The "Pyramid of the Moon" - Pljesevica
Article published on 15 October 2006

by Irna

Begun in April 2006, the excavations have taken place, till May, exclusively on Visocica - the "pyramid of the Sun" - and it was not considered (en) to dig on the other "pyramides" in 2006, nor even in 2007. However, a news from the 14th of May (bs) on the Foundation website announced the discovery, at the foot of the South face of the "pyramid of the Moon" (Pljesevica), of a "mosaic flooring, of sandstone slabs finely decorated with a relief". In fact, the discovery of this "mosaic" was made by a six years old child from the village of Pljesevica: probably inspired by the media turmoil about the "greatest archaeological adventure of the century", he began, with his friends, to make his own "excavations" in his uncle’s land at the foot of the hill. Having discovered a few sandstone slabs, the children have rushed to inform Mr. Osmanagic and his "scientific team".

Dnevni Avaz, 18 mai 2006

Immediately, several trenches were opened on Pljesevica, and gradually revealed "pavements" (first interpreted as "alleys"), much similar in the different trenches, and all "decorated" with these famous reliefs:

This discovery has drawn most of the attention, of the public and of the Foundation members, on Pljesevica, which has revealed itself much more "spectacular" than Visocica with its monotonous conglomerate. Indeed, for the layman’s eyes, the aspect of the "pavements" on Pljesevica is much more convincing, seems much more artificial, than all that was found on Visocica. Let’s notice, however, that as soon as these first "pavements" were unearthed, two points were already challenging Mr. Osmanagic’s interpretation:

 if, on some photographs, one can see an almost perfect pavement, with square or rectangular slabs, other examples, with irregular and sinuous joints (see the picture above), seem quite strange for an artificial pavement;

 the "decoration" with relief is everywhere of the same type: quite regular undulations, with continuity from a slab to the other, that evoke the ripples that waves make on a sand beach... For the geologists, these undulations are most probably what they call "ripple-marks" (en), ripples left by waves or water current and then fossilized.

(On this photograph, taken not on Pljesevica but on Vratnica hill, one can see a beautiful example of these ripple-marks, with perfect continuity on each side of the "joints" between two slabs)

But no matter what the geologists say, for the Foundation these ripple-marks are decorations, and to make them the builders, according to Ms. Nukic (bs), have used "unknown tools" [1].

San, 2 juin 2006
"Qui a décoré ces dalles ?" - "Who decorated these slabs ?"

These first discoveries reinforce the attention paid to Pljesevica, and soon the "pyramid of the Moon" is covered with trenches made all around the hill at the same altitude then gradually connected. Later, after some mine clearance (the Visoko region has known very violent engagements during the war), other trenches were made on the top of the hill and on the "access plateau". What are presently the results of these works?

 A single undeniable artifact has been found, a rectangular structure of a few square meters, built from stone and maybe a few bricks, with its back against the hillside:

The discovery was announced with a great show of press releases and urgent press conferences, and the structure was first presented as "a possible entrance to the Pyramid" (see here (bs)). The structure interior was excavated, apparently by professional archaeologists (Nancy Gallou and Silvana Cobanov), but no report on this excavation was published, not a word; then the structure sank gradually into oblivion, and this "entrance to the pyramid" has not been mentioned any more by the Foundation news. Without more precise data, all that can be said is that this structure could be almost everything, from a cattle shed or a woodcutter shelter to the basis of a tower with military use, and it cannot be dated. There is no way to link it with a supposed prehistoric pyramid rather than with any more recent time, and the Foundation seems to have forgotten the hypothesis of the pyramid entrance...

 The theory of sandstone paved "alleys" at the basis of the pyramid is also quite dubious. Indeed, trenches have revealed the presence of "pavements" at every level of the "pyramid", from the basis to the top "plateau". Some of these pavements are very similar to the first discovered ones (similar size and orientation of the "joints" and "decorations"); but others present an extreme diversity of shapes and thickness; most are inclined, often just slightly, but sometimes much more. Here are some examples showing the diversity of these "pavements":

As was the case for Visocica, one cannot help to wonder why the "pyramid" builders would have chosen so complicated solutions, using flagstones with all kind of shapes and sizes, and setting them carefully sometimes almost horizontally, and sometimes with a marked slope...

 The Pljesevica builders, who definitely had complicated minds, have made their work still more difficult by setting, between each "pavement", thin layers of alternating other materials, that is marls, clays and very thin layers of sandstone:

Detail of these thin layers of alternating material:

Still better, they have endeavoured to make their "pavements", as well as the upper or lower layers, describe surprising undulations:

 Last must be noted the absolute lack of vertical walls, on what is supposed to be a "step pyramid". The Foundation has actually tried to reinforce the impression, the aspect of steps, by doing clear vertical cuts through the thin layers between two horizontal or near horizontal "pavements":

(or how to manufacture a step pyramid...)

But it is evident for the observant eye that these vertical "walls" are the result of the digging, and that the "pyramid" of Pljesevica is nothing more than a gigantic "mille-feuilles" of sub-horizontal layers with no vertical element - and that would be a real eye-opener for a pyramid!

Now, all these baffling features of the two hills, Visocica and Pljesevica, can be perfectly explained without the intervention of builders, odd as much as discrete (they have left absolutely no trace); all one has to do is to try to understand the geological and geomorphological history of the "pyramids"...