Study on alleged ancient ‘pyramid’ in Indonesia is withdrawn

The US publisher of a study that challenged scientific orthodoxy by claiming an archaeological site in Indonesia may be the world’s “oldest pyramid” says it has been retracted.

The October 2023 study in the journal Archaeological Prospection made the explosive claim that the deepest layer of the site, Gunung Padang, appears to have been ‘sculpted’ by humans up to 27,000 years ago.

The study’s critics say human presence in Gunung Padang has been incorrectly dated based on soil radiocarbon measurements from drilling samples, not artifacts. The magazine’s American publisher, Wiley, cited that exact reasoning in the notice of withdrawal it was released on Monday.

Gunung Padang is widely considered a dormant volcano, and archaeologists say ceramics recovered so far indicate people have been using it for hundreds of years or more – not anything close to 27,000 years. The Pyramids of Giza in Egypt are only about 4,500 years old.

The retraction, based on a months-long investigation, said the research was flawed because the soil samples were “unrelated to artifacts or features that could be reliably interpreted as anthropogenic or ‘man-made’.”

Some archaeologists said in interviews that they welcomed the repeal. But the study’s authors called it “unjust.” He wrote this in a statement on Wednesday that their soil samples were “unequivocally identified as man-made structures or archaeological features,” in part because the soil layers contained artifacts.

“We urge the academic community, scientific organizations and concerned individuals to support us in challenging this decision and upholding the principles of integrity, transparency and honesty in scientific research and publishing,” the authors wrote.

The studyThe paper’s lead author, Danny Hilman Natawidjaja, an earthquake geologist, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Neither do Wiley and Archaeological Prospection editors Eileen Ernenwein and Gregory Tsokas.

A prominent supporter of Mr. Natawidjaja’s research, the journalist Graham Hancock, said in a statement that he did not view the retraction as “fair, justified or good science.” He said that instead of issuing a retraction, the magazine should have published criticism of the paper, a move he said would have allowed readers to make up their own minds.

“Science should not be about oppression,” said Mr. Hancock, who interviewed Mr. Natawidjaja for an episode about Gunung Padang on “Ancient Apocalypse,‘his 2022 Netflix documentary series.

The Society for American Archeology has done that said that Mr. Hancock’s Netflix show “devalues ​​the archaeological profession based on false claims and disinformation.” He has powerful turned down that argument, arguing that archaeologists should be more open to theories that challenge academic orthodoxy. Netflix did not respond to a request for comment on the withdrawal.

People from Indonesia have long traveled to Gunung Padang, a hilltop dotted with stone terraces, to hold Islamic and Hindu rituals. A domestic narrative portraying the pyramid as a very, very old pyramid received support and funding from the central government during the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who left office in 2014. His successor, President Joko Widodo, stopped funding.

Archaeologists said in interviews Wednesday that they welcomed the repeal.

One of them, Noel Hidalgo Tan, an archaeologist in Bangkok who relayed his concerns about the study to Wiley, said he thought the retraction was “completely appropriate” because the study’s evidence did not support its conclusions.

“It was a shame that the article had to get to this stage,” says Dr. Tan, who works at the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Archeology and Fine Arts. “But it was better to be withdrawn than not have anything said about it at all.”

Dwi Ratna Nurhajarini, head of the Cultural Heritage Conservation Bureau in West Java province, the site of the site, said the study’s conclusions should be reexamined in light of the withdrawal.

“The structures in Gunung Padang are indeed layered and terraced, reminiscent of civilizations from Indonesia’s distant past,” she said by phone on Wednesday. “But their age may not be as old as suggested.”

Rin Hindryati reporting contributed.