Archaeologists have proposed that a site in West Java, Indonesia, known as Gunung Padang, may be the world’s oldest pyramid, potentially dating back to the last ice age. The structure, which resembles a natural hill covered with scattered stones, is the subject of a significant scientific debate.
Recent excavations have revealed stone structures in multiple layers beneath the surface. A study led by geologist Danny Hilman Natawidjaja suggested that the deepest layers could be between 16,000 and 27,000 years old. If accurate, this would make Gunung Padang far older than the pyramids of Egypt. Natawidjaja’s team used ground-penetrating radar, core drilling, and carbon dating to reach these conclusions. They propose that the site was built in stages, with the youngest layers being around 3,000 to 4,000 years old and deeper layers being constructed between 7,500 and 8,000 years ago. The researchers also reported evidence of chambers and hollow spaces hidden underground.
The site has long been considered sacred by local people, who still use it for ceremonies, and it was first documented by a Dutch explorer in the late 1800s. Mainstream archaeological study of the hill began in the 1970s when farmers brought attention to it, and later excavations found pottery fragments dating from around 45 BCE to 22 CE.
The theory that Gunung Padang is a human-made pyramid is not universally accepted. Skeptics argue that the structure is a natural formation, possibly the remains of an ancient volcano. Volcanologist Sutikno Bronto has explained that the mixed layers of soil and rock could be the result of natural erosion and geological processes rather than construction. Archaeologist Flint Dibble has noted that without evidence of human activity, such as tools, carvings, or human remains, the data only confirms that the soil is old, not that people built a pyramid there. Bill Farley, another archaeologist, has also stated there is no reason to believe settlements existed in Indonesia during that period.
The debate touches on larger questions about the timeline of human civilization. The oldest generally accepted ancient society with advanced building knowledge is in modern-day Turkey, with the site of Göbekli Tepe dating back about 11,000 years. Some researchers, like Graham Hancock, have proposed that advanced civilizations may have existed during the ice age and were later wiped out, a theory that remains controversial among mainstream archaeologists.
Local legends offer an alternative explanation for the site’s origin. A well-known myth tells of King Siliwangi, who attempted to build a grand palace in a single night but abandoned the project at dawn, leaving behind the massive rock formations. The site continues to hold spiritual significance, attracting visitors who believe in its mystical power, including Hindus from Bali and practitioners of Indonesian martial arts.
In a related area of inquiry, the Silurian hypothesis, proposed by physicist Adam Frank and climate modeler Gavin Schmidt in 2018, examines whether it would be possible to detect evidence of an advanced civilization that existed on Earth millions of years before humans. They concluded that finding such evidence would be extremely difficult, as geological processes would erase most traces. The evidence left behind by a sustainable civilization would be minimal, and it would be hard to distinguish its impact from natural events, such as climate shifts caused by tectonic activity.
Separately, the history of science is marked by several notable hoaxes that fooled experts and the public for years. In 1912, amateur archaeologist Charles Dawson claimed to have found bone fragments of a transitional creature between apes and humans in Piltdown, England. The find, known as Piltdown Man, was presented to the Geological Society and believed for decades. In 1949, new dating technology revealed the skull was only about 50,000 years old, and further analysis showed it was a composite, combining a human skull with the jaw of an orangutan. The teeth had been filed down and stained to appear ancient.
In the late 19th century, the Louvre purchased a gold tiara supposedly belonging to an ancient Scythian king. It was later revealed that the tiara was a modern creation by a goldsmith from Odessa, who had been commissioned to make it without knowing it would be sold as an ancient artifact. The event set a world record for goldsmith fraud.
The Cardiff Giant, a petrified figure resembling a 10-foot-tall man, was uncovered in Cardiff, New York, in 1869. After becoming a popular attraction, it was revealed that a man named George Hull had carved the figure from gypsum to demonstrate that people could be easily fooled. Crystal skulls, once presented as sacred artifacts from Mesoamerican temples, were later found to have been made with modern rotary tools, indicating they were created in the 19th or 20th century. A map claimed to be from the 15th century, showing North America as “Vinland,” was confirmed in 2021 to be a forgery, as the ink contained a pigment invented in the 20th century. A fossil believed to link dinosaurs and birds, called Archaeoraptor, was shown to be composed of parts from different species. In 2020, the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC, reported that all 16 fragments of its Dead Sea Scroll collection were modern forgeries. In 2000, a mummy presented as a Persian princess in Pakistan was found to be the body of a modern woman who had been mummified to sell as a fake relic.
Ancient cultures around the world have also left mysteries that remain unsolved. The Nuragic people of Sardinia built over 8,000 large stone structures and left behind statues of warriors, but their purpose remains unclear. The Boskop people, an early human species identified from fossils in South Africa, had larger skulls than modern humans, suggesting they may have had more brain capacity, though their fate is unknown. The Casarabe people of the Amazon rainforest built a vast network of settlements with causeways and pyramids before disappearing around 1400 AD, and recent lidar technology has revealed the scale of their civilization. The Harappan civilization of South Asia, which flourished around 3,300 BCE, had sophisticated cities with drainage systems and standardized weights, but their script has never been deciphered, and their decline remains unexplained. The Minoans of Crete, who built the complex palace of Knossos, may have inspired the myth of the labyrinth, but their culture was also lost to time.
The monument known as Flagstones, located in Dorset, England, has been identified as older than Stonehenge. Radiocarbon dating has shown that Flagstones was built around 3,200 BCE, making it the earliest large circular monument found in Britain. It consists of a circular ditch and pits containing the remains of at least seven people. Research suggests that the idea of circular burial sites may have originated in Ireland, and similar structures can be found across the UK and Ireland.
A recent discovery in Mexico brought the Zapotec city of Guiengola to light. Using lidar technology, researchers mapped the city, which covers 360 hectares and contains more than 1,000 buildings, including temples, a palace, and defensive walls. The city was built between 1350 and 1521 and survived a seven-month siege by the Aztecs. The Zapotec people eventually moved to a nearby city, and the site was abandoned before the Spanish arrived.
In the Amazon region of Ecuador, a network of ancient cities was found hidden in the forest. Built around 2,500 years ago, the settlements were connected by straight roads and canals and contained thousands of platforms arranged around central plazas. The discovery challenges the idea that ancient Amazonian people lived only in small, scattered groups.
Other lost cities have been identified using modern technology. The underground city of Derinkuyu in Turkey, discovered in 1963, descends eight levels and could shelter about 20,000 people with livestock and food supplies. The city of Thonis-Heracleion, an ancient Egyptian port, was discovered submerged off the coast of Alexandria. It contained ships, anchors, and gold coins, and is believed to have sunk after a flood in the second century BCE.
On the island of Muna in Indonesia, researchers found a cave drawing of a human hand with a claw-like finger. The art is estimated to be around 67,800 years old, making it among the oldest known cave art in the world. This suggests that the cognitive abilities of early humans may have developed independently in different parts of the planet, rather than originating only in Western Europe.
The Voynich Manuscript, a book from the 15th century, remains undeciphered. It is filled with drawings of unknown plants, astronomical images, and a language that has not been identified despite decades of study. A mummified figure resembling a mermaid, long kept in a museum in Japan, was found to be a fabricated object made from bones, skin, and fur. A 400-year-old burial in Poland contained a woman with a sickle across her neck and a padlock on her toe, placed there by locals who feared she might rise as a vampire.
The story of Percy Fawcett, a British colonel who disappeared in the Amazon in 1925 while searching for a lost city he called “Z,” remains unresolved. Fawcett and his companions were last seen setting off into the jungle and were never found. Around 100 people are estimated to have died during subsequent rescue attempts. Recent discoveries of ancient cities in the Amazon suggest that Fawcett’s idea of a sophisticated jungle society was not entirely impossible.
