Stop Press - Latest News From The Excavations At Gunung Padang, The Mysterious Ancient Pyramid In Indonesia That Is Rewriting History
By Graham Hancock - 2 October 2014

The archaeological establishment is scrambling to find some reason to reject and pour scorn on the extraordinary consequences of the excavations now taking place at Gunung Padang in Indonesia.

Since its first exploration by archaeologists in 1914 the site was thought to be a natural hill with 2500 year-old megalithic structures on top of it. But in 2010 geologist Dr Danny Hilman Natawidjaja (who earned his doctorate at Cal Tech) recognized this “hill” as a possible man-made pyramid and began to explore it using ground penetrating radar, seismic tomography, resistivity survey and other remote sensing techniques, as well as some direct excavations and deep core drilling.

The results were immediately intriguing (see this article I wrote in January for background: http://www.grahamhancock.com/forum/HancockG9-Mystery-Lost-Civilization.php) producing evidence of deeply buried man-made chambers and yielding carbon dates going back as far as 26,000 years. This was the last Ice Age when our ancestors are supposed (according to the orthodox archaeological model) to be have been nothing more than primitive hunter gatherers incapable of large-scale construction and engineering feats. Was it possible that geologist Natawidjaja was unearthing the proof of a lost advanced civilization of prehistoric antiquity? Such ideas are heresy to mainstream archaeologists and sure enough the archaeological establishment in Indonesia banded together against Dr Natawidjaja and his team, lobbied the political authorities, agitated locally and succeeded in slowing down, though not completely stopping, the further exploration of Gunung Padang.

Dr Natawidjaja fought back, doing some high-level lobbying of his own, taking the matter to the President of Indonesia himself. There were further delays to do with elections in Indonesia but just a couple of months ago, in mid-August 2014, the final obstacles were lifted and Dr Natawidjaja and his team moved back onto the Gunung Padang site with full approval to go ahead with their work, including permission to excavate the concealed chambers.

Archaeologists were furious and immediately began lobbying to get the work stopped – fortunately to no avail as preliminary excavations have produced results that prove beyond doubt that Gunung Padang in indeed a man-made pyramid of great antiquity as Dr Natawidjaja had long ago proposed. Even the relatively young layer so far excavated (the second artificial columnar rock-layer beneath the megalithic site visible on the surface) has yielded dates of 5200 BC (nearly 3000 years older than the orthodox dating for the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt) and there are firm indications from the original remote sensing and core drilling work of much older layers below. In short, it is now evident to all that the site is vastly older than the 2500 years that archaeologists had insisted upon for decades. Even the most hostile amongst them are therefore now reframing their assessment of the site and referring to it as “a gigantic terraced tomb, which was part of the biggest megalithic culture in the archipelago.”

For a flavor of the sour grapes the archaeological establishment feel towards Dr Natawidjaja and his team see this recent article from the Jakarta Post: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/09/24/archaeologists-slam-excavation-gunung-padang-site.html

I asked Dr Natawidjaja for his response to the Jakarta Post article and he replied as follows:

“The article has got the story all wrong. All excavations were supervised by archeologists from Agency for Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites (BPCB) and University of Indonesia. The excavation sites have also recently been inspected by the Director for Conservation of Archeological Sites (who is the boss of Miss Desril Shanti ), by the head of the BPCB, and by the Minister of Education and Culture himself. Afterward, they gave a press conference confirming that all excavations are good and proper. For information, the head of the National Archeological Center, which is the main office above local Archeological Centers including Bandung Archeological Center, is also a member of the National Team for Gunung Padang. The Jakarta Post article is also wrong about the funding. The Minister of Education and Culture did indeed announce in the press conference that he would allocate about Rp 3 billion for the research but it has not begun to be disbursed yet. So far, I and my team are still working willingly on our own funding with the help of the soldiers (TNI) who have been working alongside us. Of course the TNI have their own funding – but not from that Endowment Fund.”

As to the progress of the work at Gunung Padang, Dr Natawidjaja writes as follows:

“The research progress has been being great. We have excavated three more spots right on top of the megalithic site in the past couple weeks, which give more evidence and details about the buried structures. We have uncovered lots more stone artifacts from the excavations. The existence of the pyramid-like structure beneath the megalithic site is now loud and clear; even for non-specialists, it is not too difficult to understand if they come and see for themselves. We have found some kind of open hall buried by soil 5-7 meters thick; however we have not yet got into the main chamber. We are now drilling to the suspected location of the chamber (based on subsurface geophysic) in the middle of the megalithic site.”

Stay tuned for more news from the front line!

By Graham Hancock

MME visit Megalithic Site Gunung Padang, Java, Indonesia

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Frank Joseph: “The first archaeological survey of Gunung Padang appears in a “Report, the Department of Antiquities” (Rapporten van de Oudheidkundige Dienst) for Holland’s colonial office in 1914. Thirty-three years later, a Canberra team from the Australian National University’s Centre for Archaeological Research determined that Gunung Padang was far older than previously imagined.

Not until February 2012, however, was a State-sponsored evaluation of the site carried out, when thorough radiocarbon testing revealed it was built and first occupied about 4,800 years ago. As the researchers were carrying out their investigations, they noticed traces on Mount Padang’s surface of underground structures.


The President of Indonesia himself, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, lavished the archaeologists with costly GSSI and Multi-Channel SuperSting R-8 ground-penetrating radar units, plus GEM-Ovenhausser geo-magnetometers. These state-of-the-art instruments readily found and accurately confirmed the existence of large and small chambers, walls, gates and staircases buried deep beneath the often-visited, open-air ruins.”

The Jakarta Post announced on 5 November: “A recent analysis of carbon-dating by the Miami-based Beta Analytic Lab has apparently validated findings by a government-sanctioned team that a man-made structure lies buried under Mount Padang in Cianjur, West Java. The lab used samples of sand, soil and charcoal found at a depth of between three and twelve metres beneath the mountain’s surface. Based on geo-electric, geo-radar and geo-magnetic [surveys], a large chamber is buried at least up to fifteen metres from the surface… Carbon-dating test results from the Miami lab show that the structure could date back to 14,000 B.C., or beyond.”

The significance of this discovery cannot be over-stated, because it crosses the Ice Age event horizon.

“At 7,000 or more years older than Stonehenge the megaliths of Gobekli Tepe, like the deeply buried megaliths of Gunung Padang mean that the timeline of history taught in our schools and universities for the best part of the last hundred years can no longer stand. It is beginning to look as though civilization, as I argued in my controversial 1995 bestseller Fingerprints of the Gods, is indeed much older and much more mysterious than we thought.” ~ Graham Hancock (Source)

“Gunung Padang is not a natural hill but a man-made pyramid and the origins of construction here go back long before the end of the last Ice Age. Since the work is massive even at the deepest levels, and bears witness to the kinds of sophisticated construction skills that were deployed to build the pyramids of Egypt or the largest megalithic sites of Europe, I can only conclude that we’re looking at the work of a lost civilization and a fairly advanced one. ” ~ Dr. Danny Natawidjaja (Source).

RADIOCARBON DATES

The site was first mentioned in 1914, when it appeared in Rapporten van de Oudheidkundige Dienst (ROD, “Report of the Department of Antiquities”). It is mentioned again in 1949, within the work of Dutch historian N. J. Krom, although it was not until 1979 that members of the National Archeology Research Centre made a careful examination of its history, archaeology, and geology.

Conventionally, archaeologists and historians place the construction of Gunung Padang’s megalithic structures firmly within the Bronze Age, ca. 2500-1500 BC. However, geological surveys conducted at the site since 2011 by Indonesian geologist Danny Hilman Natawidjaja of the Indonesian Centre for Geotechnical Research suggest the monument is much older – much older indeed.

Core drilling samples and other exploratory excavations have uncovered evidence that Gunung Padang is a multi-leveled structure, one phase being built on top of the next, with evidence of activity on the hill at 22,000-20,000 BC, 14,700 BC, 9,600 BC, 4700 BC and 2800 BC, the final date being the age of the megalithic structures visible today. Indeed, Danny Hilman and his team now believe that the entire hill is an artificial pyramid of incredible antiquity. If correct, this would make it the oldest built structure anywhere in the world. The ranges of dates cited above derive from carbon-14 testing of organic materials taken from core drilling samples extracted from a series of different depths.

Further evidence of the artificial construction of the hill comes from the fact that Danny Hilman and his team have uncovered series of andesite pillars laid down in rows beneath the surface of the hill, and since andesitic pillars are only ever created vertically, never horizontally, it means they must form part of an artificial construction (often these andesitic, i.e. basaltic, columnar pillars are six-sided in profile due to the rapid cooling process involved in their manufacture. See, for example, those making up the Giant’s Causeway in Ireland. Those at Gunung Padang are more irregular in profile).

CAVE SANCTUARY

With the prospect that Gunung Padang’s megalithic complex is in fact a stepped pyramid as much as 12,000 years older than Göbekli Tepe I felt the matter was definitely worth investigating further. Yet having not had a chance to visit Gudung Padang myself (I hope to go there next year), it is difficult to offer any constructive comments regarding the hill’s proposed greater antiquity and apparent artificial construction. However, if the radiocarbon dates can be shown to relate to human activity, and are not simply the result of natural sediment accumulation on the hill slopes, it is feasible that they are the result of Paleolithic peoples occupying or visiting a natural cave site located at the heart of the structure. Indeed, it might well be possible that the megalithic complex was built to surround an existing cave sanctuary of immense antiquity (the exploration of caves and rock shelters in eastern Java revealed evidence of occupation during the Upper Palaeolithic age, approximately between 40,000 years ago and 15,000 years ago, see Peregrine and Ember, 2001, 308).

Danny agrees with this theory. 3D geo-electric, geo-magnetic and geo-radar surveys have revealed the presence of a hollow chamber 10 metres in width, height and length at a depth beneath the hill of approximately 25 metres. It apparently even has two doors in its hallway. He adds that the existence of this suspected cave chamber was the most likely impetus behind the construction of the multi-layered pyramid structure as early as the Upper Palaeolithic age. This is supported by the organic samples extracted from this great depth, which have produced radiocarbon dates in the range of 22,000-20,000 BC. Obviously, Danny is anxious to explore these hollow cavities, although he must first gain permission from the correct authorities to continue his exploration of the site (there is considerable opposition against his explorations continuing at Gunung Padang. Local people have protested using banners and placards, raising political and religious issues that the Javanese government must address before the state-sponsored survey can continue).

ASTRONOMICAL ALIGNMENTS?

Rodney Hale did look at potential astronomical alignments based on Gudung Padang’s proposed axis of 342º (that is, toward the main Gede crater), and, using the proposed radiocarbon dates offered by the recent geological surveys, found the following possible ground-sky correlations:

21,000 BC – setting of Cassiopeia.
20,000 BC – setting Polaris in Ursa Minor.
14,900 BC and again in 8750 BC – setting of Vega in Lyra.
12,450 BC – setting of the Cygnus star Deneb and the opening to the Milky Way’s Great Rift, or Cygnus Rift.
5200 BC to 600 BC – the setting of various stars belonging to Ursa Major* and Ursa Minor. Alioth in Ursa Major fits well twice in this time frame.
2800 to 2700 BC – Dubhe of Ursa Major.*

*In Indonesian star-lore Ursa Major is a constellation of some importance known as Bintang Biduk, which means “Biduk star.” A biduk is a boat or canoe (see below).

"In Indonesian star-lore the constellation of Ursa Major was known as Bintang Biduk, the “Biduk star”. A biduk is a boat or canoe, like those in the photograph on the left, which shows an Igorot tribesman next to wooden “biduk,” in this case canoes. The first ancestors of the Toraja people of Indonesia were said to have descended from the sky. Other traditions have them arriving by boat from the north, the two stories becoming inextricably weaved together over time. Even today the Toraja build saddle-roofed houses to emulate the boats in which the sky gods first arrived from the stars."

The problem with all these ground-sky correlations is that they are meaningless until Gudung Padang’s exact age of construction can be established with absolute certainty. This can come only from a full excavation of the site, something that might hopefully reveal evidence of the material culture behind the construction of Gudung Padang. If, as claimed, the site does date back to the Upper Paleolithic age, ca. 22,000-9500 BC, then its builders will have left behind masses of stone tools made, used and discarded during the creation process at the site. We see this at terminal Paleolithic, or proto Neolithic sites, such as Göbekli Tepe and Karahan Tepe, where even to this day thousands of stone tool fragments lay scattered about.

Tens of thousands (possibly even millions) of stone tools were found also in the famous 50,000-year-old haematite mines of Bomvu Ridge in the Ngwenya massif of Swaziland. It is the same everywhere you go, right the way back to the earliest settlements at Oldavui Gorge in Tanzania. As early as two million years ago our ancestors were discarding inordinate amounts of worked stone tools, which provide an accurate means of dating a site contextually. So far no Paleolithic stone tools have been found at Gunung Padang. When they are, this will help settle the debate once and for all regarding the greater antiquity of this amazing place, which, I suspect, is going to be the subject of controversy and debate for some years to come.

A device which is similar to a hydroelectric power plant reactors in layer 25.000 BC
Research at Mount Padang is Done, Researchers Find Something ‘Special’

Jakarta – Independent Integrated Research Team (TTRM) Gunung Padang have finished doing the initial research. A number of samples have been studied and prepared for the report. They reported found something special.

Erick Rizky, TTRM members said, the report results of research in Gunung Padang will then be reported to the President, several ministries, local government of West Java and local government regency of Cianjur . Of the report, the research will be continued by the state.

The research team found four layers in Mount Padang. According to Erick, layers 1 and 2 will be followed up by the Ministry of Education Culture or the Government. While the other two layers, called very special, to be determined by the president.

“While the layers 3 and 4 are ‘very special’ and ‘the only one in this world’ seems not Ministry of Education Culture region. Whether the defense ministry, or the ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, or maybe the National Guards, will be handed over everything to the direction of the President,” said Erick in a release told AFP on Wednesday (09/11/2013).

What the special findings is? Based on the analysis of a number of published findings, allegedly a special technology tucked beneath layers of mount padang. Previously, the researchers found a chamber or room, giant bowls, rivers and springs, domes, towers, aquifer and transmitter. Magnetic anomalies are also found in these locations.

These findings point to a device which is similar to a hydroelectric power plant reactors.

President’s special staff Andi Arief is also part of the research team said, it is true there are a number of findings in Mount Padang. But he did not want to give details of what information the special building is.

“Culture of layer 1 and 2 are excavated by ali akbar’s team. Layer 3 and 4 is it true a reactors just like analyzed, I need to ask the researchers more detail. Many parties are asking the same thing.” he told reporters when asked for confirmation.

“I can not precede the conclusion of researchers. I just could make sure the content is an advanced technology,” he continued.

Research on site of Gunung Padang is indeed invited the attention of many parties. When discussed, this site is associated with the pyramids. While many would call Mount Padang’s model just similar to site on Machupichu.

The study was conducted independently integrated team consisting of various experts. What actually the contents of the mountain is? The Report of the researchers will answer it. – http://news.detik.com/


This article is a compilation of several documents including the report of Andrew Collins, you can read more about this interesting finding by visiting this link

Ivan Petricevic
Ivan Petričević is the the founder and editor in chief of www.ancient-code.com and www.svemironline.com he is also a guest author at ancient-origins.net He has a passion for History, Archaeology and Space. Ivan speaks 4 languages. www.ancient-code.com All rights reserved. 2014. By Petricevic. When reproducing our materials in whole or in part, a hyperlink to ANCIENT-CODE.COM should be made.

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Published on Mar 13, 2014
Gunung Padang is a megalithic site located in Karyamukti village, Cianjur regency, West Java Province of Indonesia, 50 km southwest of the city of Cianjur or 6 kilometers from Lampegan station. It is the largest megalithic site in all of Southeastern Asia.

The existence of the site was mentioned in Rapporten van de Oudheidkundige Dienst (ROD, "Report of the Department of Antiquities") in 1914. The Dutch historian N. J. Krom also mentioned it in 1949. Employees of the National Archeology Research Centre visited the site in 1979 for a study of its archaeology, history, and geology.

Located at 885 metres above sea level, the site covers a hill in a series of terraces bordered by retaining walls of stone that are accessed by about 400 successive andesite steps rising about 95 metres. It is covered with massive rectangular stones of volcanic origin. The Sundanese people consider the site sacred and believe it was the result of King Siliwangi's attempt to build a palace in one night. The asymmetric Punden Berundak faces northwest, to Mount Gede and was constructed for the purpose of worship. It is located in a position that has been noted for its geomantic and astrological factors. Based on various dating techniques, the site was completed by 5000 BC and quite likely much earlier. There are even preliminary indications that the hill site may itself be an ancient pyramid construction.

A survey conducted in 2012 showed the following:
- The site was dated 6,500 years BP (before present) by carbon radiometric dating at 3--4 metres below the surface (12,500 years at 8 to 10 metres below the surface), and the artifacts at the surface date to about 4,800 years BP.

- Based on geoelectric. georadar, and geomagnetic testing, at least up to 15 metres from the surface there is construction with large chambers.

- Unlike the south side with its 5 stone terraces, the east side has 100 stone terraces with width and height of 2x2 metres. The west side also has stone terraces but is still covered by soil and bush, and the north side has, in addition to a 1.5 metre-wide stair, terraces also.
- The site area is approximately 25 hectares, in contrast for example to Borobudur Temple, which occupies only 1.5 hectares.

- Wall-side construction of the terraces is similar to that of Machu Picchu in Peru.

- Another survey used GSSI georadar, Multi-Channel SuperSting R-8 and Geomagnet GEM-Ovenhausser found that.

- There are structures beyond the Mount Padang structure.
Carbon dating by Beta Analytic of Miami, Florida at an area between 3 and 12 meters suggests the structure could in fact date to as old as 16,000 years BP.

2013 survey

The structure beyond the Mount Padang structure is older than the upper structure. At a depth of 1-4.5 meters by Beta Analytic Radiocarbon Dating (BETA) the older (below) structure was built in 4,500 BC, and the upper structure around 500 BC. At a 4.5 meter depth there are stones with specie consisting of 45 percent ferrum, 15 percent clay, and the rest silica. The surveyor found a 10 centimetre steel fraction.

The Independent Research Integrated Mount Padang Team, facilitated by the Special Staff of President for Social Assistance and Disaster, found man-made stone structures beneath the ancient site of Mount Padang, at Karyamukti Village, the District of Campaka, Cianjur Regency. According to the result of the survey of team that did an archaeological excavation and geoelectric surveys on the eastern slopes of the hill in March 2013, the structure of column andesite stone was found with near horizontal position elongated east-west.

The geological team and also the coaches of the Indonesian Association of Geologists centre, Andang Bachtiar, discovered previously unknown facts about the site's composition. The cement material has a primary composition of 45% iron mineral and 41% mineral silica. The rest is 14% clay minerals with also a carbon element.

The results of radiometric analysis of the content of the carbon element in some samples of cement in a drill core from a depth of 5--15 meters which was conducted in 2012 at the prestigious Laboratory, BETALAB, of Miami, USA in mid-2012 indicates an age ranging between 13,000 and 23,000 years BP. Previously, in the results of carbon dating carried out in the BATAN laboratory, the dominant quartz sand that fills the voids between the andesite columns at a depth of 8--10 meters below the five terraces also showed the same age range, of about 13,000 years BP.

The latest research found that the site consists of 4 layers, the first of which dated to 600 years BC, the second to 4,900 years BC, and the third and the fourth layers of which are still being researched by the Terpadu Mandiri (Indonesian Unified) Research Team, though several indicators point to earlier still as noted above.