A sensational article claiming that a structure found in Indonesia is the world's oldest pyramid has raised many questions and criticisms from some archaeologists who want to understand more about it. Sensational research concludes that there is a pyramid located under the prehistoric site of Gunung Padang in West Java, Indonesia, which may have been built 27,000 years ago.
This would make it much older than the first Egyptian pyramid, built 4,600 years ago, and also means it predates the oldest known megalithic site at Göbekli Tepe in Turkey, which was built about 11,000 years ago. And of course, it would completely rewrite what we know about human civilization in that area.
"The pyramid became a symbol of the advanced civilization of that ancient period. It is not easy to build pyramids. High masonry skills are required," says co-author of the article Danny Hilman Natawidjaja, a geologist at the National Agency for Research and Innovation (BRIN). in Bandung, Indonesia.
It is precisely these statements that have surprised many researchers. Lutfi Yondri, an archaeologist at BRIN in Bandung, Indonesia, says his research has shown that the inhabitants of the region lived in caves between 12,000 and 6,000 years ago, long after the supposed construction of the pyramid, and no excavations from that period has revealed no evidence of sophisticated stone masonry construction.
"I'm surprised the article was published as it is," says Flint Dibble, an archaeologist at Cardiff University in the United Kingdom. According to the researcher, although the paper presents "realistic data", the conclusions about the location and age are not justified.
According to the study, Gunung Padang consists of five stone terraces forming steps, with retaining walls and connecting steps, all atop an extinct volcano. Between 2011 and 2014, Natawidjaja and colleagues studied the site using various earth observation techniques to determine what lies beneath the visible terraces. They identified four layers, which, according to the researchers, represent separate stages of construction. The innermost layer is a solidified lava core, which is "meticulously sculpted". Later layers of rock "arranged like a brick wall" were superimposed on the older layer.
The layers were carbon dated, using samples taken from a core drilled into the hill. The first phase of construction occurred between 27,000 and 16,000 years ago. Further additions were made between 8,000 and 7,500 years ago, and the final layer, including the visible stepped terraces, was laid down between 4,000 and 3,100 years ago.
Dibble argues that there is no clear evidence that the buried layers were built by humans, but they may be the result of natural activity and the movement of rocks over time.
"Material rolling down a hill orients itself". But Natawidjaja replies that the columnar stones were too large and regular to have been rolled where they lie: "The regular, shaped and massive nature of such rocks, some of which weigh up to 300 kilograms, precludes the possibility of natural transport over considerable distances".
Another dissenting voice comes from Bill Farley, an archaeologist at Connecticut State University in New Haven, who says the study has provided no evidence for the existence of an advanced civilization during the last ice age. Gunung Padang's 27,000-year-old soil samples, although carefully dated, have no telltale signs of human activity, such as charcoal remains or bone fragments.
It is certain that all this is very reminiscent of the story of the "Bosnian pyramids", which, according to Semir Osmanagić, were built about 12,000 years ago, but which met with opposition from the archaeological community and all came to nothing. (A2 Televizion)
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