Sign Petition for Florence Hartmann

A true heroine of our age, Florence Hartmann deserves your attention and support. This brave lady has stood up against geostrategic powers. She simply acted in compliance with her consciousness, and out of her heart, which happened to be against imperialistic supremacy as well. Learn first-hand why we all still live in the darkness of the 19th century, regardless the glamour and colors of false hopes such as the UN or the US. The strings are being pulled by English royals and their masonic puppeteers. Learn also what sorts of human scum wears judges' robes these days, judges who may be no better than those who once blindly served one chancellor of Germany and his "laws".

Learn and remember this: since vast majority of people are innately good at heart, every dictatorship needs appearance of legality, and therefore writes up own sets of laws and "laws" alike. It's up to us on the receiving end of their arrogant mercy, to distinguish the true from false "laws". The false ones are scarce but far more dangerous for a society than anything you could ever imagine... This petition is about your uprising against one and all of the "laws" of our World. More specifically yet, it's about liberating a potential political prisoner from the reach of a western albeit obviously antidemocratic "law".

Don't just wait for history to happen so you can "read all about it". Instead, write it yourself: sign the petition to save Florence Hartmann from an absolutely insane prosecution:

http://www.caseflorencehartmann.org/

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See also a blog on how GEOSTRATEGY has been affecting Bosnia for well over 1500 years (closely related to the pyramids story): http://bosniafordummies.blogspot.com/

Visočica: the lost city of Hedum Castellum

One of the great mysteries of archaeology of Bosnia is the story of a lost Illyrian city that the Romans destroyed during Third Illyrian War (see the article of September 2nd). Namely, Roman records refer to this city in a brief note stating that, in year A.D. 20, the Romans had connected this (newly conquered) city via road with the city of Salina [near today's Split in Croatia] some 230 km away, which then places this lost Illyrian city in the Visoko area. After finally conquering Illyria in A.D. 9, the Romans settled in the area, calling the city Hedum Castellum Daesitiatium. Indeed, remains were found in the inner Bosnia of the Roman settlements from after they conquered Illyria proper (Bosnia), so there are several candidate-locations for Hedum Castellum. Though records are missing on Roman settlements from times prior to Third Illyrian War, even incomplete sources such as the Bojanovski's review paper (see article of 12 September) state indeed that for instance the Roman legionaries likely built such military posts in Bosnia before Third Illyrian War. Bojanovski then goes on to say that the Romans used topography-dominant peaks for their military posts in general, from where they could oversee entire valleys, as well as establish their light-signaling communication systems. He even lists some of those peaks located in central Bosnia, noting correctly that some of them resemble semi-pyramids. He noted that the Illyrians preferred building their settlements on the dominant terrain, due to the geopolitical situation of Bosnia (located at various crossroads), so frequent looting by invading aggressors required building refugee settlements, for which the Bosnian hills naturally offered best protection.

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Clearly, even the Bojanovski paper as a rare overview source on Visoko in the Antiquity goes in favor of my suggestion. Thus it's entirely plausible that Visočica and the complex of surrounding hills actually represent an area of ancient Illyrian (terraced) settlements that the Romans had conquered, destroyed and subsequently reconfigured for military purposes.

Source on Visoko supports my suggestion

As it turns out, the person under alias "Stultitia", who earlier contributed his/her comments to this blog, has indeed posted a scan of a book on Visoko history, as promised. But it turned out to be rather a paper collection than a book, titled "Visoko and the surroundings through history - Part One" [image]. It does contain however a Dr. Bojanovski's paper on the Antiquity era. But as I expected (browse comments in this blog for complete discussions), and as the very book says it in the editorial introduction on p.6 [see image below], modern knowledge on the Roman period in Visoko area is extremely scarce. In addition, the source warns that Dr. Bojanovski's paper is a rather unreliable and rare text on the subject. This strengthens the case for my idea on Visoko and other Bosnian hills as having been shaped (i.e., their slopes cleaned, ironed and oriented) during the (co-)Roman eras. Note that the book even recognizes (see bold text in the caption) the geopolitical importance of the Visoko area to the Romans as an already established scientific fact. Thus my idea doesn't run in parallel with historical science, but it's rather a legitimate expansion on what's already known as the scientific truth on Visoko history in terms of geostrategy. Of course, this conclusion is entirely independent of what Bojanovski's paper actually says, since it's not simply the validity of the paper itself that the editors questioned (they wouldn't have included it if that was the case!). Instead, their objection concerned the paper's depth and reliability - both being troubles at a general level; thus their objection is a useful mast of my claim.

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English: "Geographically, the term 'Visoko and the surroundings' or 'Visoko area' (or 'Visoko' for short, as used in this book), refers mainly to the Visoko municipal borders as they are defined today [1970-ies]. And that is the area of the medieval county or principality of Bosnia, i.e. Bosnia in one of the narrowest meanings. Deviations occurred only in those chapters and topics where, due to lack of material, or because of specificity of cultural-historic events, it was not possible to get an appropriate picture - not even approximately so - unless somewhat wider regions of upper Bosnia were considered as well. Such is the case with the topic on prehistoric metal eras and - especially - the chapter on the Roman rule, authored by Dr. Ivo Bojanovski. The textual extent of that (second) chapter requires a separate explanation. The Antiquity period has been very poorly researched in the immediate vicinity of Visoko; besides, the importance of this era is highlighted by the fact that it was precisely during the Roman rule when the first reliable proofs appear of a wider Visoko valley being one of the most important geopolitical spots of Bosnia."

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A major consequence of my idea then is that the Illyrian-Bosnian civilization built terraces on the Visočica and surrounding hills' slopes. This becomes even highly probable given that the Dacians (today's Romanians) also built terraced cities, just a few thousand kilometers to the east from Bosnia. Besides, the Dacians and the Illyrians were neighbors and contemporaries too, so probably same builders and engineering concepts were involved in soliciting and construction of those habitats in both civilizations. Also, it can be expected that both civilizations had suffered the same type of destruction that would have been conducted in a similar manner and by the same invader - the Roman Empire.

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Two crucial material points however where the Bojanovski's review paper provides support for my suggestion are as follows. First, the paper references a Roman source claiming that Third Illyrian War was so heavy that at places - narrow valleys of central Bosnia in particular - "battles were conducted using bare hands", while the enemy was referred to as "very brave and able in the art of war". Thus it's only logical to expect of the Romans to have committed horrendous acts of violence, purely out of revenge to such a difficult foe the Illyrians had been; especially given what's now known on how the Dacians were punished for the same sort of resistance a century later. Second, Bojanovski mentions that one of the reasons why there are no whole finds from the Antiquity in Bosnia is because "they were destroyed in the migration of peoples in 5th and 6th century". Note this terminology was entirely in the spirit of the 1980-ies (Serb-dominated) communist Yugoslavia. Of course, what was meant was actually the gruesome genocidal acts by the penetrating Slavic hordes, which is the truth that neither he nor anyone else in Bosnia was allowed to speak up until now.

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Note: See my other blog for more on geopolitical aspects of the Visoko region:

http://bosniafordummies.blogspot.com/

GEOSTRATEGY - won't find it in Britannica

"Geostrategy, a subfield of geopolitics, is a type of foreign policy guided principally by geographical factors as they inform, constrain, or affect political and military planning. As with all strategies, geostrategy is concerned with matching means to ends—in this case, a country's resources (whether they are limited or extensive) with its geopolitical objectives (which can be local, regional, or global). According to Gray and Sloan, geography is "the mother of strategy." Geostrategists, as distinct from geopoliticians, advocate proactive strategies, and approach geopolitics from a nationalist point-of-view. As with all political theories, geostrategies are relevant principally to the context in which they were devised: the nationality of the strategist, the strength of his or her country's resources, the scope of their country's goals, the political geography of the time period, and the technological factors that affect military, political, economic, and cultural engagement." (Wikipedia)

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Isn't it remarkable indeed that GEOSTRATEGY, a word so important and so frequently cited (Google returns: 100,000) cannot be found in a high-esteemed encyclopedia such as the most famous and most praised one of them all - the Britannica? As I mentioned it earlier: in science, things omitted can matter more than things considered. Thus is the case with the Britannica that, to make things even weirder, does report on strategy - from the battlefield to the national level - but stops short of reporting on geostrategy as the "strategy of all strategies". It's with this thought in mind that I write this blog. My goal is to expose those geostrategies that are the culprit behind the millennial suffering of the Bosnian people. I started one month ago today, with a curious case of the "Bosnian pyramids" and the surprising involvement of Russia's geostrategist Khavroshkin. Unfortunately, as it turned out by now, not only that the case isn't about archaeology at all, but it isn't about the corruption of Bosnian officials either; the two (too obvious) views held mostly by people who possess admirable education, but in a field unrelated to geostrategy. [Photo below: a snap of the "Foundation of Bosnian Pyramid" official Web site; note the Russian dating system on the computer used in maintaining the site.]

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Just as the Romans had shaped some Bosnian hills (probably used as terraced habitats by the Illyrian and to them contemporary civilizations such as the Dacians) for geostrategy reasons, the event that followed the fall of Rome - the horrors of the Slavic-Serbian expansionism - had to do with geostrategy as well. In fact, apart from the British animosity to Vatican, the Slavic expansion westward from the Drina River is the single most important outside factor that shapes Bosnia's destiny, today as ever - starting some 1500 years ago. In simple terms, applied geostrategy (that's been strangling Bosnia for over two millennia now) is actually a series of advancements in the field, made by one or more nations in order to obtain advantage over another nation whose resources, man power, or both are seen by the culprit nations as an obstacle to their own geostrategic advancements. Obviously, being situated at a crossroads of mutually confronted groups of nations (interest zones) it's quite possible that Bosnia is the most "unfortunate" of all places on Earth, and a critical point where the system of international law either flourishes or collapses entirely.

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But geostrategy is a serious subject on its own merits, so now I conclude this blog and start a new one: http://bosniafordummies.blogspot.com/. Be it noted in the end that the disbelief that some may feel while reading this and the successor blog can be related to one's high expectations. May they rest assured however that it's never the Nobelists (except for "Peace Prize" recipients) who create murderous geostrategies. It's the average type of minds (often absorbed by their own career goals) that create geostrategies! Actually, greatest minds of our time, such as Nikola Tesla have mostly acted as foes to geostrategists, falling under the magnifying glass of secret services of all kinds. On the opposite end stood people like Henry Kissinger. Obviously, no big brains involved in the latter group really, just a bunch of warmongers accompanied by their sales people in the field: spies and wannabe thinkers... Then, simplest concepts apply.

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Ah, what a great place the world could have been!

Serbs, from Drač 478 to Srebrenica 1995

NOTE: this article is based largely on:

J.B. Bury, History of the Late Roman Empire, Macmillan & Co. Ltd., London

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The Slavs are first mentioned under that name in the 4th century by Byzantine bishop Caesarius, who describes them as inhabitants of today's Belarus and Ukraine. In order to understand who Serbs are however, and what it is that they want in Bosnia today, as well as to explain why they behave so barbarically even in the 21st century one has to know the basics of their history and origins. And only by penetrating deep into their collective psychic, will one be able to realize the way their geopolitical mind ticks today... Surprisingly, as you will read in what follows, it does it in the exact same manner as two millennia ago.

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Let it be noted at the outset that the contemporary version of history of Serbs is almost entirely made up, in all of its geopolitical aspects. The leading Serb nationalist, academician Dobrica Ćosić [right], often called "Father of the nation", took a moment of his own soberness on one occasion, and admitted "We, the Serbs, lie inventively, we lie imaginatively, and we do it like no other people can." Indeed, Serbian and serbofile historians initially invented a story of Slav presence in the Balkans as early as 3rd century. For instance, a Byzantine historian Procopius claimed that the original name of the Sclavenes was Spo/roi. Though no one with brains would ever see any logics in his claim, still two serbofiles, Dobrovsky and Šafarik, readily added that this was "a corruption of Srbi (Serbs)", thus describing one obvious nonsense with another. Not only that this was a scientific fallacy, but as J.B. Bury says: "Thesis maintained by Šafarik and Drinov, and defended by Jirežek, that Slavs had begun to settle into the Balkan Peninsula already in the third century A.D., and that the Carpi and Kostoboks were Slavonic peoples, must be rejected as resting on insufficient evidence." This was the first attempt at falsifying Serb history; fortunately it failed. Indeed, one after other, all Serbian myths fell apart by now...

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The Slavs started showing up in the Balkans in the 6th-7th century, but there lies a fallacy again: while Serbian historians maintain this was a case of "a migration", in fact it was (and still is, as we speak) the case of bloodthirsty invasion; what Serbs did to civilians of Srebrenica in 1995 [right] for example, was no different than what they did to unarmed civilians of Drač in 548. Also, those first invading hordes were not numerous; they were esteemed by their terrified enemies far larger than they actually were, due to unprecedented atrocities they regularly committed. The fate of the populations the Slavs would attack was to be partly exterminated, partly enslaved, and sometimes transplanted from one territory to another, while the women became a prey to the lusts of the conquerors. (For example, Hitler was fascinated with Slavic barbarism and incorporated their methods of cruelty into his SS-units and the "final solution" strategy for all non-Germanic peoples). The peasants were so systematically plundered by the Slavs that they were often forced to abandon the rearing of cattle and reduced to vegetarianism. On one reported occasion in the 6th century, while careful to avoid the Roman legions, Slavs attacked in just a few months numerous cities populated by unarmed civilians, including today's city of Drač in Albania where they killed 7000 men and boys in just two days, while enslaving and raping the women and children. While similarity with Srebrenica of 1995 is simply staggering, Drač was just one amongst thousands upon thousands of the recorded and supposed cases of Slavic genocides from the Antiquity until today. Another example of cowardly massacres was a Serbian genocide of up to 20.000 unarmed civilians in just one day in several cities along the Black Sea coast in the 7th century...

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Just how cruel the Slavs [horde pictured right] were is described by Procopius who in 550 AD sums up the situation: "Illyricum and Thrace, from the Ionian Sea to the suburbs of Byzantium, were overrun almost every year since Justinian's accession to the throne [527 AD] by Huns, Sclavenes, and Antae, who dealt atrociously with the inhabitants. In every invasion I suppose that about 200,000 Roman subjects were killed or enslaved; the whole land became a sort of Scythian desert." Counting some 20 years since Justinian took the throne till the above report was written, it turns out that, in just a few decades, these savages had massacred around 4 million people! This compares to the present-day demographics of 100 million people, which is the total number of deaths from both World Wars together! And as Procopius and other sources note, of all three tribes Slavs committed the most gruesome crimes too. Unbelievable as it may sound, but no such thing as Slav-horde atrocities was ever reported in any textbook in the fmr. Yugoslavia's school system! What a taboo that was! Instead, Serbian historians regularly regarded Slavs as "peaceful, migrating people, who lived from cattle and land cultivation", and the period between the Antiquity and Ottoman occupation of the Balkans as "the dark times of which little is known". This clearly shows that a collective mind of legitimizing atrocities committed by Serbs has been well and alive for the past few centuries, and it can only be expected that the latest genocide their collective has committed in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo from 1991-1997 will once again be pardoned by their top intellectuals, such as the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SANU) in Belgrade. Granted, those intellectuals must be well aware of what their stock really is like. But, why the Serbs remain so wild and uncivilized till this day? To answer this question we must return in time to their very beginnings...

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One of the obscure but most important consequences of the great battle of the Netad (which dissolved the empire of Attila the Hun - pictured left) was the westward and southward expansion of the Slavs towards the Elbe and towards the Danube. The prehistoric home of the Slavs was in the marshlands of the river Pripet, which flows into the Dniepr north of Kiev. This unhealthy district (even then, but today even more infamous for the Chernobyl nuclear disaster), known as Polesia, hardly half as large as England, is now inhabited by White Russians of Belarus and Ukraine. Being the Europe's largest swamp, it could produce little corn as it could only be cultivated in spots, and it was so entirely unsuitable for cattle that the Serbs had no native words for cattle or milk. They reared swine, but their food chiefly consisted of fish and the manna-grass which grows freely in the marshy soil. The nature of the territory, impeding free and constant intercourse, hindered the establishment of political unity. The Slavs of Polesia didn't form a state; they had no king; they lived in small isolated village groups, under patriarchal government. Their history, from the earliest times, was a true tragedy, close to be called a horror story. Their proximity to the steppes of Southern Russia exposed them as a prey to the Asiatic mounted nomads who successively invaded and occupied the lands between the Don and the Dniester.

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Living as they did, they couldn't combine against these enemies who plundered them and carried them off as slaves (hence the term serf in late Roman records, from Latin servus for servant or slave, which the Serbian infamous nationalist Vuk Karadžić took to mean Serb). They could only protect themselves by hiding in the forest or in the waters of their swamps. They built their huts with several doors to facilitate escape when danger threatened; they hid their belongings, which were as few as possible, in the earth (in zemunicas). They could elude a foe by diving under the water and lying for hours on the bottom, breathing through a long reed, which only the most experienced pursuers could detect. Thus their early history is marked by great deal of cowardliness imprinted in their psyche, which unavoidably and critically reflected upon how they executed their military affairs - by attacking civilians only, while murdering unarmed men and boys, and committing mass rapes of women and children. As if their own horror (life of a hunted game) wasn't enough, they even encountered additional causes to a true syndrome of collective psychopathic disorder that the tribe known as Serbs exhibits to this day.

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Namely, after the Slavs began to spread silently beyond the borders of Polesia, northward, eastward, and southward, in the 4th century they were conquered by Hermanric, king of the Ostrogoths, and included in his extensive realm. They enjoyed a brief interlude of German tyranny instead of nomad raids; then the Huns appeared and they were exposed once more to the oppression which had been their secular lot. They had probably learned much from the Goths; but when they emerged at length into the full light of history in the 6th century, they still retained most of the characteristics which their life in Polesia had impressed upon them. They lived far apart from one another in wretched hovels; though they had learned to act together, they did not abandon their freedom to the authority of a king. Revolting against military discipline, they had no battle array and seldom met a foe in the open field. Their arms were a shield, darts, and poisoned arrows. They were perfidious, for no compact could bind them all; but they are praised for their hospitality to strangers and for the fidelity of their women. (Indeed we can confirm that these are the individual Serbs as we know them today too, so it cannot be that the collective Serbs are any different today than what was the case then, either).

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As one might expect, they had no common name. Slav, by which we designate all the various peoples who spread far and wide in Eastern Europe from the original Polesian home, comes from Slovene, which appears originally to have been a local name attached to a particular group dwelling at a place called Slovy; and the fortunes of the name are due to the fact that this group was among the first to come into contact with the Roman Empire, mostly as intruders, looters and murderous hordes. Before the reign of Justinian of 527 AD these Sclavenes [today's Serbians and Croatians], as Procopius calls them (and Vuk Karadžić - on the left - maliciously translates in the 18th century as "Serbs", subsequently naming Croatians "Catholic Serbs" and Bosnians "Mohammedan Serbs"), had along with another kindred people, the Antae [today mixed into southern Serbians, Macedonians and Bulgarians], settled neighborhood of the Bulgarians, along the banks of the Lower Danube. Antae is not a Slavonic name, and it's not unlikely that they were a Slavonic tribe which had been conquered and organized by a non-Slavonic people — somewhat as in later times the Slavs of Moesia [Vojvodina, and north of today's Sandžak] were conquered by the Bulgarians and took their name of Sclavenes. However this may be, these new neighbors of the Roman Empire now began to exchange the role of victims for that of plunderers.

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Like the Huns, the Sclavenes supplied auxiliaries for the Eastern Roman army. Along with the Huns they were always watching for an opportunity to cross the Danube and plunder the Roman provinces Illyria [Bosnia, Croatia, Albania], Thracia [Serbia, Bulgaria] and Dacia [Romania]. In A.D. 540 the Bulgarians with a host exceptionally huge devastated the peninsula from sea to sea. They forced their way through the Long Wall and spread terror to the suburbs of the capital. They then occupied Chersonesus [near today's Sevastopol, Ukraine], and some of them even crossed the Hellespont [Dardanelles] and ravaged the opposite coast. They laid waste Thessaly and Northern Greece; the Peloponnesus was saved by the fortifications of the Isthmus so it seems Slavs were not well-versed in siegecraft. Many of the castles and walled towns did fall into their hands however, and their captives were numbered by tens of thousands. This experience moved Justinian to undertake the construction of an extensive system of fortifications. Soon after this invasion a quarrel broke out between the Sclavenes and the Antae, and Justinian seized the opportunity to inflame their rivalry by offering to the Antae a settlement at Turris, an old foundation of Trajan on the further side of the Lower Danube, where as federates of the Empire, in receipt of annual subsidies, they should act as a bulwark against the Bulgarians. The proposal was accepted, as in the subsequent invasions the Antae have taken no part. In A.D. 545 the Sclavenes were thoroughly defeated in Thrace by an elderly Roman general Narses. But they were not to be stopped.

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Three years later the same marauders devastated Illyricum as far as Dyrrhachium [Drač in today's Albania], and in 549 AD a band of 3000 penetrated to the Hebrus [Maritsa - the longest river in the Balkans], where they divided into two parties, of which one ravaged Illyricum and the other Thrace. The maritime city of Topirus was taken, and the cruelties committed by the Sclavenes exceed in atrocity all that is recorded of the invasions of the Huns of Attila. In the following summer the Sclavenes came again, intending to attack Thessalonica, but [a general of the Byzantine Empire] Germanus Justinus happened to be at Sardica [today's Sofia], making preparations to take reinforcements to Italy. The terror of his name diverted the Slavs from their southward course and they invaded Dalmatia [today's Bosnia]. Permanent Slavonic settlements on Imperial soil were not to begin till about twenty years after (eastern) Emperor Justinian's death of 565 AD, but the genocidal atrocities described above were only the prelude to the territorial occupation which was to determine the future history of south-eastern Europe as we know it today.

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It follows from the above that not only Serbian historians are mainly lying today still, but the only geopolitical goal that the Serbs have in Bosnia today as yesterday is to move their habitat frontier from the river Drina on to the west. They will spare no one and nothing for their goal [photos above, 1943, and right, 1993] as that seems to be inscribed in their genetic code. They are a psychopathic tribe that became such after millennia of their own tragedy turning them savages of the worst kind. And they have remained thus until this day. Hence the leading Serbian intellectual of today, academician Milorad Ekmečić, tells in his recent address to the SANU Academy in August 2007:

"The historical foundations on which the Republika Srpska was designed as a remnant of the remnants of the Serbian ethnic territory west from Drina River represent a historical constant of Republika Srpska's existence in the future. Republika Srpska draws its right to existence from this legitimate foundation, regardless of how much, from the moral point of view, it is a result of the violation of all international norms of the western states that were deciding on [its creation]". Clearly, he justifies the means by the goal, stating that all means are allowed for their territorial aspirations. A criminal mind Hitler would gladly employ as his Reichminister!

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Ekmečić [pictured left-middle, SANU in session], a harmless-looking yet Nazi-minded "Eichmann of the Balkans" (often accompanied by other genocidal minds such as academician Dobrica Ćosić and academician Nenad Kecmanović), has thus spoken up culprit thinking in its purest form; at the same time mocking the civilization values to which Serbia officially abides (pledging to join the EU). This man is considered the "brain" of a 9-million nation of Serbians. He also used to be a member of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia-Herzegovina; prior to the latest Genocide of 1992 when he escaped to Belgrade. Let it be mentioned in the end, with sadness, that there's no professional help for collectively demented peoples. As history teaches us, in instances when such a total collective dementia should arise, the brutal physical restraint remains the only successful method of deterrence. Looking back at the Serbs' history, one can see that over the past centuries the Serbs have simply sacrificed many dozens of their own political and military leaders (Milošević being the latest) in order to get to where they are right now. It tells of their culprit nature as a most heinous one, and exposes them as having a crucial strategic goal – a well defined agenda (of permanent territorial expansion). After the ridiculous 2007 verdict by the International Criminal Court in Hague, it's very obvious that Europe never learned the history lesson of the 1930-ies. By padding the beast on its shoulders for the past decade or so, Europe thus stays firmly a course to repeating her own horrendous history once again.

Third Illyrian War (Bosnia, 6 - 9 AD)

After conquering the Kingdom of Illyria (officially in 168 BC, but effectively around 30 BC), the Romans established their occupationist administration, and instated compulsory military service for local men (non-Roman citizens) who thus composed the so-called auxiliary troops or auxilia. They were used mostly for hardest roles on the battlefield, such as for light-armed infantry [left], archers and cavalry [below]. The largest auxiliary units in Illyria proper were the Breucorum regiment in northern Bosnia composed of Breuci tribe (from Brčko and southward), the Delmatarum regiment composed of Dalmatae tribe (from southern Bosnia and the coast of the Illyrian Sea), the Latobicorum regiment composed of Latobici tribe (along the Sava river), and the Authoitarum regiment composed of Autariatae tribe (from central Bosnia and Sandžak in today's eastern Serbia). Physiologically distinct features of the anthropological type inhabiting those areas remain preserved until this day. This is the crucial proof in favor of the Wilkes's assertion that no "Romanization", "Hellenization" (and by extension, no "Slavicization") had ever taken place in Bosnia.

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In year 6 AD, the Dalmatarum regiment from southern Bosnia was called up in preparations for a campaign under the emperor Augustus against Germans who threatened Italy from northeast. Once gathered however, the soldiers began demanding more rights as well as pay increase. The Illyrians knew the Romans would never accept those demands, so they were basically using the Romans just to provide arms and logistics for another cause... Namely, since the Romans had disarmed them entirely just a few decades earlier, it was only in this way that the Illyrians could have succeeded in a war for liberation. Indeed, after getting hold of arms and supplies, the Dalmatarum regiment soon was joined by the Breucorum regiment from the north, and wide-range military operations were initiated. Those tribes that had rejected any Roman authority, such as Daesitiates and Andisetes from central Bosnia, supplied their able men. Entire Bosnia and Sandžak burst in flames as the dreamed-about freedom for Illyria seemed to be coming at long last.

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A Roman historian Suetonius writes of the Roman campaign to stop the freedom fighters: "When the revolt of Illyricum was reported, [then-general and heir to the throne] Tiberius [stepson of emperor Augustus] was transferred to the charge of a new war, the most serious of all foreign wars since those with Carthage [the Punic Wars of two centuries earlier], which he carried on for three years with fifteen legions and a corresponding force of auxiliaries, amid great difficulties of every kind and the utmost scarcity of supplies." Note the historian's disposition on this war, where he downplays it as a "revolt" instead of war for liberation; similarity with the present-day liberation wars in Palestine and Iraq, where the western media and historians alike address the issue as a matter of rebellion, is staggering. Identically, mainstream historians treat this Third Illyrian War as a mere rebellion too, despite the fact that Suetonius is generally recognized as a reliable source, and that he qualifies the war as being at the same level of difficulty for the Rome as the Punic Wars (that make it to every history textbook).

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In order to compose more troops, the Romans recruited all convicted criminals and peasants available throughout Italy. They then resorted to the compulsory purchase and emancipation of thousands of slaves in provinces outside Italy too. The war was becoming extremely serious, threatening to weaken the Italy's eastern frontier and open it to the German tribes who sought to unite with Illyrians and conquer Rome thereby securing Germania and Illyria forever. The Romans finally managed to put together some 200,000-strong army that included many Thracians/Dacians. (The Romans were well-versed in "divide and rule" tactics, using neighboring tribes to fight each other, so that in the coming campaign against Dacia one century later the Romans under emperor Trajan used Illyrians to fight against Dacians as well as against Syrians). The Roman losses were just unbearable in Bosnia, mostly due to a bitter guerilla war in the Bosnian mountains. The climate conditions only increased the losses as the war took place in the middle of the Antiquity's wettest period in the Mediterranean climate dynamics, lasting from 100 BC to 300 AD. Since this could have only prolonged Bosnian harsh winters, and since the Roman army rested during the winter, the war took three years of extreme fighting and large setbacks for the aggressor before the Illyrians were finally subdued. While the outcome is known (the Romans had finally occupied Illyria/Bosnia in 9 AD), there are no available documents describing the actual battles in Bosnia during those calamity years, or describing the Roman revenge to Bosnians for such a colossal back-stabbing, a reprisal that most certainly would have been horrific. This is in contrast to the situation we have with the well-documented records of Roman campaigns to conquer other provinces such as Dacia, as well as records of the Romans' acts of vengeance (see article of 26 August).

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By entering into geopolitical-strategic alliances with Germans (against the Rome), the Illyrians-Bosnians obviously had proven to be anything but "slow-witted". This exposes the Romanic and Hellenic historic sources on Illyria as largely unreliable in treating Illyria proper, which is again remarkably similar to the present-day treatments of Bosnia by Serbia's, Croatia's and other regional historic sources as well. Bosnian history must finally get into the hands of Bosnia's historians and people. To that effect, I hereby make the concluding remark of this article: the etymology of the word Andisete (a tribesman from central Bosnia) is suggested by some to be rooted in andén (Spanish for platform, or a terrace in the context of high topography; some historians claim that the Andes mountain chain in South America could have been named by first Conquistadors after the terraces of Incas; however, alternative plausible explanations exist as well). No detailed record on the Illyrian tribe of Andisetes survives to this day. Given the extensive surviving account of the Roman destruction of terraced cities in Dacia one century later (see article of 26 August), Visočica and the surrounding hills might as well be the place where the Andisetes had built their terraced cities and subsequently had been named accordingly by pre-Roman Indo-European-speaking sources. Alternatively, the word Andisetes could also stem from andron (Latin for an aisle, a corridor) in which case it could have been the Romans that had named the Andisetes (after terraces resembling aisles)... Not less importantly, in terms of geopolitics the Visoko area would have been a most probable locale for an entirely separate tribe, as Visoko is situated at the meeting point of the three largest Bosnian tribes' territories: the Autariatae, the Breuci, and the Dalmatae [see the map above; note that a Roman geopolitical map is easily recognized as it shows just the strategically most significant (largest and most spread out) tribes]. This would assign to the Andisetes a geoposition which is slightly removed from what's reported by other sources (listing them a few 100 km to the east - at the left banks of river Drinus/Drina); however, this sort of location inaccuracy amongst different Antiquity sources and maps is quite common.

Illyrians or slaves, not Slavs!

Two great misconceptions, mostly malicious (nationalist-chauvinist-driven), reign the historical sciences in the western-Balkans for the last two and a half centuries. The first misconception concerns the never-ending disputation between the Albanian and the Serbian school. While the former school claims Albanians to be the last (only authentic?) surviving Illyrians, the latter claims not only that Albanians are Thracians (i.e., not Illyrians) but it also says that no such people as Illyrians has ever existed, instead contending that the locals were all Slav/Serb because ancient sources are filled with references to "sclavs" and "serfs"... The second misconception is related to the first, and it concerns the issue of who the Slavs were (or weren't) in the Balkans before the national awakening of the 18th century... The reason for the two schools being so unapologetic lies in the possible answers to the crucial question they thus pose: Whose is the western Balkans? But being so extreme, neither of those two views seems very authentic; besides, no other interested parties living in the area have ever been asked for their opinion on the above two fundamental disputes that can (and do - as we speak) have great repercussions on lives of millions. At the same time, both schools oppose wholeheartedly and fight fiercely any idea of Bosnia-centered Illyria, even though the idea is supported by a world's leading authority on Illyrians, Professor of Roman and Greek archaeology John Wilkes (the author of "The Illyrians", Oxford Press 2000).

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The first dispute is dealt with easily just by stacking ancient maps in time. Thus by looking at the Ptolemy's Map [on the left] one can see that (province of) Illyria was alive and well just around year 100 AD, i.e. about the time the legend of Christ took roots. Following the situation as it developed, some centuries later there it is yet again [on the right] - amongst other Roman provinces including the conquered Dacia (today's Romania). What's curious about this however is that of all the provinces shown on the maps, only the detailed records on how Illyria was conquered are missing, unlike say the well-documented conquest of Dacia (see article of 26 August). However, it's not just that military papers are mysteriously lost, but according to Wilkes "even today Illyrians barely make the footnotes in most versions of ancient history" as well. Indeed, with exception of a partly preserved appendix on Illyrian wars, by Appian of Alexandria (95-165 AD), there is virtually no complete account available on (the conquest of) Illyria!

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Wilkes supports the concept of a Bosnia-centered Illyria, proposing that it's actually Bosnia, not Albania, which was (the center of) Illyria. This is also obvious from the maps shown here. It's rather a mystery how Bosnia, so prominent and nearby the Rome itself, could have gotten omitted from most texts from/on the Roman Empire. He writes of Illyrians:

(1) "...A separate group of Illyrians identified by renowned historian Geza Alfoldy: he identifies 'Pannonian peoples' in Bosnia, northern Montenegro [around Pljevlja and Prijepolje, p.84] and western Serbia [Sandžak]". p.75

(2) "Not much reliance should perhaps be placed on attempts to identify an Illyrian anthropological type as short and dark-skinned similar to modern Albanians." p.219

(3) "...a documented description of Illyrians, Pannonian family: -Pannonians are tall and strong, always ready for a fight and to face dangeour but slow-witted." p.219

(4) "Life has always been hard in the Illyrian lands and countless wars of resistance against invaders are testimony to the durability of their populations." p.220

(5) "In sum, the destructive impact [of Bosnia-centred theory] on the earlier generalizations regarding Illyrians should be regarded as a step forward." p.40.

The Illyrians-Bogomils-Bosniaks continuity is self-evident as the above finds coincide with the settlements of today's Bosniaks (the Muslims of the Balkans). Note ancient maps [above] corroborating the early Antiquity-Ottoman Empire continuity too: there [left] you can see that, of the entire western Balkans, only Bosnia was called Illyria (proper) with own Sea called Illyricum Mare (part of a larger, Adriatic - Emperor Hadrian's Sea). It can be also seen that during the whole time of their independence, Illyrians had a coast from today's Dubrovnik to Šibenik. This simply continued (wasn't given to Bosnia by anyone!) during the entire period of Middle Ages [right], after the Holy See helped establish Kingdom of Bosnia just like many other European kingdoms that Vatican designed so to replace the fallen Roman Empire with a kingdoms-padded geopolitical shield protecting Rome for millennia to come - if you can't have one huge empire any more, then have a number of loyal and small nonetheless resilient states instead. Given that there are more than 200 scholastic theories on why the Empire fell (meaning no one has a slightest clue as to why it happened), it could also be that it never has fallen but was transformed (in the above described manner) instead.

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Contrary to common belief, for the most part of their long history Illyrians/Bosnians had a strong fleet, brave infantry, and able generals. As immediate neighbors of the Romans and Greeks, they were enormously envied however. Therefore no Roman or Greek record referred to the Illyrians in any other way except as "pirates", "thieves", "barbarians", "rebels" or even "sclavs" and "serfs" (Lat. sclavo = Slav; serf = servus = slave, later on 'exiled Russian slave'), both terms used by the Romans as insult only, i.e., long before the 6th century when real Slav hordes began attacking and committing mass murder of thousands of Illyrians at a time, always careful not to encounter the Roman legions but only unarmed civilians (thus "softening" the Roman defenses that semi-relied on non-Italian recruits in Illyria and Thracia; before moving the border of civilizations westward to Drina River and on). Probably, the insults were part of the first geopolitical game ever played in the Antiquity, where both Rome and Greece played on the card of a well-known geopolitical fact that your immediate neighbor is your enemy, and that your immediate neighbor's neighbor is your natural ally. Similarly, later on, in the 18th century, Serbian nationalists will claim that all "sclav" and "serf" ever mentioned in the Antiquity were actually Serbs. (In the same grabbing manner they simplistically and systematically translated all appearances of 'Sclavoniae' in Latin texts, as 'Serbia(n)'.) Thus it's Serbian relentless nationalism that makes it important to set the record straight - today more than ever. Hence etymology of the word 'sclav' is completely unrelated to what's contended, so Serbia's historians cannot claim Slavic heritage from the ancient times for any of the peoples westward from the Drina, just like Albanians cannot claim their exclusive, pure-Illyrian heritage either. The real (and the only statistically significant) Slavs that exist in Bosnia nowadays are the Bosnian Orthodox (self-styled "Bosnian Serbs" although most are born in Bosnia) whose immediate ancestors (up to third knee) largely moved in from Serbia and Croatia during the last ninety years or so, thanks to Austria's and Serbia's administrations trying to Christianize the domestic Illyrian population.

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No wonder both (and only) the Serbian and Albanian schools largely dismiss Wilkes (thus giving him an enormous credibility), for Wilkes says it's hard to believe Bosnian-Illyrian tribes were "Romanized", "Hellenized", etc. This however is what the Serbian school needs desperately so that they too can claim that the same tribes had been also "Slavicized" after the fall of the Western Roman Empire and into the Mid Ages. Everyday experience however teaches us that assimilation of entire peoples/tribes under occupation is practically impossible, and can instead be expected to occur only in individuals moving to a foreign land. The maximum extent to which assimilation is able to get is already known from everyday life, the best example being our present-day diaspora: our refugees who got entirely surrounded by foreign language adopt that language as quickly as by 2nd generation. On the other hand, an occupation is an occupation is... then as nowadays - take for instance the Ottoman occupation of Bosnia (1453-1878) during which time Bosnians acquired only religion from their occupationists, but not their culture, tradition, or language for that matter. It has been suggested that Bosnians had attained language from the Slavs, and religion from the Turks, but it's a fact that they had never adopted both from the both. This arbitrariness is an important circumstantial evidence that "Romanization", "Hellenization", "Slavization", "Turkization", or "Germanization" were all practically impossible in Bosnia! Finally, if such "izations" were at all possible, why is it that the Bosnians adopted neither religion nor language from the Austrian occupationists too? The relatively shorter duration of that occupation compared to the other two occupations cannot be the answer because say the Roman occupation had lasted much longer than any other, yet most of the Illyrians-Bosnians had adopted neither Latin language nor Catholic religion, not to mention Roman culture, art or tradition.

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Also, as Wilkes suggests, given the military mindedness of the Illyrians [royal armor shown above, soldier's armor on the left], as well as their vigilance and resistance to numerous conquerors through ages, it can be said with high certainty that today's Bosnians [Bosnian Muslims and Catholics] are direct descendants of the Illyrians who never "disappeared" or "got assimilated". Add to this the non-stop putting-down of Bosnians (via jokes akin of those on "slow-witted" Illyrians) that continues to this day and is mostly favored in Serbia and Croatia (same as in Greece and Rome a few millennia ago). Namely, this is an anecdotal evidence for validity of the Bosnia-centered theory of Illyria. Be it noted at the end that authenticity of many intermediate maps (produced in times before or after the maps showed above) can also be questioned, as such maps mostly come from Serbian (and to a lesser extent Croatian, albeit not less confused and not less nationalist-chauvinist) sources. Therefore it'd be useful to deliberately dispute all Serbian and Croatian historical references (sources, maps, analyses) on ancient and medieval Bosnia, at least until the time tells the true science from nationalist-driven (geo)politics. Unfortunately, history of Europe is history of war, even more so in case of the Balkans, and even more so still in case of Bosnia. Therefore, most of the grand events/undertakings in the area can probably be explained by geopolitical motives and related military activities. I don't need to remind the reader that the same overlaying set of rules applies to Bosnia even today, as it did in her recent past (Dayton Accord 1995, Teheran Conference 1943, Berlin Congress 1878), the most recent Kosovo-Bosnia connection - including the 1992-1995 aggression - being its latest manifestation as we speak... This is also why in the above I use geopolitical maps only (to show that most of the intermediate maps are unreliable), for geopolitics is "oberpolitics", with everything else (including history) from Antiquity till today being nothing more than its byproduct.

Tunneling in ancient times

Humans had built tunnels even during the Stone Age. [Pictured right is a Bronze Age tunnel at Tell el-Ajjul in Palestine.] The world's oldest known exploitation tunnel, found in the Hallstatt (Austria) salt-mine, is dated to 2500 BC but it was probably used even earlier. In Babylonia, tunnels were used extensively for irrigation. Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Greek and Roman engineers all had perfected tunneling techniques to admirable levels. Thus brick-lined pedestrian passages were built as early as 2200 BC. One such undertaking, 900 m long, 4 m high, and 5 m wide was accomplished under the Euphrates River, for which the river had to be diverted during the dry season. The Egyptians developed techniques for cutting soft rocks with copper saws and hollow reed drills, both surrounded by an abrasive, a technique probably used first for quarrying stone blocks and later in excavating temple rooms inside rock cliffs...

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The Greeks and Romans both made extensive use of tunnels too: to reclaim marshes by drainage and for water aqueducts, such as the 6th-century-BC Greek water tunnel on the isle of Samos driven more than 1 km through limestone with a cross section about 2 m square. [Pictured left is the Siloam water-supply tunnel in Jerusalem, 700 BC.] A Roman road tunnel 1,500 m long, 8 m wide, and 9 m high, connecting Naples and Pozzuoliwas, was executed in 36 BC. By that time surveying methods (commonly by gromas; string line and plumb bobs) had been introduced, and tunnels were advanced from a succession of closely spaced shafts to provide ventilation.

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One would think that any ancient tunneling could have been accomplished through soft material only. However, quite the opposite applies: given completely expendable work power (slaves), and in order to save the need for a lining, most Greek and Roman tunnels were located in reasonably strong rock, which was broken off (spalled) by so-called fire quenching, a method involving heating the rock with fire and suddenly cooling it by dousing with water. Ventilation methods were primitive, and most tunnels claimed the lives of hundreds or even thousands of the slaves. How dedicated and cruel the Romans were in the tunneling work is seen from an AD 41 undertaking when the Romans, under Illyrian-born emperor Marcus Aurelius Claudius, used 30,000 men for 10 years to push a 6 km long, 3 m high, and 2 m wide tunnel driven under Mt. Salviano to drain Lacus Fucinus (Fucino Lake). Since the basin is one of the most seismically active regions in Italy, they succeeded only partly. After series of earthquakes the tunnel ruptured, got buried, and the lake returned by the 6th century; it was completely drained in the 19th century, and the resulting plane [pictured below] is now one of the most fertile regions of all Italy.

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Location of former lake Fucino, drained first via a 6-km-long Roman tunnel

Obviously, given their extensive knowledge of construction and surveying (see the post of 11 August), to build a few kilometres of small-profile sapping tunnels through limestone and sandstone of the Visoko area wouldn't be deemed too difficult by the Romans who could (and without hesitation would) use readily available man power i.e. slaves and "barbarians" easily found throughout Illyria. Besides man power, the Romans had enough time on their hands too, as ancient war campaigns normally took years to decades to accomplish.

Why Visoko hills are not ancient tumuli

A tumulus is an artificially created/shaped mound in a landscape, mostly used for burial and other sanctity purposes. Tumuli are common to virtually all historical eras, and can be found throughout the world.

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Largest known tumuli (left to right): Silbury Hill tumulus, 2650 BC, England (Avebury-Stonehenge vicinity), Europe's largest prehistoric tumulus; Tomb of King Midas 700 BC, Turkey; Tumulus of Alyattes, 600 AD, Greece. All are considerably smaller than Visočica.

There are numerous problems with the tumulus explanation in case of Visočica however. First, tumuli seem rather too small compared to Visočica (see photo, showing some of the world's largest tumuli). What's more, etymologically, a tumulus means a small hill in Latin. Second, unlike the curious-looking hills in the Visoko valley, practically all known tumuli are obliquely shaped. Third, forts and towns aren't commonly found on top of a tumulus or its terraces, as tumuli were rather sacred places that old peoples largely avoided for reasons such as fear from ghosts, or respect for "souls" of the dead. Finally, while real tumuli regularly dominate the landscape, in Visoko we have hills that do seem (partly) shaped but then also partly imbedded in some higher-topography grounds, thus forming chains with the surrounding terrain.

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All this pretty much rules out the option that Visoko hills represent ancient tumuli.

How Romans destroyed Dacian terrace cities

In my letter to Khavroshkin, of 7 August, I mention a possibility that Romans hadn't leveled the Visocica slopes for tactical purposes out-of-the-blue, but rather in sapping a settlement Illyrians (Teutans) had built even earlier on the artificially excavated/cut limestone terraces of Visočica. I then noticed that this would resemble the 1st century BC Fetele Albe monumental findings in the Orastie Mts. in Dacia – Sureanu Mts., in present-day Romania. Let's look closer into this option.
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The Dacians [left: a Dacian soldier] were ancestors of today's Romanians. Like civilizations of the time, the people of Dacia (population: 2 million) were familiar with astronomy, fearful of their gods meaning aware of natural disasters such as floods (which is partly why they excavated terraces on hills to settle on), and a militarily minded people. Just like the Ottomans would annihilate the Bosnian Kingdom later on in 15th century, so did the Romans destroy the Dacian Kingdom ("the land of gold mines"), in 2nd century. Most forts were systematically destroyed, many of them after classical sieges. Brave defenders of Dacian capital Sarmizegetuza were first cut off water supply, so following a long siege and after the king was betrayed the cruel Romans practically obliterated the capital-on-terraces, looting the treasury's 165 tons of gold and 331 tons of silver. This conquest had marked the end (success) of Roman expansion on to the Black Sea, during which they sought to disunite the locals ("barbarians"). Of those, the Illyrians resisted the most, largely thanks to the then-Bosnia's rough terrain and harsh climate.

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Scene on the Column of Trajan (Forum of Trajan, Rome): battle between Roman and Dacian armies

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The same destiny awaited the military fortress at Fetele Albe too. From what survives today, there were some 30 terraces there, made of stone pavement on which mostly wooden and clay structures stood. Years before the Roman conquest, the structures contained housing for thousands of people. No traces of those structures remain, just terraces buried under soil, and documents describing the kingdom's fall. Sanctuaries were found with pillars made of shaped limestone. Same-type inhabited terraces are found on other Dacian hills too, such as the Hulpe Hill peak as well as Fata Cetei - with up to 50 terraces featuring human settlements built mainly on processed limestone blocks. The housing objects in the Dacian capital Sarmizegetuza, built on artificial terraces on the hill Gradistea, today mostly have remains of just the stone base, and a few remains of the walls, and carbonized pillars (fireplaces). Chamber walls have been found in Visoko (see pictures in the blog's left column). Pictured on the right is the Visoko find of a fireplace - a carbonized limestone rather similar to the Dacian artifacts.

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As it turns out, it's quite possible that Visočica slopes once were inhabited too, but were obliterated by the Roman military, just like the Dacian hillslopes were. Subsequently (normally expected within the same context), Visočica slopes would have been brought to a formation-ready regular geometrical shape to guard the Roman post on the summit, a shape that indeed has remained largely intact in Visoko until this day - like other Antiquity shaped hills (see below a story on hillfort Ipf in Germany)... Besides resembling earthworks and construction such as limestone-cut stairways, or paved squares (pictured above is the Dacian capital's city square), another detail from Dacia is circumstantially identical to what is found on Visočica: as they were systematically destroying every single hillfort in the kingdom they had conquered, Romans used to leave a small regiment of legionaries on the summit of each hill in ruins. Military outposts featuring barracks and baths were then built for those units.

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Military-strategically speaking, many things relate the terraces on hills around Visoko (pictured on the right) with those of then-Romania (Dacia): approximately the same time, the same cruel aggressor moving in the same direction, the same techniques and tactics of warfare used, with only the place being different however still in the same (eastward) direction of the Roman legions' strategic advancing... Then it's not entirely unnatural to think that Illyrians-Bosnians would have had suffered the same destiny as their fellow Dacians-Romanians had. In addition, given how difficult the Illyrians were for the Romans to conquer (centuries of fighting for freedom!) the destiny that Illyrians had met could have easily been even more horrendous than that the destiny of Dacians. Visočica and the surrounding hills could thus contain a testimony to one of the cruelest revenges that Romans had ever taken, against any known kingdom that got in their way.

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Erosion-measures for military purposes

Looking at all the emerged material evidence (assuming it wasn't tempered with or made up), people who supposedly shaped Visočica and other Bosnian hills in remote past would have been well aware of erosion and the associated dangers. A first look at Visočica suggests that the hill preserved its rather regular shape for a long period of time, or at least longer than any known written related testimonies (which are extremely scarce even for medieval Bosnia, let alone for Roman and earlier eras Bosnia/Illyria). Lime-cut and slab-cut ancient earthworks seem pretty evident in parts of Visočica, in addition to an apparent terrace compacting via stacking of shaped stones. Though breaks of horizontal stone blocks in most places do seem natural and tectonics-related, stone blocks at some places however seem to exhibit rather uniform thickness, besides being cut non-freely at right angles with surfaces brought up to normal spatial corner. At the same time, there appears to be a total lack of any underlying or overlying seemingly regular bedrock. What’s more, at some places, the cracks themselves appear too wide and of a preserved width, for them to be explained by purely natural fracturing from a single tectoninc event. Also, it is unlikely for offsets from a series of tectonic events spanning many millions of years to have summed up to a unity vector.

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Some of the finds (see picture on the left) show double-layered slabs. Besides usual geological explanations (such as an objection that fracturing could have varying degree of blatancy at different scales), there are peculiarities however pointing at anthropological involvement. Namely, even if the two plates composing a rectangular slab arise via transverse-shear cracking due to tectonics, it's not entirely natural to expect for both of them to remain spatially not shifted as well as uniform in all spatial and relationship aspects (thickness, width, length, any and all gapping, orientation), in at least two separate slabs, over millions of years in a tectonically active zone such as that in which Bosnia belongs.

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However, this is not entirely unexplainable from the point of view of an engineer who wishes to stabilize a slope, by introducing terraces cut in ground, and then paved over by one or more layers of regularly shaped stone. Stone as a construction material is strong enough to withstand the thousands of tons of soil intended to come on top of it, while preserving the structure's overall form and thereby securing the structural compactness. Polishing its sides and cornering it actually makes a stone-slab behave in a predicted manner in a stressful environment too, which is every engineer's dream. Also, stone would have been the material of preference for an ancient engineer, as it was a widely available material from nearby Bosnian quarries. In addition to rectangular forms, Roman builders used also pentagonal-to-hexagonal matrix for paving (mostly roads, if that can be any indicator in this case). The task of securing Visočica's slopes for erosion/landslides most certainly wouldn't qualify an engineer of the time for an esthetics competition, so any regular-form of to-be-buried pavements would have sufficed. Rectangular form however seems the simplest choice of all, not an ill-working one at that.

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Normally, to compact a significantly unstable area requires enough space to be left in between the underlying material components, so that the material could "breathe" (move for allowed amounts in all directions) while preserving a desired overall form for long periods of time. Otherwise the underlying material starts deforming so that desired compactness is soon lost, allowing for gravity and erosion to take their course. This is basically how modern-day construction is done too, where the degree of flexibility of a structure determines that structure’s resistance to deformation due to stress and shock. Pictured on the left is an example of modern-day erosion control measure: a steel net is imbedded so as to preserve the soil from being washed away.

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The Visočica "pavement" could have played the same role of soil anchors as in the above example; here the surface to take care of was substantial and it required a solution from underneath given the amount of soil to be put on top. Note that anti-erosion measures are not a modern idea at all: pictured on the right is a famous example of Inca terraces at Machu Picchu that, besides preventing hillside erosion also served for normal crop production. This too is an indication of Visočica's military usage, since Visočica occupants in that case (soldiers) would have normally banned civilians from using the slopes let alone cultivating crops because any flora would have been a hideout for adversaries. For more details, see the following document: http://www.waterhistory.org/histories/terraces/terraces.pdf.

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Another indication of human intervention in case of Visočica slopes stems from the degree of levelness on all the apparently paved terraces, together with the fact that they all seem plumbed to the horizon, still today. Gravity force (from water runoff and so on) on a hilly terrain doesn't normally act like that over millions of years, and is instead expected to introduce all sorts of deformation (wavelike as a minimum, but also shear, and so on) in well-spread and relatively thin bedrock. But the situation is quite opposite in this case: many of the recovered sections of Visočica slopes and other tried hills actually do have flat horizontal terraces that by their number, area, orientation, thickness, and the context in which they sit suggest that they were partly laid out by humans.

Mystery of missing artifacts, solved

Often in science, the fact that some things can not be seen matters more than the fact that some other things can. In addition to large artifacts such as (segments of) roads, aqueducts, buildings, stone walls and chambers, archaeological sites featuring (co-)Roman settlements are usually rich in small artifacts such as jewelry, coins, statues, glass, cookware, pottery, tablets, arms, etc. If indeed Visočica was shaped by man, a logical question arises: Why isn't there such richness in small-sized artifacts found on Visočica too?

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Examples of artifacts from metal and Roman eras. Nothing of the sort has been found on Visočica, despite extensive earthwork undertaking.

Apart from trivial explanations (such as that no one has dug deep enough; or that no one has looked in the right places yet; or that the site was looted), the answer is quite obvious within the context itself: the hill's primary intent had been for military and not settlement purposes. Namely, since safety and to it related regularity of the form was the strategic (primary!) task for the peak's occupants, the slopes had to be made flat, clean and unobstructed, and subsequently maintained as such, at all times. In fact, given its primarily military purpose in ancient times, Visočica was most likely an area permanently banned for settling of civilians. What a better proof for this than a total lack of small artifacts (not) found anywhere on the slopes. This is in a dire contrast to what is found on the summit (a National Monument – protected area with remains of Roman and midieval forts) or at the hill's foot, or everywhere around the hill for that matter.

But what about the missing traces of attacks and battles on the Visočica slopes then? Surely enough, all sorts of objects including weaponry and armament, siegecraft equipment in general, as well as stocks of material of any sort, had to be removed both before and after a battle so that the slopes were brought back to its safest state possible - that of total controllability. Finally, instead of some magical "thermal energy steaming from within" explanations, it is exclusively the regular and permanent maintenance of the slopes (for at least a millennium or so!) that can be credited for Visočica being an erosion-free hill. So the maintenance for many centuries is why the central Bosnia’s harsh environment didn't “take care” of the hill's form and then consequently turn Visočica into just another eroded hill of uninteresting looks. It happened simply because man has intervened with nature so as to not allow her to take course...

Finally, it seems plausible that it was precisely the Romans who shaped Visočica, because not only that small-item artifacts from the Roman era are missing (after all the bulldozing earthworks by Osmanagich's followers), but, more importantly, any artifacts from the pre-Roman (stone; metal) eras are practically missing as well! Most likely then, the hill's wasting began with the Ottoman occupation of Bosnia, when Visočica as well as other inner-Bosnia's hills had obviously lost their strategic significance for that has been the first total occupation of the country.

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There's no a "Space civilization" magic to Visočica and other apparently shaped Bosnia’s hills. They already represent however a first-class monument to permanent and well-organized attempts at keeping the access to Roman posts (medieval towns) safe from all directions, and at all times. As such, the entire hill too, not just its summit and surroundings, well deserve to be placed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

A hill used for military-strategic purposes

This geophysical measurement (vegetation absent) suggests that: (a) Visočica is a natural hill with slopes artificially shaped for about 2/3rds of length from the peak towards the footing, (b) this was probably done in order to clear/secure the access to the summit itself (as the common locale-origin to all ironed surfaces), i.e. for military-strategic purposes in the times when safety meant survival.

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Note that the hill artificially also attained both the western and southern "slopes" (segments of) -- flattened to the maximum as well. The topography that sits adjacent to the west of the summit also shows signs of plateau-like preparations for securing the access -- via a line-of-sight unobstructed for as far as possible westwardly. Thus Antiquity-to-Medieval military motives seem to offer the most plausible explanation for the Visočica's shape.

Child labor on a hill... and other calls for help

[piramidasunca.ba/ba/images/stories/news07/avgust/140807/01]

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The above photos depict what seems to be child labor on Visočica, where children under age of 15 seem to be commonly used for cutting rocks' natural fractures (Ad.1-Ad.3), possibly in order to stress a "pavement" impression. Also seen are head-unprotected children in an underground space; note that adults remain head-protected (Ad.4). Child labor is punishable under Bosnian law, where a child is defined as a person less than 15 years of age. At least two public Acts/Codes treat this issue: the Work Act, as well as the Criminal Code of the Federation of BiH.

According to the Work Act (above), no child under age of 15 can be lawfully employed in Bosnia, or placed within potentially harmful conditions such as under ground. The Criminal Code (below) provides an imprisonment term of a minimum 3 months to a maximum 3 years, for any person who "compels a child or juvenile to work that is unsuitable for his age, or to excessive work (...) or induces him for gain to behave in a manner harmful to his development." Note that this stipulation applies regardless of whether the child worked for compensation or volunteered, since no person under 15 is deemed capable of deciding on life issues. According to pertaining international conventions (such as Article 32 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, www.unicef.org/crc/files/Protection_list.pdf), parental consent for child labor in this case is irrelevant too.

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Despite many indications of an illegal undertaking on Visočica, such as from the above photos, or the disappeared human skeletons, or the devastated ancient tombs, the local authorities as well as the entire diplomatic core in Sarajevo support this "project" wholeheartedly...

Legend on hills that once formed a triangle

As a legend has it, the ancient Rome sat on Seven Great Hills called "the cradle of civilization". Scholars such as Dr. William Morey note that, in realm of that legend, the hills presented the first settlers with an excellent defense layout. Thus according to Morey, besides being in close but safe proximity of a river (Tiber) the northern four hills (Esquiline, Viminal, Quirinal, and Capitoline) also formed an arc, while the southern three (Palatine, Caelian, and Aventine) formed a triangle, with Palatine pointing North. The legend goes on to saying that the Eaquiline, Viminal, Quirinal and Caelian were part of a volcanic ridge. On the other hand, the Capitoline was where Senate sat, and is the only of the seven hills (all named as above in the later Rome) that exists still nowadays. (For reasons known only to them, the USA founding fathers obviously were fond of this legend, so they had named the Capitol Hill in Washington DC after the Capitonile of ancient Rome)..

Imagine the legionaries in mid-Bosnia's harsh climate, serving for ten or more years far away from their beloved ones, some two thousand years ago, give or take. They are at this easternmost frontier of the Empire, fighting day and night (which goes on for centuries), with local Illyrian rebels as well as (later on) Slav hordes attacking from the east and allegedly looking to "settle" (rather: to move the border of empires from River Drina towards west). Besides seeking the most spread-out yet compact military formation for securing a most important and then-navigable Sava-Bosna-Neretva-Adriatic water corridor, the legionaries built posts such to resemble the most compact formation that they knew of - the ancient Rome's hills. Familiarity with the camp formation was thus easily achieved for all the units such as on-foot patrols, no matter the fog, rain, snow, night, wind, flood, fire, or an ongoing attack.

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Claims made by "pyramid" watchers, of pyramids/hills forming a triangle.

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One must not overlook a sentimental side of the story either. Romans served for long periods of time in a most difficult military mission of all Empire. Both Napoleon and Hitler used to send their most disobedient soldiers to the "eastern front", considered to be the most severe disciplinary measure - both psychologically and physically! Thus it could only be expected of the Roman soldiers to have had arranged their life so that their surroundings under such sub-human conditions resembled the home they longed for. Hence, the fortified (shaped) hills in central Bosnia today sit roughly in a triangle (and such) not because some "proto-civilizations from Space" had built pyramids that turned hills, but simply because geometry-making peaks were what the Romans were looking for in the first place...

Visoko pavements not older than Roman

Being the greatest builders of the Antiquity, Romans were also tremendous road builders, having built over 85,000 km of roads by the Empire's peak. Roads enabled military to advance, so the roads had made Rome the great empire as we know (of) it. In the following, I show why it is unlikely for the few Visoko findings (that resemble pavement) to have been made earlier than (the cultures that immediately preceded) the Roman Empire.

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An example of early-Roman pavement at Pompeii. This way of road paving culminated in the 19th century, when Scottish engineer John McAdam invented three-layer paving, named after him the macadam. He basically improved on the Roman four-layer road construction technique.

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Note in the above example that (gaps between the adjacent) stones follow a small but complex matrix along both side-rows (so the pavement is obviously human-made), rather than the very long apparently linear fractures caused by tectonics as found in Visoko "pavement" (for the most part, at least).

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An example of late-Roman paved road in Istra, Croatia. Note the well-preserved regular rectangular form, under mild climate. Later on, during the medieval period, the craft of constructing the stone roads spread throughout the then-known world, both western and eastern. For instance, a similar (in principle) way of paving called kaldrma (cobble) was used in the Ottoman Empire...

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The first impression from looking at the above two examples is that the Visoko pavement looks older than any of the Roman remains of the sort. However, it's a matter of artifact preservation under (mild vs. harsh) climate conditions!

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Thus if we look at the example on the left, of a Roman road in the Fuenfria valley from Sierra de Guadarrama mountains in central Spain, we see that most of the few of Visoko's possible pavements (pictured in this blog's column to the left) look actually younger than this Spaniard-Roman road set out within similar environmental (precipitation; erosion) conditions as those of central Bosnia. What does this tell us? Assuming similar road-construction techniques were used, most likely the Visoko pavement cannot be older than the co-Roman eras; here by co-Roman I mean the eras immediately preceding or/and following the Roman Empire. (Note devastation to the regularity and form of the Spaniard road was in part also due to open-air exposure. On the other hand, the Visoko potential pavements (i.e., those of a clear form in all three dimensions, and without underlying stone -- see photos in the blog's column to the left) seem somewhat soil-conserved due to overlaying earthworks that had flattened the hill slopes.)

Pre-Roman Hillforts Were Obliquely Shaped

Hillfort builders in pre-Roman eras made an extra effort to give oblique form to the hills on which they built forts. This was the most justified shape from the military-strategic point of view. Obliquity also enabled optimal conditions for spotting any attackers, day and night.

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Pictured above is a pre-Roman (Celtic, 2500 years ago) hillfort Ipf, Germany. Oldest artifacts found on Ipf are dated to Late Bronze Age (3200 years ago). This layered-cultures situation is normally found at hillfort sites, and Visočica is no exception, with one important difference however: Visočica (pictured below) is not shaped obliquely but (semi-)rectangularly instead! Since the shaping of hills meant difference between life and death, it's only normal to expect that the Romans too had shaped hills for the same military purposes as civilizations before them had, in their own way and according to their own technical knowledge and military doctrine. (I pointed out in my earlier post below that rectangularity was the favorite layout form in the Roman Empire).

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Visočica hill seems man-shaped so that its slopes run parallel to World lines. This orientation creates optimal conditions where the slopes' edges under moonlight could never create shadows large enough to enable the intruders to climb up the hill carrying their siegecraft equipment unnoticed. (Obviously, this was of little importance in sunlight).

In the only manual of Roman military institutions that has survived intact, called "Epitoma rei militaris" (A Summary of Military Matters), its writer Flavius Vegetius Renatus notes with sadness (at the sunset of the Roman Empire, around 390 AD) "It may be said that our troops for many years past have not even fortified their permanent camps with ditches, ramparts or palisades. The answer is plain. If those precautions had been taken, our armies would never have suffered by surprises of the enemy both by day and night (...) All the barbarous nations range their carriages round them in a circle, a method which bears some resemblance to a fortified camp. They thus pass their nights secure from surprise. Are we afraid of not being able to learn from others what they before have learned from us? At present all this is to be found in books only, although formerly constantly practiced.".

We learn from the above that, by the sunset of the Empire, Roman legions had lost sense of importance for fortifying their camps. But more importantly, we also learn that they didn't have appreciation for circular formation as an aid to their defenses - at all. Indeed, as notable scholars of today note, rectangular layout was a preferred geometrical form for construction works in the Roman Empire (see the yesterday's post below).

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The matters in the Vegetius's work most relevant for the Visočica case are contained in Books IV and V. Book IV in general deals with fortifications and sieges, so that its Section 24. titled "On saps, whereby the wall is undermined or the city penetrated" is entirely dedicated to sapping via underground tunnels and "mines". Book V describes the astronomy, navigation and tide knowledge of the Roman army and navy. The Vegetius's work has been used frequently for the education at military academies. The Books III-V greatly influenced the medieval world, while an unusually high number of 226 manuscripts of the Latin text survived to this day. Given the intensive military activity on the Balkans peninsula over the last several millennia, it's obvious that able generals and rulers of long-durable medieval Bosnia also must have had substantial knowledge of the Vegetius's work (translated into seven languages by 1450-ies, that is by the fall of Bosnia under Ottoman occupation). But so did their adversaries (Serb; Ottoman), so that the tunnels found inside Visočica likely have been used/amended by the attackers (for sapping) as well as by the defenders (for water supply and counter-mining) of a medieval Bosnian city the remains of which indeed sit at the Visočica summit.

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Finally, speleothems found so far inside the tunnels under Visočica or its surroundings had grown less than a decimetre. Even without exactly knowing the speleothems' growth rate in the area, this finding strongly suggests that the tunnels could hardly be older than the Antiquity.

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(Note that the first modern edition of "Epitoma rei militaris" in English includes just the first three of the total of five books of Vegetius' work. The fourth and fifth books have not been included in the first modern translation by Lieutenant John Clarke, London 1767. As the alleged reason for this illogical move, the publisher stated that "both very brief, the IV and V book deal with the attack and defense of fortified places and with naval operations. These are of interest only to military antiquarians and for that reason have not been included in this edition." This was unjustified because printing costs of not including two reportedly shortest parts of a rendering must be relatively minute. Also, these were in fact the most practical and technically most detailed parts of all five books! Besides, being a translation of the only entirely preserved source on Roman military, it's hard to understand why it too shouldn't be complete. Luckily, the best, 2004 English translation by M.D. Reeve of Cambridge contains all five books.)

Romans Preferred Rectangularity

Roman legionaries had built various structures for the purpose of military advancing. In fact, it can be said that they were the greatest builders of the Antiquity. The Roman surveyors were up to the task: they could set out a slope with the precision of 1 in 4000, and were well versed in astronomy. This enabled for vast access grounds around the fort to be perfectly leveled, sloped, oriented, equally lit, and thereby easier to monitor - day or night. Surveyors mostly used rectangular layouts in constructing the forts, for which an instrument called groma was utilized.

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Roman

surveyors

layed out

rectangular

forms using

a groma

(surveying

instrument).

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Since the times of emperor Augustus (27 BC- 14 AD), the legionaries built massive and permanent stone fortresses, using crushed limestone mixed with water as mortar (cement) between bricks and stones. Such fortresses included auxiliary objects meant to enhance the defenses against siege craft. Thus besides cleared access grounds, networks of underground tunnels and counter tunnels are also found - under a fortress.

Persians, Macedonians, Carthaginians, Greeks, Romans... all had mastered siege craft as well as counter siege tactics, both passed down on to Vegetius who summarized it all in his masterpiece "Epitoma rei militaris" (A Summary of Military Matters) - the single most influential military treatise in the Western world even today (sapping was used as recently as Vietnam war!). In order to conquer a fortification, adversaries either attacked the fort directly, or surrounded it and tried to enter by digging underground tunnels. The defenders would dig their own counter mines, usually at right angles so as to intercept as many intruding attempts as possible. Once broken into, the attackers' tunnel would then get collapsed by the defenders, or the attackers smoked out of it...

Russian and I: Khavroshkin correspondence

Below is my email exchange with Oleg Khavroshkin a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the first mainstream scientist who supported the "Bosnian pyramids" project and its assertions of 10,000+ year civilization having built the alleged pyramids. As the correspondence progressed, Khavroshkin became increasingly rude and aggressive, in addition to being partial and advocating illogical approaches to science (such as that burden of proof lies on those who adhere to already established scientific views and not on those who want to prove such views as incorrect). Finally, our correspondence revealed that Khavroshkin held views that are even stranger than those of Osmanagich.

I've never heard of a fellow geoscientist who interfered with a foreign country's geosciences while all of that country's geoscientists fiercely opposed such activities of his. Just what words do you use in a situation like that, in order to repel such a character away? Does it pay to be polite to someone who endorses taxpayer's money being wasted in one of the poorest nations in the world? Bosnia nowadays is also a virtually lawless country in which a few ruling parties control everything that matters in a society. (It has been released today that at least a few hundred "experts" employed in just one state-run company (the electrical) were found to have forged their university diplomas). At the same time, the "international community" reps present in Bosnia are paralyzed by global geopolitical interests of their respective governments colliding in and over Bosnia for a few millennia now.

While that seems to be given in Bosnia, it simply could be by extension that this sickening story from Visoko has a strong political background too. We recently saw Russia using her official geoscientists in seeking to expand her northern (Antarctic) borders. Let's hope that the latest, out of the blue involvement of Russian official geoscientists (in the Bosnian pyramid idiocy) is just a coincidence, and that no delusional scientist is going to search for a "proof" of Russia's rights over Bosnia as "Russia's most westerly border of a thousand years".

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from: omerbashich@gmail.com
to: khavole@ifz.ru
cc : a.f.harding@exeter.ac.uk
date: Jul 29, 2007 12:22 AM
subject: Who shaped Visocica


Dear Dr. Khavroshkin,

I am writing in reference to your locally televised statement at a Sarajevo press-conference of 28 July, on your involvement in the so-called "Bosnian pyramids project". While describing your recent preliminary geophysical measurements, you asserted that humans had shaped Visocica hill. As a geophysicist, I have no reason to doubt your measurements interpretation (even though early interpretations may seem quite premature at this point). However, your being a scientist of international repute gives a whole new twist to one unfortunate story that has no counterpart in damaging my country's image.

Let me note at the outset that this hill (as you correctly call it yourself) seems semi-shaped, not fully shaped. However, even if semi-shaped, that geometrical peculiarity couldn't be due to some 10+ kyr civilization as the man who dragged you into his world of deceit would have it. This has been so well established by researchers in the past, that I won't even quote any references. I would also like to inform you that our culture minister Mr. Gavrilo Grahovac has recently called for an investigation into that man's tax fraud; see yesterday's edition of Science magazine, at:

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/vol317/issue5837/newsmakers.dtl.

The oldest known archaeological artifact found anywhere on Visocica is a Roman observation post sitting on top of the hill. This comes as no surprise, since Bosnia used to be a most important regional crossroads of ancient times, with the Drina River serving as the border between the Western and Eastern Roman Empires. Given that some important supply corridors, connecting East and West (North and South) traversed my country at that time, Roman rulers (senators) and their successors obviously had an enormous interest in Bosnia. Indeed, the high-level Roman military presence is found throughout the country; the military-post remains at the Visocica peak being one such artifact.

Therefore it seems most – if not only – plausible that it was Roman legionaries who had shaped Visocica too, applying an ancient military tactics of ironing the hill-slopes (note: only those overlooking the river Bosna corridor!). Because, what's the purpose of an observation post unless you secured it against siegecraft first? As a geodesist, I can see why they would have set it out parallel to the cardinal lines and then corrected it for the Moon orbital plane inclination (some 5 degrees to the ecliptic): moonlight could thus (under always favorable conditions), assuming clear skies, naturally expose any adversaries attacking the post. Once moonlit, the attackers could then be deflected by pouring molten lead or boiling water (oil) on them, or by rolling stone balls from the post down the slopes, and so on.

Similarly, I am amazed by how unaware people are of the network of tunnels (found inside Visocica) resembling an artifact of the sapping – the most typical military tactics for conquering ancient fortifications. I'm sure your grandchildren' encyclopedias contain more detail on those primitive military tactics, as I remember such readings being the "Harry Potter" of my childhood. Advanced reader should see Epitoma rei militaris ("Military matters") by Flavius Vegetius Renatus (www.intratext.com/ixt/LAT0189 ). Obviously, given a whole slew of feasible military-relic explanations, chances for a 10+ kyr civilization in Bosnia are virtually none!

Finally, even if one assumes, as the only alternative, that Romans hadn't leveled the Visocica slopes for tactical purposes, but in sapping a settlement Illyrians-Teutans had built even earlier on the artificially excavated/cut limestone terraces of Visocica (resembling the 1st century BC Fetele Albe monumental findings in the Orastie Mts. in Dacia – Sureanu Mts. in present-day Romania), this still would mean that expert archaeologists, not geophysicists, are the ones to make such calls, if required. Therefore, without getting into motives for your involvement, I urge you to consider immediately withdrawing from this outrageous "project". I say outrageous because from the time of its inception – some two years ago – no mainstream scientist has supported it in any way. Those who opened their minds for just a moment were swiftly sucked into a smutty media campaign that twisted their words beyond recognition.

Therefore, your prolonged involvement could not only harm your repute, but could also weaken the position of science in a society devastated by corruption and ruse.

Respectfully yours,
Mensur Omerbashich, Ph.D.
geophysicist & geodesist
Sarajevo

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from: khavole@ifz.ru
to: omerbashich@gmail.com
cc: a.f.harding@exeter.ac.uk
date: Aug 1, 2007 6:50 PM
subject: Re: Who shaped Visocica


Dear Colleague,

Many thanks for your letter.

It is very good when the scientist write about other opinion. (I take into account scientific side only).
Really the best form for the opinion of the opponent is scientific article or report (without stupid "Harry Potter" of course). So I would like if you will do it because it will very positive for all.
I hope you have what write.
The Western and Eastern Roman Empires histories are very interesting for me (sometime in vacant time I read it). In general it might be in past but you know that the few civilizations may be placed on same point in history times. So the some 10+ kyr civilization and Roman military activity do not collide (you know that Shliman opened only one Troy, others were been open more late). All the more that the Arrhenius’s hypothesis about life genesis probably right so the life appeared on the Earth few times possibly so the general tasks for archeology must change. If it interesting for you I will be able to send you small report about it.
A scientist does not afraid about his international repute he must afraid for weak and plagiarism search.
I hope we all together can collaborate on Visoko search for Bosnia and world.

With the best wishes,
Sincerely Yours
Oleg Khavroshkin

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date: Aug 1, 2007 9:33 PM
subject: Re: Who shaped Visocica


Dear Dr. Khavroshkin,

Thanks for what sounded like an offer to collaborate. I'm afraid I must decline it, however. You are right saying a researcher ought to be cautious not to do frail research; I mentioned "Harry Potter" in the context – hoping it'd be self-explanatory – precisely as an example of how weak the "Bosnian pyramids" case is. Readings as "serious" as kids' literature can indeed be used to counter your theory.

First, I find your way of reasoning unacceptable. To say that the Arrhenius's hypothesis has to do with 10+ kyr civilizations in Bosnia is as superficial as to say a trolley-bus could power an entire country with electricity because it too runs on electricity. But in any case, I'd rather see such a grand (expensive) hypothesis tested elsewhere rather than in the poorest country of all Europe and one of the poorest nations in the world. (I don't recall Russia being a poor flatland, either). It's rather bizarre to see an academician like you partnering with the sort of people gathered around the "Foundation" – by your own choice.

Second, as far as your proposing that I (we) write a scientific paper on the issues highlighted in my last email: I believe there is no need for that. Namely, in addition to have been fatally weakened by the Third Book by Renatus: www.intratext.com/ixt/LAT0189, the "Bosnian pyramids" case remains so weak that in fact a single Wikipedia link now knocks down the foundation's (your) entire hypothesis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapping. (Note the article is properly referenced so I'm sure that, as a scientist, you most definitely will enjoy it).

Clearly, the artifacts found so far on Visocica – such as the tunnels – couldn't be dated farther in the past than the antiquity. But we already knew that, didn't we.

Sincerely,
Mensur Omerbashich

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date: Aug 2, 2007 4:48 PM
subject: Re: Who shaped Visocica


Dear Sir,

Many thanks for your answer.
Take a participation for collaboration or not it is your choose. It is a pity because I would like expected reattach you from child’s and fiction level of the literature to seriously search.
Sorry you have not understanding about modern development of the Arrhenius's hypothesis so we can not discus it in future. This hypothesis as a clue develops in few country and I do`t understand why we must discriminate Bosnia.
I am sure that complex Disco is very interesting object from many sides and I as usually will be participate in search of it without payment.

Sincerely
O. Khavroshkin

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date: Aug 2, 2007 7:05 PM
subject: Re: Who shaped Visocica


Dr. Khavroshkin,

your twisting my words (use of "Harry Potter") so as to make it sound it's me and not you who's a believer in kids' fiction is way below the level of an intellectual let alone a member of an Academy of Sciences. Same goes for your proposition that burden of proof lies on those who adhere to previously well-established scientific facts, instead of on those (you; the "Foundation") who want to disapprove such facts. (By the way, I didn't get what "complex Disco" has to do with the twilight-zone idiocy at Visocica; did you mean the place in the UK, perhaps?)

The third nonsense you shared with me is that you endorse tax-payers' money being wasted in the Europe's poorest nation because "Bosnia shouldn't be discriminated" [in testing the Arrhenius's hypothesis]. While perhaps I could ignore the above quasi-scientific nonsense as your own "bugs", certainly I must take this third point as a sign of your dishonesty.

Given that you just demonstrated possible lack of ethics, and that your logic is perceptibly skewed in the same direction and intensity as the Foundation's, I can now guess with pretty high confidence that your real motives and intentions are anything but friendly in this case.

Mensur Omerbashich

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date: Aug 3, 2007 2:24 PM
subject: Re: Who shaped Visocica


Dear Colleague,

You need go to the psychiatrist.
Do not worry me by your e-mail letters please.

With the best wishes,
Khavroshkin.

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date: Aug 3, 2007 3:21 PM
subject: Re: Who shaped Visocica


Sir,

What are the insults for? Disputes can be resolved in a civilized manner, using facts and logic. I'm afraid it's you who seems delusional here (not an insult, as the p.s. facts below prove). Still, that shouldn't be an alibi in your case, as you need to go (be taken to) where all falsifiers go; you wish it was a hospital, but it ain't.

Sorry you didn't want to get it, though it's so simple. Should the below excerpts turn out too hard for you, I suggest you have them translated for you, or try some easier readings in English, first.

Your dishonesty and frustration are growing with every new email you write -- now you are interfering with a foreign country's science despite that country's scientists fiercely opposing you and your followers. I can't even imagine how that feels. I suppose it comes with culture.

It seems Russia has just run out of hills (and oil too). Should it soon turn out that it run out of land and air too, then god help us all.


Sincerely,
Mensur Omerbashich

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FYI, I'm reproducing the most relevant excerpts from the linked pages you seem to be unable to read:

ANTIQUITY:
- Use in antiquity: The Greek historian Polybius, in his Histories, gives a graphic account of mining and counter mining at the Roman siege of Ambracia: "The Aetolians offered a gallant resistance to the assault of the siege artillery and the Romans, therefore, in despair had recourse to mines and underground tunnels..." [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapping]
- Tactics in siege warfare: (...) When enemies attempted to dig tunnels under walls for sapping or entry into the city, the defenders used large bellows (the type the Chinese commonly used in heating up the blast furnace for smelting cast iron) to pump smoke into the tunnels in order to suffocate the intruders. [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siegecraft]

MIDDLE AGES:
- Use in the Middle Ages (Undermining): In warfare during the Middle Ages, a "mine " was a tunnel dug to bring down castles and other fortifications. The technique was used when the fortification was not built on solid rock, and was developed as a response to stone built castles that could not be burned like earlier-style wooden forts. A tunnel would be excavated under the outer defenses either to provide access into the fortification or to collapse the walls. These tunnels would normally be supported by temporary wooden props as the digging progressed. Once the excavation was complete, the wall or tower being undermined would be collapsed by filling the excavation with combustible material that, when lit, would burn away the props leaving the structure above unsupported and thus liable to collapse. Later, explosives were used for greater effect. (...) There were several methods to resist under mining. Often the siting of a castle could be such as to make mining difficult. The walls of a castle could be constructed either on solid rock or on sandy or water logged land making it difficult to dig mines. A very deep ditch or moat could be constructed in front of the walls, as was done at Pembroke Castle, or even artificial lakes as was done at Kenilworth Castle. This makes it more difficult to dig a mine and even if a breach is made the ditch or moat makes exploiting the breach difficult. The defenders could also dig counter mines. From these they could then either dig into the attackers tunnels and sortie into them to either kill the sappers or to set fire to the pit-props to collapse the attackers tunnel. Alternatively they could under mine the attackers tunnels and create a camouflet to collapse the attackers tunnels. Finally if the walls were breached they could either place obstacles in the breach for example a chevaux de frise to hinder a forlorn hope, or construct a coupure. The great concentric ringed fortresses like Beaumaris Castle on Anglesey were designed in such a way that the inner walls were ready build coupures which if an attacker succeeded in breaching the outer walls would have left them in a killing field between the lower outer walls and the higher inner walls. [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapping ]

ALL:
- Greco-Roman and medieval siege warfare: (...) In addition to launching projectiles at the fortifications or defenders, it was also quite common to attempt to undermine the fortifications, causing them to collapse. This could be accomplished by digging a tunnel beneath the foundations of the walls, and then deliberately collapsing or exploding the tunnel. This process is known as sapping or mining. The defenders could dig counter-tunnels to cut into the attackers' works and collapse them prematurely. (...) Great effort was expended to ensure a good water supply inside the city in case of siege. In some cases, long tunnels were constructed to carry water into the city. Complex systems of underground tunnels were used for storage and communications in medieval cities like Tábor in Bohemia (similar to those used much later in Vietnam during the Vietnam War).

[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siegecraft ]

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Additional readings

- "The first form of cement was used by the Egyptians during construction of the pyramids. This early cement was formed by mixing an impure form of gypsum with water to form a paste. The Romans used crushed limestone mixed with water as mortar between bricks and stones. Modern cement was developed in Britain in 1824 by Joseph Aspdin."
[from a NASA paper aimed at school children audience:

http://media.nasaexplores.com/lessons/02-085/9-12_1.pdf]