A recent research paper has revealed startling details about Indonesia's Gunung Padang.
The Guinness World Records recognizes Egypt’s Djoser Step Pyramid, built around 2,630 BC as the world's oldest pyramid.
However, a research paper suggests that a layer of Gunung Padang pyramid might date back to 25,000 BC.
The study also raises doubts about whether Gunung Padang was even man-made.
As per the research led by Danny Hilman Natawidjaja from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, published in Archaeological Prospection, the pyramid’s core is made of precisely shaped andesite lava.
The researchers suggest that the structure originally formed as a natural lava hill before being sculpted and modified into an architectural form.
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The researchers said in a statement, “This study sheds light on advanced masonry skills dating back to the last glacial period. This finding challenges the conventional belief that human civilisation and the development of advanced construction techniques emerged only … with the advent of agriculture approximately 11,000 years ago.”
“Evidence from Gunung Padang and other sites, such as Gobekli Tepe [in Turkey], suggests that advanced construction practices were already present when agriculture had, perhaps, not yet been invented,” the statement added.
On the other hand, Flint Dibble from Cardiff University told Nature that there is no strong evidence to prove that the buried layers were made by humans.
Meanwhile, Bill Farley, an archaeologist at Southern Connecticut State University said that while the soil samples from Gunung Padang are correctly dated to 27,000 years ago they do not contain typical evidence of human presence such as charcoal or bone fragments.
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