The case in summary A group of researchers claim that there is a pyramid under an old temple complex called Gunung Padang in West Java, Indonesia, which may be between 16,000 and 27,000 years old. This theory is controversial, to say the least, and the journal that published it has started an internal investigation. Critics believe that there is insufficient evidence to support these claims and that it is unlikely that people at this time were concerned with building such large structures. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAI. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. At the end of October this year, a sensational article was published in Archeological Prospection. It is so startling that the journal that published it has started an internal investigation, writes Nature. In the article, researchers claim that there is a pyramid under an ancient temple complex called Gunung Padang in West Java. As if that were not enough, they have dated the pyramid to be between 16,000 and 27,000 years old! – Embarrassing history about the pyramid and those who are supposed to have built it, was told in the Netflix series “Oldtidens apocalypse” which came out last year. In addition to the mound being more than ancient, it was claimed that the structure was made by an advanced civilization that has disappeared. This is what it looks like from the top of Gunung Padang. The long stone blocks were set in large rectangles on the various terraces. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen / Fairfax Media via Getty Images “Ancient Apocalypse” was called a documentary by Netflix, but the American Association of Archaeologists wrote in an open letter that it should have been categorized as science fiction. But now a group of researchers has had part of these claims published in a journal where other experts have approved the research. Usually it is a seal of quality. – It is another mistake that has occurred, and is terribly embarrassing for the journal. I cannot understand that it has gone through. That’s what Hallvard Bruvoll says, who is a research fellow in archeology at the University of Oslo. Evidence Already last year, he stepped out and warned against the claims in the TV series. – It is not the data base itself that is wrong. It’s just how they interpret it. Hallvard Bruvoll says that when you make revolutionary claims, you must have overwhelming evidence. Photo: Olaf Christensen / UiO – If this turns out to be true, it would be a crazy sensation. In a way, one had to rewrite quite a lot of what we think we know about the development of humanity. He says there is nothing to indicate that the samples that the researchers have taken to find out the age point to anything that is traces of humans. – That there was soil in Indonesia 25,000 years ago is not really that surprising. But that there were some people who built a pyramid, that is a completely different matter. The pyramids at Giza in Egypt were built around 4,500 years ago. But if the claim by Indonesian researchers is correct, they are almost brand new compared to the hill in West Java. Photo: Mohamed Abd El Ghany / Reuters Builders Gunung Padang may have been used for religious ceremonies for a long time. Several researchers agree on that. The area today consists of five stone terraces. Below is an extinct volcano. The Indonesian researchers say the site consists of four layers, but that the innermost, which consists of hardened lava, has been “carefully shaped” by humans: The height is made by humans. After a few thousand years, the area was abandoned, before someone made changes to the area in several rounds. The stone terraces that are there today were created between three and four thousand years ago, according to the researchers. In the article they write that all this suggests that there were advanced builders even before anyone invented agriculture. Now they hope that they will get more money to check whether there might be caves or chambers under the hill. The former president of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, has been a supporter of the scientists behind the study of Gunung Padang. Bambang was also the head of the Indonesian Scout Movement. King Gustav Adolf of Sweden has also been involved in the scout. Photo: Achmad Ibrahim / AP Peiling Daniela Hofmann is a professor at the University of Bergen. In addition, she is often involved in evaluating other people’s research for various journals. She also believes there has been a mistake among the experts who approved the pyramid theory. – The magazine may have found someone who didn’t really have time, or didn’t have much knowledge of the area. Hofmann explains that it is initially difficult to find researchers who have time to assess how good other people’s research is. – It is not the lack of payment that is the problem, it is the time. An important reason why researchers do this is that we know we have to publish and someone has to peer review. We know that quality checks are important. She believes that it is completely unlikely that people at this time would build such large structures. – To create a monument like this, you need a lot of people. At the same time as the Indonesian scientists claim that a pyramid was built in West Java, people all over the world were hunters and gatherers. Agriculture had not been invented. There was no abundance of food, nor were there any cities. Jericho on the West Bank is among the oldest cities in the world. People have lived there for close to 10,000 years. But it is still only a trifle compared to Gunung Padang, if the theories of the Indonesian researchers are correct. Photo: HAZEM BADER / AFP The damage has been done Bruvoll says that there is another problem with the study being published. And it is that if the journal comes to the conclusion that they want to say that the study is not good enough, then it can give water to the mill of people who believe in the theory. – They can say that it is the censorship that is coming, and that it is not allowed to talk about this. The damage has occurred, even if it is retracted. One of the editors of the journal, Gregory N. Tsokas, writes in an e-mail to news that: “The editors of Archaeological Prospection are now investigating the matter”. He has not answered our questions.
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