The National Museum from Sarajevo has been conducting the archaeological excavations for two years now; excavating the remains of the medieval Bosnian cultural layer, located on the top of the Pyramid of the Sun.
The Foundation has openly published and warned on its official web site last year (www.piramidasunca.ba) that the medieval walls of the fortress were left unprotected and exposed to weathering and harsh winter months. Unfortunately, even this year, the archaeologists from the National Museum have left several sections completely unprotected and exposed to weathering.
The leading archaeologist in charge, Mr. Mirsad Sijarić, had alarmed the public in August of this year (before the first international conference on Bosnian Valley of the Pyramids- ICBP) about the "supposed vandalism" on Stari Grad/ ancient city.
Local authorities (the Federal Ministry for the Protection of the National Monuments and the Federal Ministry of Culture) had initially accepted Mr. Sirajaric’s statements to be true. Professor Enver Imamović also gave a public statement and spoke about ‘the twisted minds"- implying the Foundation was responsible for such acts.
They also falsely stated that the local police and their own commission would conduct its own investigation but yet, they never informed the public about the outcome of this investigation.
The only statements that were published were by the civil engineer who came to the scene that same morning of the incident. He concluded that clayed wall had collapsed as it had no pillars and adequate/appropriate support, which were necessary when conducting such an archaeological work under such circumstances. After this incident, the archaeologist Sijarić had distanced himself from this location and any further research in this place.
In order to support his claims about the "vandalism", Mr. Sijarić went to the extent of claiming that the truck their workers used was also vandalized. He attempted to blame the APBPS Foundation for such acts. As it turned out, only the truck’s mirror was damaged due to unknown circumstances.
The excavations of the remains of the medieval fortress have revealed the weak and unstable construction composed of unstable walls. There are 2 semicircular clayed walls visible in the excavated section that collapsed. Once when exposed to weathering (temperatures and rainfall) the clayed structure falls in and collapses. Unless they protect the remains of this structure (highly unlikely as the National Museum stopped the excavations in the end of August), there will be more damage to the neglected fortress during and after the winter months.
It is also surprising that the workers completely disregarded all soil and stone material from the ancient city and eliminated the possibility of excavating the lower cultural layers.
The access to the ancient city has been protected but unfortunately, they failed to protect the national monument itself.
