in Greece or Mount Fuji in Japan. Only on a later date humans started to build artificial structures to imitate them. And even so pyramids are not the oldest of them. The oldest are the shell mounds (albeit not exactly pyramid-looking) that appeared in the Mesolithic.

The reason why many people is not aware of this is because positivist archaeologists stripped material culture from its symbolic dimension, considering it too much "subjective". According to these archaeologists the analysis of technological features is a more objective form of studying the past (as if this wasn't a subjective position). Actually, they are just loking themselves at the mirror. Since thanks to science, technology became higly prized in the Western world, the main concern of these archaeologists is finding material culture with a degree of technical complexity. So, the more complex, the more civilised that civilisation is. This  is just a subtle way of legitimating contemporary society fetish for technology. That this idea influenced you is obvious in one of your posts dated from 27/10/05 (and I quote)

A large structure made of individual blocks of stone built into a triangular shape I'd call a pyramid. A heap of soil and rocks pied up by man I'd call a mound.

Another member, Maju, also made similar positivist observations in a post of 28/10/05, when he said that in order to build pyramids it was necessary a

Strong social organisation (...) [and a] relative advanced science/technology.

 He even calls in a later post to pyramids and megaliths a fashion. This is typical of positivism thought. No concern at all with the human dimension of material culture.

Now, the second part of the story. Bosnia is a country with only a few years of existence, in other words, it does not have a past, a memory, that can give an identity to its inhabitants. This is even more so in the case of the group to which you belong Mila, the so-called "Bosniaks". At least the Croasts and the Serbs can still rely on their ethnic identities. And it is here that is all the tragedy: a people trying to find an identity. You said it yourself in one of your first posts dated from 27/10/2005 regarding the finding of the "pyramid"

 ...for Bosnia, it's an enormous deal. Croats and Serbs have long insisted that Bosnian pagans were an isolated, simple people.

You are attempting to use something that within positivist archaeology is seen as old, prestigious and a mark of great civilisation. Your "pyramid" is even compared with those of Meso-America. In this way you can reclaim an identity for your people and against the Serbs and Croats. Actually, it was not an incident that the "discoverer" is a Bosnian amateur (is he Bosniak?). You even attempted to make a connection between Bosniak Muslims and Bosnian pagans (that story about Europe's "oldest" living community) saying the similarities between both are notorious.

To sum up, for me, all this story is just a sham, for you, is an attempt to build an identity. I wish you luck, but personally, I don't belive that Bosnia has a future.

PS - "Muslims do it 5X a day". Yes, I know. It's praying. Unfortunately.

Great pictures Mila

There are small little pyramids found all over in the African jungles. Like someone just put stones on top of stones.There is a evolution of the pyramid . However what they are for is interesting. Tombs?  I`d  be more interested in the kings that they were made for.