World’s Oldest Pyramid in Indonesia Study Retracted After “Major Error”

A controversial and highly-criticized study which claimed that humans built a pyramid on Gunung Padang, Indonesia around 25,000 years ago has been retracted from the journal Archaeological Prospection after a “major error” was discovered.

The Gunung Padang Pyramid Study

In November last year, the study drew lots of media attention for its incredible claim that a mountain in Indonesia—Gunung Padang—is actually the world’s oldest pyramid constructed by ancient humans. However, many archaeologists and other experts were highly skeptical of the pyramid study, repudiating its claims.

According to the paper, Indonesia’s Gunung Padang pyramid did not form naturally. Instead, it was “meticulously sculpted” into its present structure between 25,000 and 14,000 years ago. If this thesis were accurate, it would mean Gunung Padang was thousands of years older than the world’s oldest pyramids, and the research team argued that this “suggests that advanced construction practices were already present when agriculture had, perhaps, not yet been invented.”

Several more unusual claims were also made, such as that there are “hidden cavities or chambers” at the site, and that the site itself seemed to have been buried multiple times “possibly to conceal its true identity for preservation purposes.”

Many other archaeologists were unconvinced by the claims of the Gunung Padang study, particularly as they would rewrite the history of the human race. Lutfi Yondri, an archaeologist at BRIN in Bandung, Indonesia, told Nature that his work has almost conclusively proven that people in the area resided in caves between 12,000 and 6,000 years ago, leaving no evidence of possessing the “remarkable masonry capabilities” apparently employed by people of the region thousands of years before them.

I am annoyed with the editors of Archaeological Prospection and the media and how it handles this Gunung Padang controversy

Nobody has gone and talked with local Indonesian archaeologists. None provide the correct date of the monument nor even stated it's not a pyramid
/1 pic.twitter.com/1ZDFkRxqhh

— Flint Dibble 🍖🏺 (@FlintDibble) March 20, 2024

Flint Dibble, an archaeologist at Cardiff University, UK, told Nature that the study used “legitimate data” but drew unjustified conclusions about Gunung Padang. For example, the research team used carbon dating, making the claim that “dating of organic soils from the structures uncovered multiple construction stages dating back thousands of years BC, with the initial phase dating to the Palaeolithic era.”

The team claims that soil samples taken from what they deem to be the oldest part of the “construction” date back 27,000 years. This could be true, but more archaeologists highlighted the fact that these soil samples showed no signs, such as bone fragments or charcoal, indicating human activity. This means that really all it is is really old soil.

These accuracy concerns eventually led to an investigation and subsequent retraction by Archaeological Prospection.

The Retraction

“The publisher and the Co-Editors-in-Chief have investigated these concerns and have concluded that the article contains a major error,” the journal explained in a retraction notice. “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 9,000 or more years ago is incorrect, and the article must be retracted.”

In reaction to the retraction, the authors said the decision was “unjust” and argued it had been “unequivocally established as man-made constructions or archaeological features, rather than natural geological formations,” in a statement posted on Facebook. “These layers are accompanied by numerous small portable artifacts, providing tangible evidence of their anthropogenic origin.”