Gunung Padang's Pyramid Claim Under Fire

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Scientists claim they've found the world's oldest pyramid in Indonesia—potentially 25,000 years old—but is it really man-made?

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Located in West Java, Gunung Padang features impressive stone terraces and mysterious passageways that some researchers believe predate Egyptian pyramids by over 20,000 years.

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Geologist Danny Hilman Natawidjaja's team used ground-penetrating radar and core drilling to discover what they call "meticulously sculpted" layers deep beneath the visible structures.

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Their radiocarbon dating suggests construction began during the Paleolithic era—challenging the belief that complex structures only emerged after agriculture developed 11,000 years ago.

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If proven true, this would force historians to completely rethink human capabilities during the ice age, when we supposedly lacked the technology to build massive monuments.

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But many archaeologists aren't buying it. Cardiff University's Flint Dibble argues what looks man-made could simply be natural patterns formed as materials rolled downhill.

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"The 27,000-year-old soil samples do not carry hallmarks of human activity, such as charcoal or bone fragments," explains archaeologist Bill Farley—crucial evidence typically found at ancient construction sites.

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The controversy grew so intense that Archaeological Prospection, the journal that published the findings, has launched an investigation and retracted the paper.

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Even Indonesian experts disagree—Dr. Lutfi Yondri argues Gunung Padang is actually a traditional "stepped pundhen" sanctuary dating to just 117-45 BCE, thousands of years younger than claimed.

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What makes Gunung Padang unique? Unlike Egyptian pyramids built on flat ground, it incorporates a natural hill with stone terraces—blurring the line between natural and man-made.

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After research was halted for nearly a decade, Indonesia's Ministry of Culture plans to resume studies and bring together archaeologists with different perspectives to solve the mystery.

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Will Gunung Padang rewrite human history or join other sensational claims later debunked by science? The debate continues as researchers dig deeper into this ancient enigma.

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