Move like this, this, this
Little puppets, little puppets,
Move like this, this, this
Three little turns
And then they go away [1]

Ainsi font, font, font
Les petites marionettes,
ainsi font, font, font,
Trois p’tits tours et puis s’en vont !

The three Egyptian archaeologists who came in Visoko on the 31st of August (see here) are gone after having stayed two weeks. During this stay, they, particularly one of them, Dr. Nabil Swelim, the only one who speaks easily English, have given numerous earth-shattering statements: "Bosnia will be known as the Country of the Pyramids (bs)"; "Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun is the world’s largest (en)"; "The structures in Visoko are man made pyramids (en)"; "Visoko is going to be the center of the world (en)"; and so on. So that Mr. Osmanagic claims for an "international validation (bs)" of his project, project that can only bring "better tomorrows" and which all Bosnians are called to support.

I had in a previous article voiced a few doubts about the quality of this "international validation", as well as about these Egyptian scientists’ real motives. After these two weeks in Bosnia, what can be said about their visit?

One can first notice that they spent very little time on the terrain, according to the daily press clipings published on the Foundation website. It seems that they visited a part of the excavations ("dio arheoloskih lokacija") on the 1st of September (bs), and gave immediately, the next day (Sunday 2nd of September), a press conference (bs) where Dr. Swelim claimed that the pyramids were actually man-made (see here some comments about this press conference). They maybe visited again the excavations on the 3rd of September, and on the 4th (bs) they visited Zavidovici where is the greatest number of stone spheres; and that is all, regarding the field work.

What did these scientists do the remaining time? A quick survey of their activities, as shown by the local press, is revealing:
– 3rd of September (bs): meeting, at the seat of Zenica-Doboj Canton government [2], with the Canton Prime Minister Miralem Galijasevic, and with the Prime Minister from the neighbouring Tuzla Canton Enes Mujic, followed by a press conference (bs);
– 5th of September (bs): "meeting with Bosnian scientists", scientists among whom can be found Muris Osmanagic, who presented the "artifacts" found and the "proto-Bosnian alphabet", and Ahmed Bosnic, who is a specialist in black magic and talismans;
– 5th of September (bs) again? meeting in Sarajevo with the Minister for Human Rights and Refugees Safet Halilovic, and with a member of the Egyptian embassy;
– 6th of September (bs): meeting with the Rector and the vice-Rector of Zenica University;
– 6th of September (bs) again? meeting at the seat of the Federal government with the Prime Minister of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzgovina, Nedzad Brankovic, and with the Egyptian ambassador;
– 7th of September (bs): "official visit to the city mayor" of Visoko, Mr. Munib Alibegovic;
– 7th of September (bs) again: meeting with the Vice President of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Mirsa Kebo, again in the company of the Egyptian ambassador;
– 8th of September (bs): meeting with the Bosnian member of the collegial presidency of Bosnia-Herzegovina Haris Silajdzic;
– 8th of September (bs): visit of Vispak factory in Visoko and meeting with its director [3];
– 10th of September (bs): meeting with Semiha Borovac, Mayor of Sarajevo; the Egyptian ambassador was present at the meeting;
– 10th of September (bs) again: visit to the University of Political Sciences in Sarajevo [4], where Dr. Swelim gave a lecture about a "comparison between the Egyptian and Bosnian pyramids";
– and last, 11th of September (bs): meeting with Mostar University Rector.

So, many "political" meetings; on the other hand, these experts do not appear to have met a single Bosnian archaeologist, which is quite curious: one would expect, from foreign scientists invited so that they could give their opinion about a subject, that they show some courteousness in contacting the local specialists, who are generally knowledgeable about their own country. In an "interview (en)" with the famous - and infamous - Merima Bojic, Dr. Swelim dismisses in a quite cavalierish way the local archaeologists’ opinion: "Perhaps, they went on a camel and took a few photographs in front of the Khufu Pyramid but that still does not make them the experts on the pyramids". Perhaps one could ask what makes the charming Dr. Swelim an expert on the Bosnian archaeology, apart from the few hours he spent on the "pyramids"? And that is curious, how this sentence about people who think they are experts in pyramids because they visited and photographied a few ones reminds me of a one who, having visited the pyramids in Central America, now sees pyramids everywhere...

So, during their visit to Bosnia, despite the few time spent on the field and the lack of contacts with local scientists, the Egyptian "experts" have given regular statements about "the biggest pyramids in the world" and the fact that "Visoko will be the center of the world". However, their real motto, that appears in each of their interviews and statements, is the necessity for the Bosnian authorities to "support" Mr. Osmanagic, politically and mostly financially ; Dr. Swelim even estimates this necessary financial support about "15 millions KM (en)" [5].

Did the Egyptians try to scientifically argue their opinion? Except Dr. Swelim’s unconvincing try at an analysis of Pljesevica "terraces" on the day of their first press conference, their only "arguments" can be summarized like this: "This is an amazing discovery (en)"; "the pyramids in Visoko are the work of human hands (en)"; "after seeing everything, there is no more room for any doubts (en)"; or "if somebody has any doubts, you have to bring them to Visoko to see for themselves (en)". So, these scientists have analyzed nothing, studied nothing, probably do not know much about the region geology and archeaology, but they have seen...

Evidently, all of this does not prevent the Foundation and Mr. Osmanagic from claiming a "scientific validation"; under this title ("international scientific validation"), the Foundation website gives a document (bs) [6] that is in fact a collection of press clippings about the Egyptians’ visit... I do not doubt, of course, that these scientists will one day wish to argue scientifically their opinion, and that they will publish a report or even an article in a peer-reviewed magazine. Let’s hope that this report will come a little bit sooner than the ones from Dr. Barakat, Dr. Andretta, Dr. Aly, and other "experts" who also "saw".