Is there a human-built structure inside the hill older than the visible terraces?
Most likely: the core is a volcanic body with natural columnar jointing; the deep layers are weathered and slumped columns…Ahead on the evidence, not yet confirmed. It needs two reviews to be accepted.
Where it stands
Four answers have been proposed. The core is a volcanic body with natural columnar jointing; the deep layers are weathered and slumped columns… leads, with evidence 2 for, 1 against: partly supported by its tests. Three are still possible. Of the two narrower questions under it, none is answered yet.
Why it matters
The claim that Gunung Padang hides a pyramid begun in the last Ice Age would make it the oldest monumental building on Earth by more than 10,000 years[1]. The journal retracted the paper because its dates do not bear on human work[2], but the government programme that began in 2025 is still looking for an early phase[3].
Answers 4
History
- Natawidjaja et al. puts forward: the hill is a pyramid built in four phases, the first between 25,000 and 14,000 BC, with chambers inside.
- Lewis puts forward: the core is a volcanic body with natural columnar jointing; the deep layers are weathered and slumped columns…
- Lewis: the dated soil samples contain no charcoal, bone or artefacts.Against: The hill is a pyramid built in four phases, the first between 25,000 and 14,000 BC, with chambers inside.
- Natawidjaja et al.: correlated GPR, resistivity and seismic profiles show layering to 20 to 30 m and a high-resistivity,…For: The hill is a pyramid built in four phases, the first between 25,000 and 14,000 BC, with chambers inside.
- Lewis: material moving downslope tends to orient itself, which can produce apparent order in the layers.For: The core is a volcanic body with natural columnar jointing; the deep layers are weathered and slumped columns…
- Archaeological Prospection: the dated soils were not associated with any artefact or feature that could be read as anthropogenic; the…Against: The hill is a pyramid built in four phases, the first between 25,000 and 14,000 BC, with chambers inside.
- Powell: the andesite blocks are columnar joints formed as the volcano's rock cooled.For: The core is a volcanic body with natural columnar jointing; the deep layers are weathered and slumped columns…
- Archaeological Prospection: the 2023 paper's own 6000 to 5500 BC phase rested on soil dates of the kind the journal found unsound.Against: People built an earlier structure on the hill around 6000 BC, below the visible terraces, but nothing from…
- CNN Indonesia puts forward: people built an earlier structure on the hill around 6000 BC, below the visible terraces, but nothing from…
- CNN Indonesia: the 2025 government team reports carbon-bearing material and stone 'foundations' about 4 m under terrace 5.Against: The core is a volcanic body with natural columnar jointing; the deep layers are weathered and slumped columns…
- CNN Indonesia: the team announced in December 2025 that laboratory tests on carbon from about 4 m under terrace 5 give about…For: People built an earlier structure on the hill around 6000 BC, below the visible terraces, but nothing from…
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