Višnja Dobrić, Croatian civil engineer and incomparable morale booster, left the project on Tuesday, August 16, after two weeks spent here in her second tour of duty. Though she has many years of professional training, she is happy helping in any way she is needed.
Written by Ed Weinberg
Višnja Dobrić, Croatian civil engineer and incomparable morale booster, left the project on Tuesday, August 16, after two weeks spent here in her second tour of duty. Though she has many years of professional training, she is happy helping in any way she is needed. Ms. Dobric embodies the spirit which has helped this large project thrive and successfully incorporate its body of international professionals. As she herself puts it, “I try to help here in any way, anything that needs to be done I’ll be happy to help.”
Project archaeologist Viktor Acimovic translates as we sit down for a soda at the Motel Piramida Sunca. Ms. Dobric doesn’t speak much English, but her warm smile and expressive personality help to convey her ideas. Before the work here started, she was a close follower of project director Semir Osmanagic’s website, www.alternativnahistorija.com. When she heard the plans to start excavating here, she immediately wanted in.
“Everyone has their point of view. My point of view concerns geology and archaeology,” Ms. Dobric says. She became involved in the project out of both professional interest and her own curiosity. In conversation, she can’t hide her enthusiasm. “I’m really excited about the pyramids.”
Last time she was here, in July, she devised a protection plan for the squares from the wind, rain and snow of wintertime. This time, in hot, work-intensive August, she worked closely with the workers on-site. She drove the carless from site to site, and sometimes used her expertise in civil engineering for the excavation plans.
The ambitious project she conceived while on the project took up the rest of her time here. She aims to fully map the area as she would a construction project, measuring the geometry of the pyramids and the interlying areas. This work is not yet done, so it seems a third mission to the pyramids is in order.
Ms. Dobric is gracious: “I will come back at the end of the project if they want me, if they need me.” But later in our conversation, she drops her poker face and reveals her true feelings for the project.
“When I go back to Zagreb, even after many, many days, I’ll still be here.”
