Italian original text : http://eclisseforum.wordpress.com/2012/10/18/piramidi-in-bosnia-linchiesta-di-eclisseforum-it-i-punti-salienti-le-piramidi/

The lynch-pin around which our story revolves is formed by the alleged pyramids in the valley of Visoko. These consist of various hills surroundingt the Bosnian town of Visoko, that, because of their idiosyncratic form, are reminiscent of pyramids. The most well known is the so-called Pyramid of the Sun, followed by the smaller Pyramid of the Moon and the Pyramid of the Earth or the Dragon. Below appears a series of images of the structures, and their spatial relationships with one another.

These hills have a particular shape, and some of their features display such similarity with some features found on artificial structures – for instance, edges that are relatively sharp, sides that seem fairly straight, etc. - that, when the excavation began, people relying simply on first impressions insisted that the hills were man-made structures.

On the different pyramids, various test pits were dug. These were areas of excavation whose purpose was to uncover the original structure underneath, which was supposed to have been buried beneath a layer of soil deposited over the millennia.

Some examples:

A number of stone blocks, roughly square in shape, have been unearthed. Elsewhere, there seem to be "pathways," or areas that look as if they have been paved.

The story started in 2006, when Sam Osmanagic announced to the world the discovery of the largest and oldest pyramids on Earth:

As the excavation got underway, so did a hard-line promotional campaign, which brought in crowds of tourists and volunteers willing to contribute in some way to what was claimed to be the most important archaeological site in the world.

The long and winding road of press statements and counter-statements, discoveries, and steps forwards, backwards and sideways, has resulted in a huge mass of documentation. The articles in English available at this link will help interested readers keep track of past developments:
Le site d’Irna

We consider this site to be trustworthy, with a cornucopia of references and data sources, so we suggest that anyone interested in the finer points of the subject examine Le Site d’Irna in detail.

In addition, this document in French (which should be easily translatable via a web browser) provides a further summary of events:

We have also been carrying out our own research with a view to locating experts and documentation to help clarify the situation.

On one forum, we found a report from a Slovenian geologist who carried out a geological study of the structures known as "pyramids".

We contacted the geologist in question, who sent us a PDF of the full report (although we are unable to publish the complete text).

In this document, entitled “Geological report of the brief geological inspection in the Visoko area, focused on the Vicočica hill”, Dr. Gorazd Zibret concludes:

“The shape of the Visočica hill is from geomorphologic point of view very unusual. From the geological point of view it is undoubtedly that the whole hill is of natural origin. But there is still an archaeological question to answer whether the hill is shaped by the man to get the pyramidal form. To find the proofs of the past human activity in that area the extensive geological and archaeological research, supported by the multidisciplinary approach should be done. The special focus of the multidisciplinary research should be on the tunnels, which seems to be a very old man-made structure. It is essential to collect the massive database of scientifically gathered data to support and to proof the existence of the Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun."

For legal reasons, we are unable to publish other personal opinions of Dr. Zibret, communicated privately to us. This is because we wish to avoid the publication of statements that might be seized on as actionable by other individuals who have threatened to drag us into court.

In her letter, Dr. Lidija Loučka Micic (see here), commented on the affair as follows:

"The report of the academic world on the "Bosnian Valley of the Pyramids" has remained unaltered since the time when, a few years ago, experts from ANU BiH, the BiH National Museum, various competent institutions and individual experts, delivered their opinions, vigorously disputing the claims made by the Foundation. The reason, then as now, is that the Foundation has never presented any archaeological material, ceramics, glass, or metal, that would demonstrate the presence of an artificial structure. The report contains no indications, or satisfactory evidence, of stratigraphy connected with cultural, rather than geological, strata; geological strata are not of themselves, and nor are they capable of being, any basis for the study of cultural strata and stratigraphy”

As these methods are totally inadequate for the purposes of archaeological research, they cannot be "multidisciplinary”. Geological research might, in a secondary analysis, represent an additional source of information, but it can never represent the primary method of research, because geology, by definition, cannot reveal anything relevant to archaeological research. If this were not the case, then archaeology and geology would represent one single scientific discipline. As things are, though, the study of geological strata with the intention of finding, for example, coal, minerals, and oil, is in no way comparable with archaeological excavations intended to reveal the existence of different cultures and civilizations."

Another authoritative opinion comes from Dr. Anthony Harding, President of the European Association of Archaeologists, who nipped the theory of manmade pyramids firmly in the bud. His views can be found here.

The following article, additionally, contains a detailed analysis of every single aspect of the pyramid geology, and, together with a plethora of links and resources, provides an explanation of all aspects of the controversy surrounding these "allegedly man-made" pyramids.

Geology of the Bosnian "pyramids"

A photo which, in our opinion, is representative of the geology in this area, revealing as it does geological strata folded by tectonic forces:

Finally, despite the fact that Dr. Debertolis wrote, without any scientific basis, that the Pyramid of the Sun was evidently a modified hill (e.g., here), the one document that, more than any other, succeeded in convincing us that the structures in the valley of Visoko are natural, comes from a source very close to him.

This is a geological report written by Dr. Emanuela Nunzia Croce, on behalf of the SBRG research team.

This report is available on the part of the SBRG site available only to registered users, and also on a link publicly accessible without registration, which we presume has been added to facilitate the dissemination of the document. We are legally permitted to reproduce one extract for the purpose of criticism, so we are therefore quoting the conclusion:

The investigations carried out on the samples, and the study of geological and geomorphological literature, together with an analysis of all documentation provided by the client, and retrieved on the Internet, has made it possible to come to an overall finding on the initial questions. As regards the constituent materials and their stratification, the so-called Pyramid of the Sun is the result of continental Miocene clastic-terrigenous sedimentation; the shape of the hill, the tilt of the strata and their dislocation, as well as the cracking that gives the various layers their pseudo-pavement form, are due to post-Miocene geomorphological modelling, together with local and global tectonic phenomena.

UPDATE 18/10/12 at 20.30:

Where this topic is concerned, “mysterious” things always seem to be happening! The link that made it possible to access the geological report without being registered on the SBRG site has been removed. It had been working for months, until this morning and the early part of the afternoon: but now it isn’t any longer. We have no idea why someone would want to conceal a report as well written and conclusive as Dr. Croce’s, but there we are. In any case, registering on the SBRG site will enable you to access the report in the "Documents” section.

In conclusion, all the available scientific evidence on the subject, all serious reports and rigorous investigations, lead to the conclusion that the pyramids are not pyramids at all, but wholly natural structures. At the moment, despite persistent declarations to the contrary, there is not even any evidence of any artificial remodelling of the hills.

The wonder is, then, that there are researchers or supposed researchers who stubbornly insist on defining perfectly natural geological structures as "pyramids". For example, Osmanagic himself has never retreated by so much as a millimetre from this definition, although unable to offer, by way of evidence, much more than a vague feeling. Or one Nenad Djurdjevic, a local researcher, who argues, somewhat belligerently, that the structures were the work of a lost, highly advanced civilization of which all trace has now vanished. Amongst those who have undergone a Damascene conversion, however, is Dr. Debertolis, who has been arguing for months now that the pyramids are not pyramids, although he continues to leave the door open to the possibility of remodelling by human hand.

We believe that, over the years to come, the story will slowly lose its impetus, as even the stoutest-hearted supporters eventually realize that nothing striking and definitive is going to emerge, apart from endless superficial press releases that never lead anywhere. Having passed the point of no return, the whole kit and caboodle is now proceeding under its own momentum, effectively making it impossible to halt and dismantle the political-tourist-pseudo-archeological bandwagon that has been created around the site.