The Stone Balls of Bosnia

Mysterious carved stone balls found across Bosnia are similar to ones found in Costa Rica.To date, some 390 stone balls have been found in Costa Rica, all finely finished, but it is not clear how they were created as no tools have been found to explain this.Some of these balls were found buried together with pieces of ceramics that suggest that these balls are at least 1200-1300 years old – dating them before the arrival of Christopher Columbus.

People who found these balls have said that they are always found in group of three, in the shape of a triangle, and always placed in the North-South direction. They are generally found on hills.Two of these stone balls have been transferred to the USA (National Geographic Society in Washington, and Harvard University in Cambridge).Various theories have been suggested to explain the presence of the stone balls in Costa Rica. American archaeologist Samuel K Lothrop (“Archeology of the Diquis Delta, Costa Rica”, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, 1963), for example, concludes that there is evidence that the stone balls have been oriented astronomically.

There has been little theorising to date about stone balls in Bosnia. Explorer Semir Osmanagic first heard about their presence from a Bosnian friend, Bojan zecevic, in 2004. They then contacted Bosnian historians and created a team to explore the phenomenon of the ‘Bosnian Stone balls’ .They first explored the North West region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the village Trn near the town of Banja Luka they found that two balls had been used as part of a foundation of a house, each with a radius of 30-40 cm. They were finely polished and heavier than normal stone. A short distance from the house they found the pieces of a ball that had been cut in half; the damaged ball has a radius of one metre.In the North Bosnian village of Teocak, eight balls have been found.

All these balls are geometrically shaped but none of them are finely polished. They are granit and some of the balls have holes across their surface.These stone balls have been found in several locations – a restaurant in Vares has even been named after the stone outside and is called ‘Kugla Restoran’ or Stone Ball Restaurant.The largest stone ball found in Bosnia (near the village of Slatina, Banjaluka) is unfinished. Historians believe that it would have been polished to complete the geometric shape of the ball Geologist Mile Vujacic believes that the Bosnian stone balls were produced naturally by water shaping the rock over a long period – although this conclusion is uncertain given the number of locations where these stone balls have been found and their correct geometric shape.

No one can be sure just how many of these stone balls exist in Bosnia but the number found to date may represent a small fraction of the true number. The balls have been buried over hundreds of years and only accidental findings are bringing them to light.

This text is taken from Semir Osmanagic’s book (Bosanska Piramida Sunca)