Mount Padang Pyramid :: Possibly The Oldest Structure Ever Built

In West Java, Indonesia, buried inside what appears to be a mountain is what is perhaps one of the most incredible mysteries – and discoveries – that archaeology has to offer. What at first appears to be a mountain, named Gunung (Mount) Padang, actually conceals within its bulk one of the world’s oldest megalithic structures which have been controversially carbon dated to 26,000 BCE. We will very loosely refer to the Gunung Padang megalithic site as the Mount Padang Pyramid.

The significance of this potential find is that, if the Mount Padang Pyramid is indeed a pyramid, that is, a man-made structure, then it rewrites the chronology of high-civilization in what is at present considered the Prehistory of the World. Furthermore, we have no known civilization in the region capable of such a feat, giving credence to Graham Hancock’s Sundaland Hypothesis for a possible region inhabited by a Lost High Civilization at the end of the Last Ice Age.

Though remember that the structure itself is not yet determined beyond doubt to be man-made, and only further scholarship will clarify this point.

The Mount Padang Pyramid

The top of Gunung Padang is covered by volcanic stones that are roughly rectangular in shape, very striking, creating terraces that have been considered as a sacred site by that native Sundanese people for millennia. They attribute it to the efforts of the somewhat legendary King Siliwangi, who built a palace in a single night.

The superficial temple structure was first discovered by European scientists in the early 20th century, but is now being explored by scientists and scholars of Indonesia. [1.1]

At first what struck researches was the fact that superficial structures did not look natural, appearing to be the work of human hands, and younger than the topography of the surrounding regions. Though with the application of a number of technologies and surveying techniques (including excavation, X-ray tomography, core drilling, 2D and 3D imaging, and ground penetrating radar) scientists uncovered several layers within the Mount Padang Pyramid proving that it is far larger than initially thought, extending much deeper into Gunung Padang.

The Mount Padang Pyramid is not just superficial existing only on the top of the hill, but wraps around the surrounding slopes over an area of some 150,000 $m^2$ (15 hectares).

Not all of the features of this temple on top of Gunung Padang are of the same age. The top is marked with basalt rocks that are arranged into make-shift pillars that identify terraces and paths of the superficial temple. However, these are estimated to have been erected much later than the deeper internal structures, perhaps circa 1500 to 1000 BCE. [1.1]

Beneath the surface layer are three deeper layers of a structure which are believed to have been built up over thousands of years in different phases of building (and by different cultures, if this theory turns out to be correct).

Beneath the surface down to about 3 m is a second layer of rock columns that are similar to those on top which are believed to date between 5,500 to 6,300 BCE. [1.1] The deepest layer that extends 15 m below the surface is far older that is hard to date but might be anywhere between 7,000 BCE and 26,000 BCE. [1.1]

Further Reading

1. Popular Reading
   1. A 28,000-Year Mysterious Pyramid Is Discovered At The Top of Mount Padang, In West Java Indonesia | Archaeology World | 24 March 2020 | Accessed 01 April 2020
   2. Gunung Padang Megalithic Site | Wikipedia | 01 March 2020
   3. A Scientist Claims The World’s Oldest Pyramid Is Hidden In An Indonesian Mountain | Peter Dockrill | Science Alert | 18 Dec 2018
2. Scholarly Reading

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