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<< Other Photo Pages Gunung Padang - Ancient Temple in Indonesia

Submitted by radiater on Wednesday, 20 March 2024  Page Views: 25608

DigsSite Name: Gunung Padang
Country: Indonesia Type: Ancient Temple
Nearest Town: Cianjur  Nearest Village: Karyamukti
Latitude: 6.995S  Longitude: 107.057000E
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
2 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
4 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
no data Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
3

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baz visited on 1st Oct 2023 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 5

Gunung Padang
Gunung Padang submitted by Dodomad : The retracted paper drills a core 40 feet below the monument and found soil carbon (not charcoal) dating to 20,000 years ago. The architecture dates later - from Dr. Yondri's excavations. It dates from ca. 2,100 years ago. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Megalithic site near Karyamukti, Cianjur region of West Java, Indonesia. The largest megalithic site in South-Eastern Asia.

From Wikipedia: 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 successive steps (about 400 andesit steps = 95 metres). It is covered with massive rectangular stones of volcanic origin. Local people consider the place as sacred and believe the site as a result of King Siliwangi attempt to build a palace in one night. The asymmetric Punden Berundak is facing up to northwest, to Mount Gede, meaned constructed for the purpose of worship and built in a position that has been noticed geomantic and astromantic factors. Based on megalith shape the site is built in 1500 years BC.

Rather outlandish claims in the Indonesian press but the site is confirmed as thousands (but not tens of thousands of years) old. Read more at Wikipedia

Note: The controversial paper that dated Indonesia’s Gunung Padang site to 25,000 years old has been retracted - not suppressed - it is still available to read. More in the comments
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Gunung Padang
Gunung Padang submitted by Dodomad : These pieces of charcoal found under a wall mean the wall has to date AFTER the charcoal. The charcoal dates to around 2,200-2050 years ago Dr. Londri, a local Indonesian archaeologist found charcoal from terraces I, II, III, VII, etc. "The charcoal has a context... associated with Gunung Padang construction" (Vote or comment on this photo)

Gunung Padang
Gunung Padang submitted by Dodomad : From these excavations, Dr. Londri, a local Indonesian archaeologist recovered artifacts - pottery sherds and groundstone - and charcoal from areas immediately adjacent to and under these walls These finds provide a clear date for the construction of this monument. Really an irrefutable date that can't be pushed older. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Gunung Padang
Gunung Padang submitted by Dodomad : Dr. Londri, a local Indonesian archaeologist conducted major excavations at Gunung Padang. He published a book on them that you can download from here: archive.org/details/situs-gunung-padang-lutfi-yondri/mode/2up His trenches were directly alongside the terraces and architecture. Context matters. A core 40 feet down can't date a monument, you need material associated with construction... (Vote or comment on this photo)

Gunung Padang
Gunung Padang submitted by baz : One of the platforms near to the top of the pyramid (Vote or comment on this photo)

Gunung Padang
Gunung Padang submitted by Flickr : Gunung Padang Site in Indonesia Image copyright: ig_or (Igor Rudik), hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API.

Gunung Padang
Gunung Padang submitted by Flickr : Gunung Padang Site in Indonesia Image copyright: ig_or (Igor Rudik), hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API.

Gunung Padang
Gunung Padang submitted by Flickr : Claimed as the Largest Megalithic Site Site in Indonesia Gunung Padang ("Mount Padang", but not high enough as a mount, only a hill) is a large megalithic site in Regency of Cianjur area. This site was mentioned on a report by Dutch first, then was re-opened in 1979. Some archaeleogical researches were done in 1980s, resulting some theories about Gunung Padang as worship site on megalithic ...

Gunung Padang
Gunung Padang submitted by Flickr : After stairway, Gunung Padang is divided into three layers, thought as separation among groups of people doing worship in the era of megalithic. Experts thought that originally the stones were in well formed construction, perhaps a great quake ever ravaged the formation. Image copyright: Ikhlasul Amal (Ikhlasul Amal), hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API.

Gunung Padang
Gunung Padang submitted by Flickr : Gunung Padang ("Mount Padang", but not high enough as a mount, only a hill) is a large megalithic site in Regency of Cianjur area. This site was mentioned on a report by Dutch first, then was re-opened in 1979. Some archaeleogical researches were done in 1980s, resulting some theories about Gunung Padang as praying site on megalithic era. Image copyright: Ikhlasul Amal (Ikhlasul Amal), hosted on ...

Gunung Padang
Gunung Padang submitted by Flickr : Gunung Padang Site in Indonesia Image copyright: ig_or (Igor Rudik), hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API.

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"Gunung Padang" | Login/Create an Account | 8 News and Comments
  
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Gunung Padang - Controversial pyramid paper retracted by Andy B on Wednesday, 20 March 2024
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Controversial pyramid paper retracted when authors turn out to have radiocarbon-dated nearby dirt.

A journal has retracted, over the objections of the authors, a controversial 2023 paper claiming a dig site in Indonesia is home to the largest pyramid built by humans. The work was led by the Indonesian archeologist Danny Hilman Natawidjaja, of the Research Center for Natural Disasters in Bandung.

Hilman has been working at the site in Java for many years in his quest to prove it contains the ruins of a massive pyramid built by an advanced culture between 9,000 and 27,000 years ago. Hilman has also tried to link the site to the lost city of Atlantis.

The paper, “Geo-Archaeological prospecting of Gunung Padang buried prehistoric pyramid in West Java, Indonesia”, attracted mounds of critical attention when it appeared last October in Archaeological Prospection, a Wiley title. Among the skeptics was Flint Dibble, an archeologist who reviewed the research on his YouTube channel in February.

As the retraction notice states, the dating appears to have been fatally flawed:

"Following publication of this article, concerns were raised by third parties with expertise in geophysics, archaeology, and radiocarbon dating, about the conclusions drawn by the authors based on the evidence reported. The publisher and the Co-Editors-in-Chief have investigated these concerns and have concluded that the article contains a major error. This error, which was not identified during peer review, is that the radiocarbon dating was applied to soil samples that were not associated with any artifacts or features that could be reliably interpreted as anthropogenic or “man-made.” Therefore, the interpretation that the site is an ancient pyramid built 9000 or more years ago is incorrect, and the article must be retracted."

More: retractionwatch.com/2024/03/20/controversial-pyramid-paper-retracted-when-authors-turn-out-to-have-radiocarbon-dated-nearby-dirt/

The Pyramid Scheme of Gunung Padang. A Public Peer Review With Dr. Lutfi Yondri and Harry Sofian

Flint Dibble writes: In this discussion, we critically examine the evidence for a pyramid dating to the stone age in the recent article by Danny Hilman Natawidjaja and colleagues. The site of Gunung Padang has been featured in several pseudoarchaeological TV shows, books, YouTube videos, and podcasts and I wanted to make sure to provide here a thorough response from local archaeologists who know about the site and the methods.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxaHo3V4lGg&t=4s

The paper they peer reviewed is: Hilman Natawidjaja et al. 2023. 'Geo-archaeological prospecting of Gunung Padang buried prehistoric pyramid in West Java, Indonesia' Archaeological Prospection.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/arp.1912

See also the thread by Flint Dibble (Twitter login required): twitter.com/FlintDibble/status/1770428110116196596
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Re: Gunung Padang by Andy B on Wednesday, 20 March 2024
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Situs Gunung Padang: Kebudayaan, Manusia, dan Lingkungan by Lutfi Yondri
Publication date 2019, Language Indonesian

This book discusses one of the most important archaeological discoveries in Indonesia, Mount Padang. In this book, Indonesian archaeologist Lutfi Yondri explains the data that has been collected during archaeological studies on Mount Padang, starting from age, geological structure, function, to analysis of several claims from supporters of Pseudoarchaeology in Indonesia, such as the assumption that Mount Padang is a the oldest pyramid in the world, the discovery of ancient coins, earthquake-resistant cement, etc.

From these excavations, he recovered artifacts - pottery sherds and groundstone - and charcoal from areas immediately adjacent to and under these walls. These finds provide a clear date for the construction of this monument. Really an irrefutable date that can't be pushed older.

He found charcoal from terraces I, II, III, VII, etc. "The charcoal has a context... associated with Gunung Padang construction" The charcoal dates to around 2,200-2050 years ago

archive.org/details/situs-gunung-padang-lutfi-yondri/mode/2up
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Experts attack claim that Indonesia site is ‘world’s oldest building’ by davidmorgan on Saturday, 16 December 2023
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A sensationalist paper that Indonesia’s Gunung Padang site is 25,000 years old is dismissed by archaeologists around the world. Researchers claimed last month that the Gunung Padang site in West Java, Indonesia, is the world’s most ancient pyramid and could be more than 25,000 years old.

Such antiquity would be unprecedented. Stonehenge and the oldest major pyramids of Egypt are only a few thousand years old, while the previous record holder, Turkey’s Göbekli Tepe stone monuments, are thought to be about 11,000 years old.

The assertion made headlines around the world but has since led to a fierce backlash from many archaeologists, who say that none of the evidence presented by the team justifies their conclusions about the unprecedented antiquity of Gunung Padang. They argue that the settlement there was probably built a mere 6,000 to 7,000 years ago.

The outcry has since forced the editors of Archaeological Prospection, which is published by Wiley, to launch an investigation. “The investigation … addresses concerns raised by third parties regarding the scientific content of our paper. We are actively engaged in addressing these concerns,” the paper’s main author – geologist Prof Danny Hillman Natawidjaja of Indonesia’s national research and innovation agency – admitted last week.

More in The Guardian.
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Gunung Padang 2013 survey by Andy B on Monday, 16 September 2013
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The structure beyond the Mount Padang structure is older than the upper structure. In depth of 1-4.5 meters by Beta Analytic Radiocarbon Dating (BETA) the older (below) structure is built in 4,500 BC, whether the upper structure in 500 BC. At 4.5 meter depth there are stones with specie which consist of 45 percent ferrum, 15 percent clay and the rest silica. The surveyor found a 10 centimeter 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 survey of team who did an archaeological excavation and geoelectric surveys on the eastern slopes of the hill in March 2013, the structure of colum andesite stone was found with near horizontal position elongated east-west.

"From the horizontal position of the column andesite rocks and its line direction, we can conclude with certainty that the column stones or" columnar joints "is not in a natural condition," said Danny H. Natawidjaja, Coordinator of The Independent Research Integrated Mount Padang Team in Jakarta, Tuesday (2/4). In excavation, the archaeological team which is led by Ali Akbar from the University of Indonesia found the evidence to confirm the hypothesis of team that there are man-made structures in the basement of Mount Padang. The building structure is the same as with the structure of the stone terrace which has been revealed and become cultural sites on the hill.

More at Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunung_Padang_Megalithic_Site
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Research at Mount Padang is Done, Researchers Find Something 'Special' by Anonymous on Friday, 13 September 2013
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.

m.detik.com/news/read/2013/09/11/162803/2356025/10/riset-di-gunung-padang-selesai-peneliti-temukan-sesuatu-yang-istimewa?9922022
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Re: Gunung Padang by Andy B on Sunday, 13 January 2013
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Thanks for the information Radiater and a belated welcome. The only megaliths I really knew in Indonesia were the carved stones of Bada Valley
http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=26496

We rely on people with local knowledge so it would be great if you could help us with photos and information on some more sites.
Many thanks
Andy
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Re: Gunung Padang by radiater on Sunday, 13 January 2013
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It is indeed a strange place and it is surprising that the Megalithic web site has not heard of it before. If you think of Indonesia though, you invariably think only of Borobudur which is comparatively recent. However, if this area of the world was once one area of land i.e. Sundaland, who knows what ancient peoples could have been living here.
There is quite a lot of information about this site on the web and even President S. Bambang has an interest , as he authorized the research into it.
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Re: Gunung Padang by Anonymous on Wednesday, 19 December 2012
Site gunung padang is 3 hours by car from bogor. is a one of wonderful place in Indonesia. mysterious things is lay on this site's are stone that obtain melody if we knock on it, there are myths surround it. from myths about prabu siliwangi, a tiger's foot stamped on a rock, tapak kujang (an ancient weapon known as prabu siliwangi's), and many connect it to Atlantis. the greatest is what's inside the hill is believed to be a pyramid, older than Giza and machu pichu. its being investigated. If it is true pyramid, it will change history and paradigm about western was before east.
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