Somewhere outside Sarajevo, Bosnia, looming over a small town called Visoko, sits the mysterious Visocica hill, which renegade researchers now claim to be a man-made structure: a pyramid estimated to be 235m high, one-third taller than the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt.

While experts say there is no scientific basis for his claims, 45-year-old Semir Osmanagic, an amateur Bosnia archeologist who has spent the last 15 years studying the pyramids of Latin America - is convinced that sitting underneath the hill is a giant step pyramid.

So the ecologically devastating task of excavating the hill has begun, and the town's tourism business is booming. The work will continue for the next six months, which should be plenty of time to determine the authenticity of his claim. Meanwhile, the media loves it- BBC News, MSNBC. The townspeople are making money. And the hill is being stripped bare.

Photo: bosnianpyramid.com