An undiscovered Pyramid in Romania

Over recent years, and despite protests from those of more orthodox geological and archaeological views, the fame of Visocica, Bosnian “Pyramid of the Sun,” and entrepreneur Semir “Sam” Osmanagic, has spread far and wide, appealing particularly to those who prefer a more imaginative view of history. Consider, for instance, this 2013 example (ro) of an investigator trying to find a suspected date at a supposed ancient site, and believing that the techniques and discoveries of a serious researcher like Osmanagic would be of help.

The ancient site in question was Țurțudui, in the Buzau Mountains in Romania, some 410 miles from Visocica (the Buzau Mountains being a location that readers might recall from a previous article by Irna).

Having visited it some two years previously, in August 2011, [1] researcher Dan Popovici had decided that it looked like one of the pyramids at Visoko, and that it seemed to have even been constructed in the same way.

Popovici therefore concluded that:

Given the similarity of construction techniques and the relative proximity between Țurțudui and Vîsoko, I think it is not a mistake to assume that the two objects belong to the same culture and the same time horizon. Thus the approximate equality of ages determined by C14 and by dowsing no longer seems a mere coincidence. [2]

The C14 date that Popovici had in mind was of course the one associated with the Pyramid of the Moon at Visoko, where:

A fossilized leaf was discovered by an Italian archaeologist just above a cement slab in a step of the Pyramid of the Moon (modern name) in Visoko, covered by the earth layer. This leaf (organic material!), whose age is obviously shorter than that of the construction on whose outer surface was found, was sent for analysis with radioactive carbon C14 to a laboratory of atomic physics in Kyiv - Ukraine. The result is the following: the age of the leaf (implicitly the minimum age of the pyramid) is (24800 +/- 200) years, ie between 24600 and 25000 years. [3]

Besides the similarity of date, Popovici believed that Țurțudui’s construction technique bore a remarkable resemblance to that used at Visoko:

 … three layers of stone blocks (possibly concrete!) Superimposed, glued together by layers of clay of about 30 cm, making an extremely durable sandwich. Ingenious use of clay because it ensures impermeability to rainwater and elasticity in case of seismic movements, being also an excellent "glue" for stone blocks.

The most intriguing, however, is the thick reddish-brown layer of approx. one cm (a dense, non-porous material, probably composed of mineral oxides) that covers the outer surface of the pyramid wall like plaster. It is an extremely adherent layer, very well glued to the surface of the stone blocks, initially covering the interstices between the stones. The attempt to snatch a piece of such "plaster" shows that it comes off a part of the stone from the substrate, being practically fused with it.

Now you see them … now you don’t

Popovici also mentions further events that those not blessed with vivid imaginations might find hard to believe:

- (In 1980 (ro)) Unfortunately, the peak [Țurțudui] was damaged both by the passage of time and (perhaps especially!) By the dynamism to which it was subjected in 1980 by a detachment of the secret services due to the disappearance of two agents through a dimensional portal (something like Stargate…) opened by unconventional procedures on the altar that was still at the top of the pyramid at that time. [4]

Curiously, the trope of the unexplained disappearance of two people, associated with quasi-supernatural events of one sort or another, on, or in the region of, Țurțudui, at some time or other in the early 1980s, turns up on several different websites:

- two boys disappeared there in the ’80s (ro). Two brothers. They simply disappeared and never appeared again! [5]

– … a teleportation experiment (ro) on Ţurţudui Peak. The two young soldiers, under the age of 35, climbed Ţurţudui Peak and accidentally touched a clear rock about 3 m high, with the appearance of a gelatinous pyramid, inside which was an object. At that moment, they were dragged inside by a powerful force, like a vacuum cleaner, and that rock soon returned to the shape of an ordinary rock. [6]

– (In 1981 (ro)) Two mountaineering brothers were training to climb a high cliff and relatively isolated from the mountain range. Its walls were very steep, even forming a lead at the top, which was a real challenge for the two climbers. One of the brothers climbed up to about three-quarters of the height of the cliff, where he noticed some bizarre signs carved in stone and almost completely eroded by the passage of time. When he reached the top, on the narrow platform of the rock, he bent down and picked up a strange yellow object that looked like a chain, but the next moment he suddenly disappeared under the bewildered gaze of his brother on the ground at the base of the cliff. The local militia was alerted and the parents were notified in Brăila … [T]he father, a former climber, also climbed the rock, picked up the object, and disappeared instantly in front of more than ten witnesses. [7]

Sometimes, even an entire mountain disappears: as in the case of Mount Gugu, some 190 miles away from Ţurţudui, and said to be:

… one of the strangest of Romania. This is because people say that at certain times of the day, the peak can no longer be seen. Thus, the peak Gugu is also known as the “mountain that escapes the eye”.

Space Aliens meet the Illuminati

But unusual events in this part of the world have not been confined to Ţurţudui and Gugu: they also occur elsewhere in the Carpathians.

In 2003, some twenty years after the supposed disappearance of two people (agents, soldiers or family members) at Ţurţudui, further strange events involving aliens, secret societies (Freemasons, the Illuminati), and mysterious officials, are said to have taken place in what was described as “an unexplored area of the Bucegi Mountains.”

The author of the website ends with a statement possibly intended to indicate the veracity of the preceding account:

Summary of events from the book: „Viitor cu cap de mort” (ro), by “Radu Cinamar” — the pen name for an undisclosed writer, which in my opinion, is none other than ex-General Emil Strainu. I base my statement on the extremely similar writing style and the fact that the author had direct access to this above-Top Secret alien base — something that couldn’t have happened unless the person was an insider.

In one form or another, [8] the report eventually found its way to the Osmanagic Foundation, who, on 26 March 2018, published an item referring to an “Anunnaki Base Discovered in the Bucegi Mountains — The Giant Aliens that Created Mankind.”

By this time, however, many less imaginative readers might have concluded that these reports of events in Romania, at Ţurţudui and other mountains in the region, were perhaps not altogether factual.

But was this really so? Surely at least some – if not all – might be based on real events? If they were, and if the Romanian mountains actually had some connection with Visoko, might this mean that the Bosnian “Pyramids” were after all the mysterious artefacts they had been claimed to be for so many years by the Osmanagic Foundation?

Have the authorities been trying to conceal their true nature from public knowledge all these years… ? [9]

Felling Trees, Dating Leaves

Back at Ţurţudui, Dan Popovici deplored the authorities’ apparent attempts to conceal the pyramid from public view, lamenting that:

… in some of the pictures I posted on Panoramio [10]... you can see the trees cut down in 1980 by the authorities and intentionally collapsed over the path from the top of the Back Cross to Țurțudui in order to prevent access. It follows that the communist authorities did not ignore the existence of the pyramid, but even tried to hide it.

But is this really what the authorities were trying to do?

This document (ro) provides a rather more down-to-earth explanation for the felled trees. It begins by referring to:

… (the) myth of restricting access by cutting down trees and blocking a coastal road coming to Ţurţudui (forest mark III 202) from Crucea Spătarului (forest mark III 122) …

And adds:

We know the reason for this utilitarian deforestation carried out by OS (Forest District) Pârscov. A forest worker … explained to us the biological mechanisms of contamination of the seed trees in this plot with ipids [Ips acuminatus or Ipid Bark Beetle, a xylophagous insect] and the purpose of punctual cuttings to stop the spread of these pests. The trees were not moved from the ground because there was no physical possibility or obvious need. But something else was more important in his account: until 1990 there was a virgin forest with trees kept for seed; the first cuts date back almost a decade to the Revolution. Not before … Ms. Moise Daniela, the head of the Pârscov Forest District, gave us similar indications, showing us the vintage records from the official documents. [11]

Moving on from trees to leaves: we have already mentioned Dan Popovici’s description of the dating of the Pyramid of the Moon by means of a “fossilized leaf” (which took place in 2012). But some readers might also remember an earlier “leaf-dating” episode from this article dated 11 June 2011, which sheds an interesting light on the methodology employed by the Osmanagic Foundation.

It transpires that the 2011 photograph that appeared to reveal a “leaf” was most probably:

 [12]

… a piece of wood actually inside a layer of ... Pljesevica sandstones [which], alternating with layers of marl, mudstone and siltstone, were deposited in the middle Miocene (base of the Lasva series) … at the bottom of a lake basin.

 

The article explained how this was the “evidence” supporting claims on the Osmanagic Foundation website to the effect that:

… the Pyramid of the Moon was supposedly constructed over 10,000 years ago.

Wood from the Walls

Three years earlier, in 2008, the Foundation had arranged to date a different piece of organic material, as explained in this article on Irna’s site (21st and 22nd September 2008).

The fragment in question was:

… [a] piece of wood ... embedded in the conglomerates that form the walls of the [Ravne] tunnel [about 3 km from Visocica]

It was tested by:

… two laboratories, one in Poland and the other in Germany, [that] gave roughly concordant ages for the wood: 34,000 BP for the first, and 30,600 BP for the second. [13]

The various problems, technical and otherwise, connected with such a conclusion, and the reasons why it was not considered safe to accept that date as connected with any manmade artefact at Visoko, are dealt with in detail in the rest of the article.

Brother Sun, Sister Moon

Mr. Popovici, of course, had come across a much later date of “24,800” years, which appears on many websites and blogs, including this one (dated 8 September 2012) – although, unfortunately, these and other such articles failsto make clear that the date applies to the Pyramid of the Moon, and not the Pyramid of the Sun (Visocica) …

These online sources refer to a dating attempt that, as mentioned above, had taken place some three months previously, in June 2012, when two young Italian volunteers (Brett and Bisconti) carried out another sampling [14] exercise on the Pyramid of the Moon, on what was also described by the Foundation as a fossilised leaf. It was this material that a laboratory in Kiev later dated at 24,800 years (+/- 200 years) BP.

This date was of course more impressive than the “10,000 years” date from 2011. However, in 2013, results inched up nearer the original 2008 date of 30,600 years. In this article, for instance, discussing a sample taken at the Pyramid of the Sun from “a leaf ... found between the clay inner plug and immediately below the concrete outer casing,” the resultant date is given as 29,000 BC. [15]

The “Waking Times” article just mentioned then goes on to boldly state:

Evidence clearly shows that the pyramids were built as ancient energy machines aligned with the earth’s energy grid, providing energy for healing as well as power.

Indeed, an even bolder article from the previous year also states that researchers had found:

… an energy beam, 13 feet in radius that transmits an unexplainable electromagnetic signal measuring 28 kilohertz coming from the center of the Pyramid of the Sun.

The sort of phenomena, in other words, that some have associated with various mountains some 650 miles away in the Buzau region, especially Ţurţudui: sometimes connected with a form of trans-dimensional portal resembling Stargate …

The Answer lies in the Soil

On a less trans-cosmic note, geologist Paul Heinrich, [16] after a detailed scrutiny of the first “pyramid” image of Ţurţudui, [17] comments as follows:

In the above figure, “Dipping Layer,” the layer of lithified sedimentary rock can be seen dipping to the left within what are apparently softer strata. The differential erosion of these strata has formed a flatiron-like landform with the upper surface of the resistant layer tilted to the left.

Turning his attention to the image labelled “Jointed Bedrock,” Heinrich adds:

This image ... shows that the resistant layer consists of alternating beds of lithified bedrock that are resistant to erosion and form prominent ledges and beds of softer shale that are more friable and, thus, erode to form prominent linear recesses / notches. The beds of lithified bedrock are broken into blocks by orthogonal jointing, created by the bending of the beds of lithified bedrock as they were tilted.

Finally, Heinrich examines something that – as mentioned above – Popovici finds “most intriguing”:

… the thick reddish-brown layer of approx. one cm (a dense, non-porous material, probably composed of mineral oxides) that covers the outer surface of the pyramid wall like plaster.

Heinrich has labelled the relevant image “Weathering Rind,” and comments as follows:

 [18]

… “Weathering Rind,” shows what appears to be jointed beds of sandstone with a weathering rind spalling off of a block formed by jointing. The fracturing of the sandstone by jointing allows rainwater and / or groundwater to circulate around the block and react chemically with the rock forming the block. The rock becomes progressively altered with time starting from the surface inward by a process called “spheroidal weathering.” This forms a weathering rind from the breakdown of minerals in the rock and accumulation of reddish iron oxides within it. Weathering rinds often spall off of a block of rock as they form because the weathering of rock increases its volume as minerals break down and clay and iron oxides accumulate.

As explained, Popovici believes that the reddish-brown layer at Ţurţudui resembles the (supposedly artificial) pyramid covering at Visoko. But, says Heinrich, it could well be a weathering rind formed by spheroidal weathering associated with a joint in the sandstone layer.

So not too much resemblance to a Stargate-like portal, then: although, interestingly, the idea of such a portal has also been mentioned in connection with Rtanj, a mountain in Serbia – 250 miles from Ţurţudui and 190 miles from Visocica – which is also argued by some to possess a pyramidal shape and hence pyramidal properties …

But why are so many mountains in this part of the world said to be endowed with such mysterious properties, properties sometimes verging on the paranormal or supernatural? What is so exceptional about the Balkans?

Other Lands, Other Gods

In January 2017, another article was published by Irna on the subject of Deï Mian, a conference- and tour-organiser with a YouTube channel who specialises in “forbidden archaeology.” In June 2015, he announced a forthcoming tour to Romania, “land of mysteries and enigmas” … [19]

Interestingly, amongst Deï Mian’s material was an image of Mercator’s 1595 “Map of the Hyperborean Continent.” In a recent article, we saw how the legend of Hyperborea [20] – a mystical region sometimes associated with mythical lands in the far northern Russias – might have been the original inspiration behind recent finds of pyramids that could have been interpreted as evidence left by the ancient Hyperboreans themselves: emblems or symbols that might fuel certain present-day nationalist agendas.

Irna’s article also describes Deï Mian’s promotion of:

… a rather acute form of nationalism, which wants to make Romanians the direct descendants of the people of Dacians or Getae, and which attributes to these same Dacians a precedence over other peoples and civilizations in almost all areas. [21]

The borders of the ancient kingdom of Dacia – which existed between168 BC and AD 106 – included most of present-day Romania and Moldova, as well as smaller parts of Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Ukraine. But ancient authors tended to be slightly confused about the location. Blogger Jason Colavito comments that it:

… differed wildly by author, from the Black Sea coast (Hecataeus of Miletus) to the Danube valley (Pindar) to Scythia (Aristotle), or even farther afield. The best known views placed it in the extreme ends of the earth, such as Great Britain (Hecataeus of Abdera) or the Arctic (Pomponius Mela).

Irna adds a note [22] explaining the ancient link between Romania and Hyperborea, and how the Romanian author Vasile Lovinescu (under the pen-name Geticus) had written a work entitled “Hyperborean Dacia (fr)”, which discusses the sacred geography of the Hyperboreans. Inter alia, “Geticus” states that:

… all the ancients are unanimous in asserting that the Getae [the Dacians] were a Hyperborean people ... [23]

and:

Dacia was for some millennia the "supreme center" of Hyperborea … [24]

Dacia and Hyperborea

Another website has more detail about the “centre” of Hyperborea:

The 45th parallel in general plays an extremely important parallel at which the center of the Apollonian cult of “Hyperborean Dacia” was located, what is also extremely important for researching , that the longitude of this place was 30 degrees east.

The 45 and 30 degree lines intersect at a particular point in the Black Sea, not far from the Romanian coast.

Not far from this intersection lies Snake Island, now part of Ukraine, but in antiquity the site of an important cult of Achilles. [25] (On 24th February 2022, the island was invaded by Russian warships.)

“Geticus” explains that the 30 degree line, or “vertex”:

… [the] Polus geticus , this “representation” of the Pole, exists in Romania in the Carpathians (Riphean Mountains), on Mount “Om”, and that it is still called by the people the “Axle of the World”, the “Navel of the Earth” …

Mount “Om,” aka “La Om,” is the highest ridge in the Piatra Craiului range, and lies between the mountains of Ţurţudui and Gugu. In some views, it even looks vaguely pyramid-shaped ...

So these mountains, some of them associated with mysterious events – Piatra Craiului, Ţurţudui and Gugu – are all located not too far from the all-important 30 degrees east line of longitude, the “vertex” that marked the mystical pole of ancient Dacia.

And Dacia – once consisting of a large swathe of the Balkans – was itself supposedly an off-shoot of polar Hyperborea, a mythical location that, as we have seen, nevertheless still occupies a prominent place in some present-day esoteric and philosophical circles: especially in Russia. It has been described as a concern with:

… an ancient wisdom tradition indigenous to a lost Northern proto-continent and “Golden Age” [26]

Lost Lands of Dacia

One of the most well-known Russian political philosophers of current times is, of course, Aleksandr Dugin (discussed in an earlier article), whose theories some believe might have had some influence on President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The military thinking behind this endeavour – as in the case of Crimea in 2014 – was that Russia was in effect claiming back lands that had once formed part of Russia itself: and, from the ideological point of view, reclaiming part of the “lost Northern proto-continent” of the Hyperborean Golden Age. [27]

And the rest of the lands associated with that “lost Northern proto-continent”: namely, Dacia? The present-day Balkans? Are they to be “reclaimed” as well?

In a book published some twenty-five years ago, The Foundations of Geopolitics: The Geopolitical Future of Russia, Dugin writes, inter alia, that Ukraine should be annexed, Belarus and Moldova should become part of Russia, and other countries – including Romania and “Serbian Bosnia” (part of Bosnia and Herzegovina) - should join with Moscow.

At the time of writing (May 2022), not only is Ukraine under heavy attack, but concerns are also being expressed about whether Moldova might also be under threat. And, if Moldova, other countries as well … ?

Most of this region was, to a great or lesser extent, once connected with, or part of, Dacia …

But can the ruthless brutality of modern geopolitical agendas really be fuelled by ancient myth: a myth incorporating a yearning for a Golden Age that disappeared aeons ago, though not before it had spawned a proud and ancient race from whom the inhabitants of Russia are descended? Descendants who live in a world that has degenerated from those far-off days, and made popular degenerate values – liberalism, democracy, and a tolerance of race and religion – that are anathema to those who want to recreate the lost Arctic paradise where an ancient white Aryan race once reigned supreme?

Before the Second World War, the Nazi think-tank known as the Ahnenerbe (“Ancestral Heritage”) promoted such concepts as German racial supremacy (explained by their descent from ancient Aryans). This thinking was used not only to justify Nazi policies in general, but also the particular invasion of countries to the east (“the ancient Aryans used to live here, so we’re just reclaiming what’s rightfully ours!”) [28].

Unfortunately, the Ahnenerbe’s credibility suffered something of a setback when it was discovered that they had been manufacturing evidence to back up their claims …

Nevertheless, misguided though much of their research was (and even Hitler, despite his obsession with the Holy Grail, didn’t altogether go along with their ideas about Atlantis), the ideology promoted by the Ahnenerbe played a significant role in encouraging the political and military initiatives that resulted in the unquantifiable misery, destruction and loss of life of the Second World War.

This, however, has not prevented Aleksandr Dugin from being much impressed by the Ahnenerbe, significant parts of whose philosophy underlay his 1993 book on Hyperborea. [29]

Special Russian Truth

Having spent many years studying the thinking of the Ahnenerbe and other such schools, Mr. Dugin has concluded that Russians have evolved a:

… special Russian truth ... [30]

Apparently, this “special Russian truth” might be a relative truth, and not necessarily an absolute truth: and, in any case, absolute truth might not necessarily exist …

What effect would such thinking have if applied in an historical context?

Geological Truth

In this essay, we have been looking at mountains in Romania – ancient Dacia – that were also claimed to be “pyramids,” at least partly because of a supposed resemblance to the “pyramids” in Bosnia. We discovered, however, that, as in the examples in Ukraine, there was a strong probability that the pyramidal shape of at least one of these mountains – Turtudui – was the result of geological processes.

This ties in with what we found when we previously looked at “pyramids” claimed to be on Russian soil. We discovered then that such “pyramids” were sometimes natural landscape features that were not located in the places they were supposed to be; or did not exist at all; or turned out – yet again - to be geological, and not human, artefacts.

And, retracing old ground, we were reminded of the doubtful basis for the ancient dates supposedly generated by human activity at the “pyramids” of Bosnia: hardly surprising, given that one Italian geologist – unconcerned by beams of mysterious energy and portals to locations beyond the stars - described the “Pyramid of the Sun” as:

... 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. [31]

Nevertheless, ancient Russian deities, clearly a strong-minded and tenacious pantheon, did not allow a little “continental Miocene clastic-terrigenous sedimentation” and “local and global tectonic phenomena” to get in the way of them choosing these “pyramids” as their dwelling-places … [32]

Although one might ask whether they were really Russian gods at all. Might they, for instance, have been Hyperborean, or Dacian, gods? And, if so, might Mr. Putin’s government consider that factor to be a further justification for possible future annexation of a country in which “pyramids” inhabited by deities – Russian, Hyperborean, Dacian - are located … ?

Mythological and Archaeological Truth

In this recent article, we found that philosopher Valeriy Demin, a proponent of the idea that Hyperborea was an ancient homeland in the far north, travelled to remote locations in Murmansk in search of pyramids or pyramid-shaped constructions, which inspired others to make similar efforts in such places as Crimea and Ukraine. He believed that:

... the golden age … actually took place in the Arctic. A great cataclysm … drove Hyperborean survivors to settle elsewhere ...

And it’s been further suggested that Demin thought that:

The shared features of many peoples, religions and cultures separated by significant distance – for example pyramids in Egypt, Mesoamerica, and perhaps in Bosnia – are relics from Hyperborea. [33]

Unfortunately, as Jason Colavito observes:

… it’s impossible to conclude that Hyperborea existed in a literal sense, though elements of the stories suggest that they include some transmitted knowledge of the Arctic, perhaps from Scandinavia or Siberia, including the fact that there are periods when the sun doesn’t rise or set. 

What have archaeologists actually discovered in locations supposedly linked with Hyperborea and Dacia? In Romania, human remains between 37,000 and 42,000 years old have been found in the Peștera cu Oase cave. [34] And, in Bosnia, at Gigića pećina, near Bosansko Grahovo, about 100 miles from Visoko, evidence of human activity in the Middle Palaeolithic (c. 300,000-50,000 BP), possibly the Aurignacian (43,000 to 26,000 BP) or Late Upper Palaeolithic/Epigravettian (21,000-10,000 BP) has been found. [35] Finally, in the region of the Arctic itself, we previously saw that:

... the Kola Peninsula has been inhabited since antiquity. There is evidence of settlement in the north of the peninsula (Rybachy Peninsula) during the 7th–5th millennium BCE, and of later settlement by peoples from the south (Karelia).

No Penguins in the Arctic

Every summer, troops of volunteers still head for the Balkans, intent on spending some weeks at the Bosnian “pyramids,” in the belief that they will be helping to reveeal an ancient lost civilisation that closed-minded orthodoxy obdurately refuses to recognise. But supposing those idealists – many of them young students – realised that their efforts were being directed towards fabricating a piece of window dressing that might at some point be exploited by the regime of a neighbouring power? A power whose agenda involves finding any justification – no matter how ill-founded and illusory – for invading and occupying territory supposedly inhabited by mythical ancestors from legendary Hyperborea and Dacia, resulting in untold devastation and loss of life?

Would those volunteers still go to Visocica? [36]

The view of Mr. Dugin, [37] influenced by thinkers such as Julius Evola, René Guénon and Herman Wirth, appears to be that the historical process is one of spiralling decline from a polar Golden Age: hence the justification for the formation of a new Eurasian empire, presided over by a reborn Russia, its citizens descendants of Arctic Aryans.

Contrast this view with the development of science as a whole: and, say, geological science in particular. Like other sciences, geology is a field of knowledge that, in Darwinian fashion, has evolved over time: evolved, and not declined; evolved to the stage where it can point to a collection of stone blocks and clearsightedly identify them as alternating beds of lithified bedrock, or (in the case of Visocica) as post-Miocene geomorphological modelling.

These striking landscape features are therefore the result of geological processes, rather than the work of a mysterious lost civilisation.

Despite what has on occasion been claimed, botanists and biologists know that there are no penguins in the Arctic ... [38]

And nor are there any pyramids in the Balkans.