A study published on October 20 about the 25,000-year-old pyramid in Indonesia attracted a lot of media attention due to its extraordinary claim. The researchers of this study claimed that a strange mountain in Indonesia is the oldest pyramid in the world and was built by ancient humans. However, the reaction of archaeologists since then has cast doubt on the nature of the study’s results.
According to Study findingsGunung Padang, which means “Mountain of Enlightenment”, was not formed naturally; Rather, it was carefully carved into its current form between 25,000 and 14,000 years ago. If this is true, Gunung Padang is considered much older than the first great pyramid of Egypt called the Pyramid of Djoser with a life of 4600 years.
Also, this claim means that Gunung Padang is older than the oldest known stone structure called Gobeklitepe in Turkey, which was built by ancient stonemasons about 11,000 years ago.
“The evidence at Gunung Padang suggests that advanced construction methods have existed since the distant past, perhaps from a time when agriculture had not yet been invented,” the study’s team wrote.
Another bold claim by the researchers was that there were “hidden pits or halls” within the pyramid grounds, and it appears that the structure may have been deliberately buried on multiple occasions to conceal its true identity and for conservation purposes.
However, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and other archaeologists They are not convinced at all; Especially, it rewrites the findings of the study of the history of human civilization. Lotfi YoundariArchaeologist from Bandung, Indonesia says:
Flint Dibblearchaeologist from Cardiff University, UK, to Nature website “I’m surprised the article was published in its current form,” he said. According to him, researchers have reached illogical results despite using valid data. For example, they identified four layers of soil using radiocarbon dating and concluded that each of them represented distinct stages of construction.
The authors of the study say that these steps date back thousands of years BC and the initial phase of construction dates back to the Paleolithic era. However, Dibble says there is no clear evidence that the buried layers are man-made and not the result of natural weathering and rock movement over time.
According to the researchers, the age of the soil sample taken from around the parts of the hill, which is believed to be the oldest part of the “building”, dates back to 27 thousand years ago. They believe that an advanced civilization built Gunung Padang before the end of the last ice age. However, Bill Farley, an archaeologist at Southern Connecticut State University, said the researchers’ paper did not provide evidence that such an advanced civilization existed.
The soil samples taken from the mound have no signs of human activities such as bone fragments or charcoal. In fact, without any convincing traces of human activity on the mound, the evidence only suggests that the soil of the mound is very old.
According to the archaeological record, the transition from hunter-gatherer societies to complex societies living in large settlements occurred after the Holocene began 11,700 years ago. The oldest known city is the 9,000-year-old site of Çatalhöyük, which is located in present-day Turkey.
In addition, there are other questions about the findings of the study; Like a dagger-shaped stone that is claimed to be man-made. However, it does not provide any real evidence of human activity to confirm the results of the study.
According to Nature, the journal that published the article is currently reviewing the study, without providing an explanation of the nature of its concern. Until stronger evidence is presented, a more likely explanation is that Gunung Padang Hill is a natural formation.
