An Egyptian geologist who has joined Bosnian researchers unearthing what are thought to be Europe's first pyramids believes they bear similar hallmarks to the ancient structures in his homeland, an official said on Wednesday.

Aly Abd Alla Barakat, of the Egyptian Mineral Resources Authority, believes large stone blocks found near Sarajevo were man-made and polished in the same way as the pyramids of Giza, said the Bosnian Pyramid Foundation's Mario Gerussi.

"Barakat has also found the presence of a special material linking the stone blocks which is identical to that used for pyramids in Giza," he added.

Barakat had extensive knowledge of the pyramids in Giza and had been recommended for the Bosnian mission by Zahi Hawass, one of the world's foremost Egyptologists, said Gerussi...

Click on the image above to see ten images from the Yahoo! News Anthropology & Archaeology slideshow.

Bosnian pyramids bear Giza hallmarks - expert, AFP via Independent Online, South Africa, May 18, 2006.

cf. Egyptian Geologist: Bosnian 'Pyramid' Likely Man-Made, AP via FOX News, USA, May 17, 2006.

Zahi Hawass, the Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), said a deadline for a US museum to turn over an ancient mask in its collection ended Tuesday 16/05/2006.

The mask was stolen and smuggled illegally out of the country. At a press conference, Hawass said Egypt's Attorney General office is to take legal action against the St. Louis Art Museum after having given the museum an ultimatum to hand over the 19th dynasty (1307-1196 BC) mask of Ka-nefer-nefer.

Egypt will also seek the Interpol's aid to help restore the mummy mask he added.

Egyptologist Zakaria Goneim excavated the mask in the Saqqara area some 25 Kilometres (16 miles) south of Cairo in 1952 and registered the artefact.

It depicts a young woman with inlaid glass eyes and a gold-coated face wearing a wig and holding a wooden amulet in each hand.

SCA to take legal action to retrieve mask, Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, May 17, 2006.