There is a dispute among researchers
The Djoser Step pyramid, built around 2,630 BC, is the world’s oldest pyramid according to the Guinness World Records.
However, one paper published last October claims that the Gunung Padang pyramid in Indonesia is actually older, dating as far back as 25,000 BC but there is doubt over whether the structure is actually man-made.
Researcher Danny Hilman Natawidjaja and his team said that the pyramid’s core ‘consists of meticulously sculpted massive andesite lava’ suggesting that it was likely that the structure ‘originated as a natural lava hill before being sculpted and then architecturally enveloped’.
They said: “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.”
However, some archaeologists disagree with the paper that was published in the journal, Archaeological Prospection.
Flint Dibble from Cardiff University told the journal, Nature, that there is no clear evidence to suggest the buried layers were built by humans.
He said: “Material rolling down a hill is going to, on average, orient itself. There is no evidence of working or anything to indicate that it’s man-made.”
Bill Farley, an archaeologist at Southern Connecticut State University agrees with Dibble. He said: “the 27,000-year-old soil samples from Gunung Padang, although accurately dated, do not carry hallmarks of human activity, such as charcoal or bone fragments.”
Natawidjaja responded to the criticism by inviting researchers from around the world to come to Indonesia and do their own research.
Meanwhile, the co-editor of the journal where the research was first published confirmed they are investigating the paper.
