VISOCICA HILL (Bosnia-Hercegovina): Bosnian explorer Semir Osmanagic is convinced he has found Europe’s first pyramids which he says are a new world wonder dating back to ancient times.

“I was amazed when I first saw them. I’m deeply convinced now that this is the work of an ancient civilisation built many thousands of years ago,” he said while observing an area he excavated north of Sarajevo.

The 45-year-old is so certain two pyramids are hidden in Visoko valley that he has spent some 16,000 euros (20,000 dollars) researching the area, located either side of a river about 30 kilometres from the Bosnian capital.

Residents of the nearby town of Visoko have long known about the presence of the two structures they always referred to as ‘pyramids’ but none of them was ever intrigued enough to investigate further.

But Osmanagic, who says he sharpened his eye for archaeology on numerous trips around the world to study ancient civilisations, insists the structures “cannot be the art of nature”.

The self-styled explorer with an Indiana Jones-like hat and clothes began his Bosnian pyramid crusade in April this year after visiting the remnants of a medieval royal palace at the top of the hill.

Osmanagic, a businessman and author of several books on other civilizations, says the two “constructions” are precisely aligned with the compass to the four corners of the world.

He says he sees astonishing similarities between them and Mexican pyramids dating back to about 200 AD, which also come in pairs.

This is why he calls Visocica hill “The Bosnian pyramid of the sun”.

Osmanagic says he believes builders from an unknown civilisation shaped the hill into a ‘step pyramid’ then coated it with a kind of primitive concrete.

The structure now stands some 70 metres high, with a square base that is 220 by 220 metres.

After conducting initial probes about 17 metres into the earth that revealed “numerous anomalies in the soil,” Osmanagic says he returned to the site with a team of people to start his initial excavation work.

Nadja Nukic, a geologist at the site, said she was most puzzled by three layers of brown polished stone that lie an equal distance from each other underground.—AFP