COULD AN ANCIENT INDONESIAN PYRAMID SITE REWRITE HUMAN HISTORY?

Gunung Padang in Indonesia

Maya Musings is branching out! My love of ancient cultures has lead me to focus on more than just the ancient Maya. This post on Gunung Padang is the first.

Gunung Padang in Indonesia may be the greatest mystery of history and what we know about ancient civilizations.

Graham Hancock, a 30-year journalist interviewed in a new Netflix series, Ancient Apocalypse, explains he is neither archeologist nor scientist: He reports what he sees as a journalist. He has spent the past three decades investigating human pre-history and in the series, gives his first-person account.

ANCIENT APOCALYPSE

In the documentary he states it's his suspicion that "humans are a species with amnesia about an incredibly important thing in our distant past." That important thing, he says, "is that there is a lost civilization of the Ice Age."

Graham Hancock on Ancient Apocalypse

The possibility of civilization emerging earlier than we previously thought gets stronger each year and in Hancock's opinion, definitely demands a re-write of history as we know it. He suspects his theory is upsetting to experts because they insist the only civilization that existed during the Ice Age was that of our simple hunter-gatherer ancestors who—and he questions this premise—on their own initiative, suddenly began to farm and raise livestock, creating settlements and eventually cities until the first civilizations emerged 4000 BC. His own research with new discoveries has led him to believe otherwise, and his findings keep pushing that timeline back. He tells a completely different story.

ENTER GUNUNG PADANG

One such discovery takes place in Indonesia on the island Java, in the village of Karyamukti, four hours south of Jakarta. Hancock went there to check out one of the most controversial discoveries of our time: Gunung Padang. The evidence at the massive site, some 400 plus kilometers, has confounded archeologists because it calls into question everything they have taught us about the pre-history of humanity.

What if an advanced civilization flourished at Karyamukti during the Ice Age, he asks—a civilization lost to history until now. The name Gunung Padang means mountain of light or mountain of enlightenment in local dialect. Today and for centuries if not millennia, pilgrims have traveled from far and wide to make offerings to this mountain. They purify themselves before climbing 360 feet to the top, an arduous venture. 

Hancock says Gunung Padang's answer is buried in the mountain underneath where it sits. And potentially, it could force humanity to re-think our entire history as we presently know it.

THE SITE

It takes about 20 minutes to hike to the top of Gunung Padang on stairs made from rocks that lead to the top plateau. From that spot, one can gaze over a jumble of the building blocks from an ancient construction that are scattered across brilliant green grass. Shaped like long rectangular blocks roughly two meters in length, they are heavy. But these are not man-made. The rocks, forged long ago by a volcano, may have been cut. They were merely transported to the spot and arranged into whatever structure once occupied this peak.

TERRACING

Technically there are five levels of terraces. The first is relatively quiet with a meditative quality. Second is much larger and made up of shallow levels of turf, each built slightly higher than the other. The rocks, like those far below, are strewn haphazardly about. It's uncertain as to whether they were used as columns or laid in horizontal fashion to construct buildings and altars.

Artist Rendering of the Terraces

The upper two areas is where intense research on Gunung Padang's history is presently taking place. And the quest to discover the truth has become animated, complicated by a mix of politics, money, and national pride. The cause for a prolonged and intense discussion comes down to what is below the surface. Some archeologists believe the mountain itself was made by humans as an enormous tomb, a sarcophagus made from dirt.

AGE IS JUST A NUMBER

These archeologists claim they have evidence for this feat that state humans may have built Gunung Padang up to 20,000 years ago. If that claim is true, it would make this site 10,000 years older than the pyramids of Egypt and one of the most jolting historical discoveries of our time.

With the possibility of a world-changing archeological site on Indonesian soil on the rise, the national government is throwing enormous support behind these research efforts. To furnish the manpower needed for the excavation, the Indonesian military was brought in to do the digging. They're doing hard labor under the supervision of scientific experts. 

Indonesian Military Work at Site (by Time Turtle)

QUESTIONS FROM EXPERTS

However, despite the insistence of certain experts and the hopes of the Indonesian government, a large number of academics believe it's impossible that Gunung Padang was built 20,000 years ago. Firstly, they say the evidence doesn't support that fact and there are alternative reasons why some of the tests have come up with such old dates.

They also state that it's not logical that a civilization that could build this enormous structure would leave no other signs of existence. One expert, as quoted in Time Turtle, made the point that 40 kilometers away, there's evidence people were using tools made of bone at that time, which seems odd if such a large advanced civilization was so close by.

FRINGE DATING

Based on unpublished and undisclosed numbers from carbon dates and strategic studies, Indonesian geologist-earthquake expert Danny Hilman Natawidjaja is the front man pushing for Gunung Padang's long date certification. He's suggested the site had been built as a giant pyramid between 9000 and 20,000 years ago, implying that it's proof of the existence of an otherwise unknown advanced civilization.

Since none of these radio-carbon dates have been formally published and the age of this site based on these dates differs greatly depending on who is consulted, some experts view Hilman's theories as "fringe dating."

In fact, 34 Indonesia scientists signed a petition questioning the motives and methods of Hilman and his team. Archeologist Victor Perez described Hilman's conclusions as pseudo-archeology. The dates of the site, based on Hilman's numbers, vary greatly depending on what publication is consulted and even when publications are by the same author, the recorded results vary. 

Long View of Gunung Padang (By Beritabali.com)

But Hilman's conclusions did attract the attention of the former Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who set up a task force several years ago, while he was still in office.

A vulcanologist, Sutikno Bronto, suggested the carbon dating results could have been influenced by weathering and concluded the elevation is the neck of an ancient volcano and not a man-made pyramid.

But whatever the case may be, Gunung Padang is undeniably the largest megalithic structure in South East Asia. Though the jury is still out, its very existence and the amount of effort recently allotted to excavate the ruins has begged the question: Are there other relics of pre-Ice Age civilizations out there that have yet to be vetted? And without the blessing of First World scientific experts, will they see the light of day or be left at the altar?

If you enjoyed this post, check out  Where the Sky is Born: Living in the Land of the Maya, on Amazon. My website is www.jeaninekitchel.com. Books one and two in my Mexico cartel trilogy, Wheels Up—A Novel of Drugs, Cartels and Survival, and Tulum Takedown, are also on Amazon. And my journalistic overview of the Maya 2012 calendar phenomenon, Maya 2012 Revealed: Demystifying the Prophecy, is on Amazon.