Pseudo-Science, Public Participation and Established Academics: A Struggle for Authority in the Visoko Valley

In October 2005, independent researcher Semir Osmanagic announced the discovery of the world’s greatest pyramidal complex in the valley of Visoko, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since then, several thousands of tourists visit the small town of Visoko and the sites surrounding it, while hundreds of volunteers from all over the world participate in Osmanagic’s project to uncover the pyramids from underneath the soil. Locally and internationally, established scholars have strongly opposed this project. They see it as a pseudo-archaeological endeavour that misleads the Bosnian people and puts existing archaeological heritage in the Visoko grounds in jeopardy. The project, however, continues to maintain its popularity to this date. This thesis argues that archaeologists explanation as to why their rational argumentation fails is limited. A focus is set on the way in which different parties in Visoko use scientific argumentation to attain authority in the debate on the archaeological nature of...Show moreIn October 2005, independent researcher Semir Osmanagic announced the discovery of the world’s greatest pyramidal complex in the valley of Visoko, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since then, several thousands of tourists visit the small town of Visoko and the sites surrounding it, while hundreds of volunteers from all over the world participate in Osmanagic’s project to uncover the pyramids from underneath the soil. Locally and internationally, established scholars have strongly opposed this project. They see it as a pseudo-archaeological endeavour that misleads the Bosnian people and puts existing archaeological heritage in the Visoko grounds in jeopardy. The project, however, continues to maintain its popularity to this date. This thesis argues that archaeologists explanation as to why their rational argumentation fails is limited. A focus is set on the way in which different parties in Visoko use scientific argumentation to attain authority in the debate on the archaeological nature of the Visoko valley. By including cross-disciplinary literature discussing the way institutional science engages in a dialogue with other domains and public groups, this thesis offers a wider perspective for explaining the nature of the struggle for scientific authority in the Visoko valley.Show less

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Pseudo-Science, Public Participation and Established Academics: A Struggle for Authority in the Visoko Valley