Near the Bosnian village Zavidovici, a round sphere has caused a stir in the archaeological world. With a radius between 1.2 and 1.5 meters and a mass of more than 30 tons, the embedded stone, according to archaeologist Semir Osmanagich, dates back more than 1,500 years, and is “the most massive stone ball in Europe.”
In a blog, posted in late March, Osmanagich postulates that the stone was fashioned by advanced civilizations “from a distant past and we have no written records about them.”
The “brown and red color of the ball point to very high content of iron,” Osmanagich wrote. “So, the density has to be very high.”
Similar stone balls, according to Osmanagich, have been found on Easter Island, Antarctica, New Zealand, Russia, Egypt, Argentina, and the United States.
Referred to by the media as the “Bosnian Indiana Jones,” Osmanagich previously claimed to have found evidence of a pyramid in the country.
According to The Telegraph, Osmanagich has no formal background training in archaeology, and believes that the South American Mayans were the progeny of outer-space visitors.
Osmanagich’s new claim has come under scrutiny. University of Manchester lecturer Mandy Edwards, from the university’s School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, said the stone sphere is perhaps an example of concretion, rather than being man-made, according to the Daily Mail. “This is when a compact mass of rock is formed by the precipitation of natural mineral cement within the spaces between sediment grains,” according to the media outlet. “The result is often spherical in shape.”
According to Osmanagich, the stone ball used to be one of many in the region. However, many were destroyed in the 1970s due to rumors that gold was hidden inside them.
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