By Daria Sito-Sucic

VISOKO, Bosnia, May 18 (Reuters) An Egyptian geologist said that a hill in central Bosnia appeared to be a primitive man-made pyramid of uncertain age.

Geologist Aly Abd Barakat was sent by Egypt's government to join the local team researching what Bosnian-born amateur archaeologist Semir Osmanagic says are three 12,000-year-old pyramids -- the Bosnian Pyramids of Sun, Moon and Dragon.

''In my opinion, it is a type of pyramid, probably primitive pyramid...(that) we did not know until now,'' Barakat yesterday told reporters at the dig on the northeastern side of Visocica hill, where huge stone blocks have been found.

''It is difficult for nature to create blocks like this and oriented in one orientation,'' he said, pointing to compact polished blocks.

He added that sand layers between the blocks were the same type of artificial cement used in ancient Egyptian pyramids.

Barakat said detailed study was needed to determine the age of the excavated blocks and the type of the material used, and said more Egyptian archaeologists would join the team in Bosnia.

Osmanagic's theory about pyramids in Bosnia has been denounced by local and European archaeologists, who say that ancient civilisations in Europe lived in caves and could not build such structures.

But the US-based researcher has invited sceptics to come to Bosnia.

''They say that civilisations could not build such objects. I say -- here is an object, and I invite them to come and find out from which period it dates,'' he told Reuters at the site.

Osmanagic has announced the existence of two more pyramid-shaped objects in the Visoko valley, some 30 km north of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo.

Reuters SB RS1044