AN ARCHAEOLOGIST know as the ‘Bosnian Indiana Jones’ has found a giant mysterious sphere embedded in the ground in Bosnia.

Semir Osmanagich said the sphere dates back more than 1500 years and was believed to be proof of a lost ancient civilisation.

The finding is based on previous work from Mr Osmanagich, who has travelled the world exploring these ancient spheres.

“I’ve been researching prehistoric stone ball phenomenon for 15 years,” he wrote on a blog.

After examining granite stone balls in southern Costa Rica, volcanic stone spheres in western Mexico and Easter Island, the archeologist turned his attention to Bosnia.

Since exploring the area, Mr Osmanagich said his team has found spheres in 20 locations.

“Most of the stone balls were located near small town of Zavidovici. It used to be 80 of them in 1930s,”

“Most of them have been destroyed in 1970s after rumours of gold being hidden in the middle of them, some were taken by locals and moved to their backyards.”

Mr Osmanagich said signs of natural sedimentation on the ball hinted to its age, which is a significant part of the discovery.

“[It’s proof] that southern Europe, Balkan and Bosnia in particular, were home for advanced civilisations from distant past and we have no written records about them,” he said.

While materials of the sphere have not been tested yet, Mr Osmanagich said the colouration of the ball suggests it was very high in iron.

If this is true, the 3.5m sphere could be the heaviest in the world, weighing more than 40,000kg.