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- Geologist claims the site in West Java could be 9,000 to 20,000 years old
- Dr Danny Hilman says man-made hillside hides a pyramid structure
- Tests have established parts of the structure date to 7,000 BC
- Could re-write pre-history, but other experts claim excavation is flawed
Egypt’swas built almost 5,000 years ago but a similar structure
hidden beneath rubble could be up to four times older.
If true, the claim could rewrite prehistory and shed light on an obscure yet powerful and advanced ancient civilisation.
Geologist
Dr Danny Hilman believes that a site in West Java is revered because it
hides an ancient temple built between 9,000 and 20,000 years ago.
A geologist claims that the world's
oldest pyramid is hidden under rubble (pictured) in West Java, which if
true, could re-write pre-history in the region and shed light on a
powerful and advanced ancient civilisation
The Megalithic site of Gunung Padang was discovered in 1914 and is the largest site of its kind in Indonesia.
It
is nestled among volcanoes, banana palms and tea plantations, at 2,903
ft (885 metres) above sea level some 75 miles (120km) south of Jakarta.
Chunks
of volcanic rubble jut out up from the stepped hillside, which is
considered sacred by the Sundanese people who live locally.
Geologist
Dr Danny Hilman believes the site is culturally important is because
it is an ancient pyramid which was built between 9,000 and 20,000 years
ago.
He suggests that it may have been built for worship or astronomy.
The megalithic site of Gunung Padang
(pictured) was discovered in 1914 and is the largest site of its kind in
Indonesia. It's nestled among volcanoes banana and tea plantations, at
2,903 ft (885 metres) above sea level
Chunks of volcanic rubble stick up
from the stepped hillside (pictured), which is considered sacred by the
Sundanese people who live locally. Geologist Dr Danny Hilman thinks the
reason the site is so revered is that it is an ancient pyramid which was
built between 9,000 and 20,000 years ago
If
this is true, prehistoric people would have had to manoeuvre chunks of
volcanic rock onto terraces built on the mountainside and stack them on
top of each other to create a pyramid – a considerable feat of ancient
engineering.
Dr
Hilman, a senior geologist at Indonesia’s Centre for Geotechnical
Research, says that proof of the structure’s organisation lies
underground.
His
excavations have been backed by the Indonesian government, which
recently decreed that the upper part of Gunung Padang is 'the largest
megalithic structure in south-east Asia,' The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
President
Yudhoyono dubbed the dig a ‘task of history…of important value to
humanity.' and it has yielded some ancient artefacts.
Dr Hilman said: ‘People think the prehistoric age was primitive, but this monument proves that wrong.’
He
believes such a pyramid would be proof of an advanced ancient
civilisation in Java and said that the majority of the stepped site is
man-made, perhaps built by generations over a matter of centuries.
The geologist is now working to establish the authenticity of the site.
Some rocks were originally stuck together with a form of ancient glue and have been carbon dated to be around 7,000 BC.
Dr Hilman said that the ruins hide walls and rooms with steps and terraces below, which are evidence of a complex building.
Dr Hilman said: ‘People think the
prehistoric age was primitive, but this monument proves that
wrong.’ Some rocks were originally stuck together with a form of ancient
glue and have been carbon dated to be around 7,000 BC. The site is
thought to have been built for worship or astronomy
The site (marked
on the map) is nestled among volcanoes, banana palms and tea
plantations, at 2,903 ft (885 metres) above sea level some 75 miles
(120km) south of Jakarta, and south east of Sukabumi City (marked)
The terraces are bordered by retaining walls of stone that can be accessed by 400 steps rising around 311 ft (95 metres).
The structure is covered with massive rectangular stones of volcanic origin.
It has been subjected to multiple geoelectric surveys, where ground penetrating radar and samples have been used.
From this, he believes the terraced hill is 328 ft (100 metres) thick and is made up of a number of layers.
He said that so far man-made structures have been detected 49 ft (15 metres) underground.
Experts
dated rock between nine and 13 ft (three and four metres) below the
surface as 6,500 years old and 12,500 years old below the surface.
However,
Dr Hilman’s controversial findings are disputed and 34 Indonesian
archaeologists and geologists have submitted a petition criticising the
projects’ methods and motives.
They
say that the excavation threatens the preservation of the site as it is
and are annoyed at the prospect of involving civilian archaeologists in
the excavation.
Volcanologist
Sutikno Bronto believes that the structure isn’t a pyramid at all, but
the neck of an old volcano and that the stones surveyed have been
weathered by nature instead of being cut by humans.
Another
anonymous expert is sceptical that such an ancient civilisation could
have been advanced enough to build a pyramid so many thousands of years
ago, when tools recovered from a nearby cave, dating to 7,000 BC were
very primitive.
The terraces are bordered by retaining
walls of stone (pictured)
that can be accessed by 400 steps rising
around 311 ft (95 metres).
They date to at least 5,000 BC
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