That is a big stone sphere!
April 14, 2016 10:40 AM   Subscribe

 
Bosnian Indiana Jones and the Iron Age Death Star
posted by prize bull octorok at 10:51 AM on April 14, 2016 [2 favorites]


Oh, right, this guy. Basically, this generation's Erich von Däniken.
posted by Halloween Jack at 10:55 AM on April 14, 2016 [6 favorites]


Those are some pretty extraordinary claims. Dude's got balls.
posted by brundlefly at 10:58 AM on April 14, 2016 [5 favorites]


Maybe it's a Pokemon ball. Yes I thought they were smaller too.
posted by chavenet at 10:58 AM on April 14, 2016 [3 favorites]


I̖̰̹̺̲t̤̠̭̞̟̲̳ ̳͇b̧͖̜̠̝̪eg҉̘̻̟͈͖i̮̫͙̬ṉ́s̲̻̟̳̫̹͞,̶̱̯
posted by dazed_one at 10:59 AM on April 14, 2016 [8 favorites]


I don't understand how someone like this still has any credibility. For anyone who didn't read to the end of the article, here's an alternate explanation it offers.
the rock may not be man-made at all, and have been formed by the "precipitation of natural mineral cement within the spaces between sediment grains" - a process known as concretion.
Concretions are ubiquitous both on Earth and Mars. Oh shit, maybe Osmanagić's 14,000 year old pyramids were built by Martians.
posted by Nelson at 11:03 AM on April 14, 2016 [8 favorites]


I̖̰̹̺̲t̤̠̭̞̟̲̳ ̳͇b̧͖̜̠̝̪eg҉̘̻̟͈͖i̮̫͙̬ṉ́s̲̻̟̳̫̹͞,̶̱̯


Between the crazy humming and the cephalopods heading out to sea, I would not at all be surprised if the Ancient Ones did show up.
posted by Celsius1414 at 11:06 AM on April 14, 2016 [3 favorites]


Next you'll tell me that the Giant's Causeway wasn't made by giants....
posted by GenjiandProust at 11:07 AM on April 14, 2016


I̖̰̹̺̲t̤̠̭̞̟̲̳ ̳͇b̧͖̜̠̝̪eg҉̘̻̟͈͖i̮̫͙̬ṉ́s̲̻̟̳̫̹͞,̶̱̯

Forgive the derail, but I keep forgetting to ask: how did you do that with the letters and what is it called?
posted by numaner at 11:11 AM on April 14, 2016 [2 favorites]




Dude's got balls.

One giant ball, to be precise.
posted by octobersurprise at 11:16 AM on April 14, 2016 [4 favorites]


Ah, Bosnian Pyramid guy.

So these are just some boulders, right?
posted by Artw at 11:21 AM on April 14, 2016 [3 favorites]


Nelson, my thought when I saw the pic was that the ball appeared to be a concretion, with the "peeled onion" look characteristic of many.

A little geology may be a dangerous thing. . .
posted by rdone at 11:29 AM on April 14, 2016


Next you'll tell me that the Giant's Causeway wasn't made by giants....

No, no, it was. But it's not a causeway.
posted by Naberius at 11:31 AM on April 14, 2016 [7 favorites]


There some fairly large man-made petrospheres in Costa Rica...
posted by jim in austin at 11:37 AM on April 14, 2016 [2 favorites]


On the other side of the rock sphere they will find the flattened skeletal remains of some earlier Indiana-Jones-type fellow. It means there must be a temple nearby.
posted by Kabanos at 11:37 AM on April 14, 2016 [10 favorites]


I was thinking Rick Dangerous rather than Indiana Jones
posted by Molesome at 11:40 AM on April 14, 2016 [2 favorites]


If it was carved from a single piece of stone why is it peeling like an onion? Almost as if layers were deposited over time.

Upon further review, what rdone and Nelson said.
posted by Splunge at 12:11 PM on April 14, 2016


In all seriousness (airquotes) I swear I saw something about these formations on Ancient Aliens.
posted by xedrik at 12:19 PM on April 14, 2016


Whatever it does, it's doing it now.
posted by IndigoJones at 12:21 PM on April 14, 2016 [1 favorite]


Dude, do not taunt Happy Fun Ball. Says so right in the ad.
posted by The Bellman at 12:25 PM on April 14, 2016 [10 favorites]


Maybe it's a Pokemon ball. Yes I thought they were smaller too.

Snorlax lies dreaming.
posted by Going To Maine at 12:30 PM on April 14, 2016 [7 favorites]


I'm not saying it's geology...

But it's totally geology.
posted by happyroach at 12:53 PM on April 14, 2016 [5 favorites]


octobersurprise: One giant ball, to be precise.

You know who else only had one ball?
posted by Kattullus at 1:04 PM on April 14, 2016 [2 favorites]


Looks like a moeraki boulder - a type of concretion
posted by scodger at 1:10 PM on April 14, 2016


I always figured the Earth's core was larger, and more centrally located.
posted by ckape at 1:23 PM on April 14, 2016 [6 favorites]


There some fairly large man-made petrospheres in Costa Rica...

The Costa Rican spheres show clear evidence of being worked by people though. And don't require fantabulistiriffic explanations involving ancient lost civilizations.

And regardless, clearly the Ancient Lost Civilization in Greenland was ballsier.
posted by Panjandrum at 1:27 PM on April 14, 2016


I'm not an archaeologist or anything, but I'm pretty sure you don't go after ancient artifacts with a pickaxe...
posted by Freen at 2:11 PM on April 14, 2016 [3 favorites]


I find this fantasy charming and enjoyable, and am surprised that so many of us are hostile about it. How is this different from Stephen Hawking's and so many other scientist's belief in life or intelligent civilizations on other planets? Or Lourdes? At least this guy builds his fantasy around actual physical landmarks that kind of look like what he asserts they are. Perhaps because this "archeologist" is making claims for a low-status part of the world (Balkans).
posted by Modest House at 2:26 PM on April 14, 2016


I'm hostile because it's stupid. The guy represents himself as an archaeologist. And he is making up stories about things right in front of him, that he's touching. It's nothing like Stephen Hawking speculating on extraterrestrial intelligence. This guy is Uri Geller.

Perhaps because this "archeologist" is making claims for a low-status part of the world (Balkans).

Making false claims. If I were from the Balkans I'd be doubly mad.
posted by Nelson at 2:33 PM on April 14, 2016 [8 favorites]


You know who else only had one ball?

Prince Charming, and look at all the fuss it caused!
posted by Celsius1414 at 2:40 PM on April 14, 2016 [6 favorites]


Because the Balkans has actual, real, fascinating archaeology the world could be hearing about, but instead we get this guy?
posted by Helga-woo at 3:12 PM on April 14, 2016 [11 favorites]


What's the harm? A statement from European archaeologists in that Bosnian Pyramid wiki article explains it pretty well:

This scheme is a cruel hoax on an unsuspecting public and has no place in the world of genuine science. It is a waste of scarce resources that would be much better used in protecting the genuine archaeological heritage and is diverting attention from the pressing problems that are affecting professional archaeologists in Bosnia-Herzegovina on a daily basis.
posted by Vulgar Euphemism at 5:10 PM on April 14, 2016 [4 favorites]


How is this different from Stephen Hawking's and so many other scientist's belief in life or intelligent civilizations on other planets? Or Lourdes? At least this guy builds his fantasy around actual physical landmarks that kind of look like what he asserts they are. Perhaps because this "archeologist" is making claims for a low-status part of the world (Balkans).

I appreciate that there is something entertaining about nonsensical historical claims. As someone who runs RPGs, they are very useful to me. That said, I have to take exception to your post.

Life on other planets: something that is very strongly suggested by the physical evidence around us. The claim here is not "Aliens live around Zeta Reticulli". It's that we evolved naturally on Earth, and there is an unthinkable vastness of space made up of the same matter and energy and apparently obeying the same physical laws that we are, so probably life and even intelligence exist other places than Earth.

Lourdes: based on a claim of a religious vision that was claimed to have occurred within recent history, and that has been frequently scrutinized and criticized by skeptics. Whether you buy it or not, the claims being made are explicitly spiritual, not historical. And Lourdes is definitely the place those claims were made. It isn't like they are claiming the Virgin Mary totally hung out at Lourdes all the time or something and then finding evidence post facto.

"Bosnian Pyramids": That hill looks like, super straight from this angle, bro! I bet it was built by our ancestors who were, like wicked smart!

I have never heard anyone claim that some parts of the world were too "low status" to have interesting archaeological finds. Unless we are to assume Iraq, Cambodia, or Central America are "high status" compared to Bosnia. Archaeology is one of those resources that the powerful nations of the world have always been willing to appreciate and extract from their less powerful neighbors, like oil and slaves.
posted by pattern juggler at 7:19 PM on April 14, 2016 [3 favorites]


Indiana Jones was a far better archaeologist than this guy. That is most definitely *not* how you conduct an excavation.
posted by jammy at 6:04 AM on April 15, 2016 [1 favorite]


Yeah, seems like if he really believed he had found a human-made sculpture of unknown dimensions jutting out of the earth he probably wouldn't be swinging a huge pickaxe into the ground right next to it.
posted by contraption at 4:05 PM on April 15, 2016


Front the wiki:
Osmanagić wishes to excavate in order to "break a cloud of negative energy, allowing the Earth to receive cosmic energy from the centre of the galaxy".

Sounds legit.
posted by Mezentian at 7:31 PM on April 16, 2016


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