A giant underground pyramid hidden under a hillside in Indonesia predates Stonehenge or the Pyramids of Giza and may rival the oldest megalithic structures built by human hands.

Remember the name Gunung Padang.

The extraordinary hillside of ancient stone structures on the island of West Java is sacred to the local people, who call the structure “punden berundak”, that is, stepped pyramid, due to the terraces leading to its top. Archaeologists have barely scratched the surface of the site, but it already looks like a “wonderful testament” to human ingenuity.

Gunung Padang is potentially the oldest pyramid structure in the world, built atop an extinct volcano before the advent of agriculture or civilization as we know it. Large open chambers full of the unknown may be hidden inside, according to new data from Indonesian scientists.

A comprehensive analysis of Gunung Padang, which means “Mountain of Enlightenment” in the local language, now provides conclusive evidence that an ancient civilization long ago “carefully shaped” a natural lava mound into the core of a pyramid-like structure. Initial radiocarbon dating of the site shows that initial construction began during the last ice age, more than 16,000 years ago and possibly as early as 27,000 years ago.

To put this into perspective, Göbekli Tepe, a massive stone complex in modern-day Turkey, is currently believed to be the oldest known megalith in the world. It dates back to 11,000 years ago.

The results of the current Gunung Padang study came after years of careful analysis. Between 2011 and 2015, a team of archaeologists, geologists and geophysicists led by geologist Danny Hillman Natawijaja of Indonesia’s National Agency for Research and Innovation used a variety of methods, including core drilling, penetrating radar and subsurface imaging, to investigate the cultural heritage site.

Natawijaja and his colleagues found that Gunung Padang, like many other megaliths of the past, was built in complex and complex stages, with the deepest part located at a depth of 30 meters.

This main part of the structure was probably built between 25,000 and 14,000 BC, but was abandoned for several thousand years afterwards.

Construction resumed around 7900-6100 BC. for example, the enlargement of the central mound of the pyramid with various stone pillars and gravel soil, and some additional construction work between 6000 and 5500 BC. Interestingly, builders appear to have deliberately buried or built over some older parts of the site during this period.

The last architects of the pyramid arrived between 2000 and 1100 BC. This is the part that is most visible today.

“The builders of Units 3 and 2 at Gunung Padang must have had excellent masonry skills that were incompatible with traditional hunter-gatherer cultures,” the research team wrote.

“Given the long and continuous occupation of Gunung Padang, it is logical to assume that this area was important, attracting ancient people who occupied and modified it many times.”

More excavations are needed to understand who these prehistoric people were and why they built what they did. When researchers probed into the hillside using seismic waves, they found evidence of hidden caverns and chambers, some as long as 15 meters long and with ceilings as high as 10 meters.

The team now hopes to investigate these areas in detail. If they come across the cameras, they plan to throw them into the darkness to see what lurks below.

“This study is an example of how an integrated approach combining archaeological, geological and geophysical methods can reveal hidden and massive ancient structures,” the team concludes. Source