Italian original text : http://eclisseforum.wordpress.com/2012/10/11/piramidi-in-bosnia-linchiesta-di-eclisseforum-it-i-protagonisti-paolo-debertolis/
The most well known member of the SBRG and the particular subject of this article is Dr. Paolo Debertolis, assistant professor at the University of Trieste.
His resumé reads:
– Born in 1957
– Graduated in Medicine and Surgery (Medicina e Chirurgia)
– Specialist in Dentistry (Odontostomatologia)
– Post-graduate diploma in Odontology and Forensic Dentistry (Odontologia e Odontoiatria Forense)
– Degree in Legal Sciences (Scienze Giuridiche)
– For several years he has lectured in the Dentistry and Prosthodontics Department (Odontoiatria e Protesi Dentaria), in particular in the following Clinical Dentistry (Clinica Odontostomatologica) courses: Periodontology, Paedodontics and Dental Pathology (Parodontologia, Pedodonzia e Patologia Odontostomatologica).
– At present he is co-lecturer in the integrated Dentistry Clinical (Clinica Odontostomatologica) Course in the Medical School, teaching in areas specifically related to Dental and Stomatological Clinics (Clinica Odontoiatrica e Stomatologia).
– He is also a lecturer on the optional course, “Forensic Applications of Legal Dentistry and Odontology,” (“Applicazioni Forensi di Odontoiatria Legale e Odontologia”) in the School of Dentistry (il Corso di Studio in odontoiatria e Protesi Dentaria).
– Between 1986 and the present, he has written fifty-one scientific publications, including twenty-eight in collaboration with other scientists.
On the SBRG site, we read that, for some years now, he has been extending his investigative interests and expanding his archeological and anthropological research, seeking interconnections with the field of Dental Archaeology. As part of this initiative, he has been performing anthropological research connected with the Ravne tunnel, and with continuing investigation of the Visoko Civilization.
In a recent article published on the Bosnian Pyramids Foundation website, he is described as an anthropologist, and, in an online forum, claimed to have been "a university professor for twenty-four years".
We emailed him to request an interview for this article, and, initially, he kindly agreed to answer a few introductory questions about his work and about the SBRG.
Unfortunately, when we started asking some slightly more difficult questions that might have cleared up some of the more ambiguous aspects of the "Bosnian Pyramids" affair, he chose not to reply, accusing us of rudeness.
On the particular subject of his role and responsibilities, we had asked him the following question:
In 2011, you claimed to have been a full professor (professore universitario di ruolo) for twenty-four years. However, your position at the University of Trieste is described on your CV as that of Assistant Professor (Ricercatore Universitario). Furthermore, the list of your specializations includes Legal Dentistry, Forensic Dentistry and Dental Archaeology (odontostomatologia, odontologia e odontoiatria forense, odontoiatria legale, archeologia odontoiatrica), as well as other fields of dentistry.
However, in one of the last items on the site Piramidasunca.ba for example, you are described as an ”italijanski antropolog profesor”, that is, a professor of anthropology. Could you please clarify your role and your areas of expertise? Also, could you explain if you are carrying out research in the valley of Visoko as a dentist who specializes in forensic and archaeological applications, hence the study of human remains; or simply as an enthusiast, hence, simply as a hobby? If you are studying human remains, could you please show us the documents and photographs that record these findings?
In response to the questions in the ten emails, we received only one peevish reply, confirming that he was in fact an associate professor (professore aggregato). At the same time, he denied that he had ever said that he had been a "university professor for twenty-four years", as we read in the following screenshot, taken from here (Dr. Debertolis writes on many forums under the nickname "Pablito"):
Now, in my role as a university professor of twenty-four years’ standing (professore universitario di ruolo da 24 anni), I can safely say that we shall approach the subject in the proper fashion, although you will have to wait, because we are only just starting out (the group was formed only in January), and there’s a huge amount of work to be done.
Pressed on this point later, he confirmed that he was only an assistant professor holding a teaching position (ricercatore universitario titolare di un insegnamento), and not a tenured professor (professore di ruolo). He went on to modify his previous post in the following way:
Now, in my role as an assistant university professor of twenty-four years’ standing (ricercatore universitario di ruolo da 24 anni), I can safely say that the subject will be properly approached, although you will have to wait, because we are only just starting out (the group was formed only in January), and there’s a huge amount of work to be done.
We duly note the correction, and appreciate his thoughtfulness in recognizing the error, even if, in our opinion, the rectification was rather overdue, and probably not unrelated to the fact that we had drawn his attention to the oversight, and informed him about the publication of this article. Recalling what had happened in the case of the Milan Polytechnic logo, described in the previous article, it seems that Dr. Debertolis, when speaking of himself and his sponsors, has a tendency to exaggerate, making inaccurate statements that, in the eyes of less critical readers, portray him as a figure of more authority.
Moving on, let us now cast our eyes over the whole Bosnian Pyramids and Ravne Tunnel affair. To the best of our knowledge, at no time has anyone ever come across any human remains that would require the involvement of an expert in Forensic Dentistry and Dental Archaeology (un esperto Odontoiatra forense specializzato in archeologia odontoiatrica) such as Dr. Debertolis. For this reason, given that these investigations are so far removed from his field of specialization, one cannot help but conclude that his research on the Bosnian site, his activities during the excavation of the Ravne Tunnels, his studies of the alleged pyramids and analyses of sounds emitted by the Pyramid of the Sun, are effectively a personal indulgence, a hobby.
Clearly, our discussion here is limited solely to the activities in Bosnia that form the subject of our present researches. We would not wish to make any comment about Dr. Debertolis’ area of particular professional expertise, which is not the subject of any comment within this series of articles. More detail on him can be found at the following link.
Dr. Debertolis is the owner of the http://www.salviamoci2012.it website. In 2010, he broached the question of Bosnian Pyramids, with a visit about which he wrote a series of articles both on his own website, and also on the catastrophist website, nibiru2012.it.
Unfortunately, the salviamoci2012.it site is currently under attack by hackers, whose activities we strongly condemn. However, as we had downloaded a copy of the entire site a few days before the attack took place, we would like to inform Dr. Debertolis that, if he wishes to restore the site, and does not have any recent backups, he is welcome to email us. The EclisseForum staff will be happy to help.
Below are links to the initial instalments of his first trip to the "pyramids" published on the websites mentioned earlier. Readers unable to find the rest of the links are welcome to contact us.
Following the publication of these articles, the nibiru_2012.it site seems to have become the main launch point for publishing information about Dr. Debertolis’ work in Bosnia, his readers being continually updated via the “Pyramids in Bosnia dated 12,000 BC” thread.
The purpose of Niburu 2012 forum is to disseminate news and information, usually unfounded, of a catastrophist and sensationalist nature. Many site-users enjoy the benefit of receiving “mysteries-related” updates, and unquestioningly believe whatever is reported. As might be expected, sensationalistic news items such as those relating to the Bosnian Pyramids affair are uncritically accepted, their merits rarely subjected to scrutiny. This has had the effect of creating a milieu conducive to subsequent mysteries-type developments, although a milieu also devoid of effective challenge, where it is virtually impossible to express criticism without being moderated in some way. We do not know whether the collaboration is still in existence, and whether the site directors have ever expressed any formal position on the matter. When we tried to find out, questioning the site administrators, they sidestepped the question, and effectively avoided either confirming or denying whether they supported Debertolis. However, a combination of other sources, ranging from reading through the whole of the above-mentioned threads to direct experience, suggests to us that the support given by the nibiru_2012.it portal to the SBRG is both unconditional and uncritical.
On the subject of the facilitation of discussion and debate, one last point to be noted is that, on 10th August 2012, after our exchange of emails, Dr. Debertolis added a "Legal Notice" to the SBRG site. This Legal Notice had never previously been there, as can be seen from the screenshots below:
(In the green box in the centre of the image is the text that was edited following the story about Milan Polytechnic - see previous article)
This manoeuvre - forbidding our writers to reproduce material on the SBRG site - could be interpreted as an attempt to prevent our staff from writing an article that contained detailed citations.
So that there could be no room for confusion, we subsequently asked Debertolis for permission to use text and images from the SBRG site. He issued an emphatic refusal, and informed us that he would seek a legal opinion on our articles, although we do not know if he will go as far as actually doing this. Naturally, we made our own checks, and obtained several legal opinions before publishing even one article.
This attempt to clip our wings, although legitimate and valid in part, is nevertheless rather ham-fisted. After all, the law does state that:
“ … the abridgment, quotation or reproduction of songs or parts of works for purposes of criticism, discussion and even teaching, is freely allowable within the limits justified for such purposes, provided that it does not constitute competition to the financial exploitation of the work.”
No page of "legal notices" can take precedence over the law. This site, EclisseForum, is in fact non-profit; we are using extracts of articles by Debertolis for the purpose of criticism; and we are not using images owned by the SBRG.
Returning to matters relating to Debertolis’ teaching activities, he recently published this document in an (American) English forum. The document was meant to be evicdence of his university being fully informed about his activities, and fully supportive of them.
On the last page of the document appears this passage:
Prof. Paolo Debertolis, Dentistry and Stomatology (Odontoiatria e Stomatologia) researcher and specialist in dental archaeology (specialista in archeologia odontoiatrica) is a member of an archaeological expedition to Bosnia and the "Pyramid of the Sun." The results obtained are of great interest, having drawn attention to evidence in relation to structures buried at some depth that could be connected with ancient tombs, and are awaiting excavation in the near future.
What seems to have happened is that, under the agenda item “Any other business”, he made a few general comments about his activities. The only mention of anything in particular concerns the alleged tomb discovered with ground penetrating radar, which will be discussed later. The document contains no reference to pyramids built in 25000 BC, to ultrasound emerging from 2km below ground level, to mist-like entities known as SBI, and all the other areas on which he has been working over recent years. Besides anything else, he would not have had the time to discuss all this, and, even if he had made the attempt, his description would of necessity have been rather perfunctory, given that the meeting lasted only an hour, and that there were sixteen other items on the agenda before this.
For that reason, this document might not be enough on its own to demonstrate the full and unstinting support of the University of Trieste for Dr. Debertolis’ activities. To clear up any doubt on this point, it would be useful to have some additional documentation, and we are wondering, therefore, whether to ask Dr. Debertolis for supplementary records that would provide irrefutable evidence of the full support of the University of Trieste on every feature, no matter how controversial, revealed during the affair of the Bosnian Pyramids. If he complies with this request, then, in the light of our stated desire for complete transparency and objectivity, we will duly amend this section.
In conclusion, the portrait of Professor Paolo Debertolis, as revealed to us is of a controversial figure who has undeniably played a notable part in the Bosnian Pyramids affair. Reading his statements and the discussions in which he has participated, it has become clear that he seeks respect and support from “mysteries” aficionados. This, in our opinion, has led him to exaggerate the involvement of him and his associates. In addition, anyone who has happened to read the exchange of emails with Dr. Debertolis, published without permission, can judge for themselves his lack of willingness to brook any contradiction, and the way in which his rising hackles have led him to characterize our questions as mere gossip. He seems to favour areas of discussion in which objections are either superficial or absent, and that are not, in any event, the result of any exhaustive research. Whilst on this particular point, it is very unusual for a researcher engaged in a scientific study of global importance to decide to entrust his journal entries to a site such as Nibiru 2012 .it (a name of ill-omen), which has no connection whatever with science.
We believe that anyone who, during the course of their career, decides to dabble in fringe research, should expect significant challenges, and be prepared to respond with evidence as conclusive as it is rigorous. With all due respect, and whilst maintaining a sense of due proportion, history contains numerous examples of scientists who have revolutionized scientific knowledge in certain fields – one has only to think of, say, Galileo or Einstein. However, such men of science did not accomplish what they did by refusing to answer questions; on the contrary, they responded to them in terms that were clear and unmistakable. The strength of their commitment, and their confidence in their research, was such that they accepted every criticism directed at them from all corners of the scientific world. If this is what Prof. Debertolis is trying to do, if he considers that his research will somehow revolutionize our knowledge of history, we cannot see why he should retreat from challenge.
Furthermore, the propensity to refer to every awkward question as "gossip" effectively gives more meaning to that question, endowing it with greater weight. In other words, the very failure to answer certain questions, this very silence and uncommunicativeness, are themselves indications – even if sometimes indirect - that the doubts raised are far from minor.
Finally, we would like to stress that gossip is something of a completely different nature, implying suggestions of a trivial and personal nature, an element completely absent from our questions. We are not discussing Prof. Debertolis as a person; we are discussing his role on the public stage. He became a public figure when he started giving website and television interviews about the Pyramids. Given his standing as a public figure, it goes without saying that assessments of, and differences of opinion about, his statements are all part and parcel of the evolution of that research. In this context, even questions about whether his research in Bosnia could have extended too far outside his field of expertise, themselves form an integral part of that same research. Obviously, it would be naive and absurd to suggest that no one should take an interest in fields of research other than their own, and it is not our intention to argue such a point. But, in order to be able to make objective judgements when reading certain material, it is advisable to keep in mind all the different information, classified according to the relevant criteria.