The Bosnian pyramids

Bikewer

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Bikewer
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So last night, at our anniversary dinner (39!) a friend of ours came up with the "Bosnian pyramid" thing. He had supposedly seen something on TV and was mightily impressed.

For those who are not familiar, here's the Wiki article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osmanagić_pyramid_hypothesis

I heard about this some months ago on the PRI show, The World. They were fairly balanced in the coverage, as I recall, mentioning that this fellow was likely a crank.

I forwarded the article to our friend; don't know if it will have any effect. He seemed to be quite taken with the notion that some 30,000 years ago, someone was building a pyramid in what's now Bosnia larger than any of the Egyptian structures.
I pointed out that 30,000 years ago, our ancestors were drawing bison on the walls of caves, and chipping flint, not erecting megaliths.
 
There was a documentary at NG (I guess) on it some time ago. Guys were digging through one of them. A geo went on the site and it turned out to be a natural feature. The diggers and some of nearby city folks (which were making some money out of tourism), as expected, were not happy and remained unconvinced.
 
Nothing unusual about them,standard geologic formation. look like mountains that have worn down to the critical slope.
 
The tragedy is that these are also actual archeological sites and are being messed up by these crackpots and charlatans. This letter from the EAA says it nicely.

Also, the main proponent outright lies about who has endorsed and works/worked on the project. He even lies about these people's credentials if I remember correctly.

EDIT: Actually I think I got this information from the Skeptoid article linked to up thread. Been a while.
 
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tyr_13 said:
The tragedy is that these are also actual archeological sites and are being messed up by these crackpots and charlatans. This letter from the EAA says it nicely.

Also, the main proponent outright lies about who has endorsed and works/worked on the project. He even lies about these people's credentials if I remember correctly.

EDIT: Actually I think I got this information from the Skeptoid article linked to up thread. Been a while.
Click to expand...

That's my biggest gripe about it as well. There's some point to the idea is drives tourism, but the destruction of artifacts ticks me off.
he also claimed that Hawass verified them as pyramids at one point, which pissed Hawass the **** off.
 
One of the promoters of this nonsense is hardcore crackpot "Dr" Harry Oldfield:

Harry Oldfield, DHom(Med), qualified as a homeopathic
physician in 1982 and received an Honorary Doctorate
(Citation of Honour) from the World Peace Centre in Pune,
India, in 2000. Harry is also Professor Honoris Causa,
Department of Alternative Medicine, Zoroastrian College, Mumbai, India;
Visiting Professor, Department of Medicine, Grenada University,
2001; Visiting Professor of Energy Medicine, Holos University Graduate
Seminary, Missouri, USA, 2007; and Fellow of the Royal Microscopical
Society, Oxford.
http://www.electrocrystal.com/media/PIP Brochure (email) Jan2010.pdf
Click to expand...

I investigated his credentials a few years ago. The non-existent "Grenada University" turned out to be St George's University, Grenada, and the chap who held the post of Chancellor in 2001 had never heard of Oldfield. He also told me that the university would never employ a homeopath as a visiting professor.
 
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Tidy work, Alice Shortcake!
Thanks for sharing it here.
 
Thanks, pakeha!

The other universities with which he's connected are so obviously woo-ish I didn't waste any time on them, and although Oldfield really is a Fellow of the RMS it's not a particularly impressive achievement - particularly since he doesn't even use real science in his 'work'.

By the way, it amuses me that we're only ever shown the Bosnian pyramids from one angle. That's because from other angles they don't look anything like pyramids.
 
At the risk of derailing the thread, I thought you might like to know that I also received the following email from the Royal Microscopical Society:

Further to your email about Harry Oldfield, to which my colleague replied confirming the he is a member of our society, I would just like to follow this up with some additional information.

Whilst we have no reason to cast any aspersion on Dr Oldfield, I would just like to point out that membership is open to anyone. All members pay an annual subscription but there are no qualifying criteria to become a member. Once someone has been a member for 3 years, they can apply for Fellowship and need to demonstrate that they have met some (relatively minimal) qualifying criteria.

In some cases therefore, being a member of the RMS can merely indicate an interest in microscopy and is not an accreditation of any sort, nor does it endorse the activities of any member or Fellow. The system advertised on the website you have included in your enquiry does not appear to include any microscopy element.
Click to expand...

I think the only reason Oldfield mentions that he's a Fellow of the RMS is to make it sound like some sort of accreditation.
 
Alice Shortcake said:
At the risk of derailing the thread, I thought you might like to know that I also received the following email from the Royal Microscopical Society:

I think the only reason Oldfield mentions that he's a Fellow of the RMS is to make it sound like some sort of accreditation.
Click to expand...

As well he may actually think it means something. IIRC, there was a Truther who made much of being "nominated for a Nobel" when anyone can be nominated by anyone else. I've noticed CT types often seek recognition and ego building.
 
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