Unusual Structures In Indonesia May Be Part Of The World’s Oldest Pyramid
Gunung Padang is an oddly beautiful site in Indonesia that has perplexed and fascinated scientists in equal measure for a century. Recently, new excavations took place, and they threw up some incredible possibilities that may rewrite the history books in terms of the world’s oldest-known civilizations. Equally, though, some experts believe the claims may have little basis in fact and could even be dangerous for the archaeological community. Has the world already changed and it just doesn’t know it yet? Let’s try to find out.
Mountain of Light
In the West Java Province of Indonesia lies Gunung Padang, which translates as “Mountain of Light.” To the untrained eye, the site looks like a huge green hill with hundreds of large rocks strewn over its surface in a seemingly haphazard fashion. But look more closely, and you may start to see patterns.
It was first discovered in 1914 by Dutch settlers, who believed it to be a megalithic site from prehistoric times. Perhaps, they surmised, these were the scattered remains of a religious structure used as a place of worship.
Too remote to be a tourist attraction
In 2023 journalist Michael Turtle explained the process of getting to Gunung Padang: it’s way, way off the beaten path. On his website Time Travel Turtle, he explained, “From Jakarta, it takes about 4 hours in a car to get there.”
He continued, “Although the distance isn’t so great, the roads get clogged with traffic as we pass through small towns, and we’re forced to slow down as we wind through uneven volcanic terrain. The last hour is on an unsurfaced rocky path.”
The building blocks of an ancient construction?
From the car park at the bottom of the huge hill, it takes 20 minutes to hike your way up to Gunung Padang. Turtle revealed, “At the top, the building blocks of an ancient construction lie scattered across the grass.”
He continued, “They are shaped like long rectangular bricks, maybe about 2 meters in length on average, and they are heavy. These are not man-made like bricks, though. Each piece is solid rock and was forged by a volcano in a time long ago.”
A “special energy”
According to an Indonesian volunteer worker, locals believe these rocks emanate their own particular kind of energy. The man tried to explain to Turtle that it was all to do with magnetism, but the journalist didn’t really catch his drift! Still, Turtle did add, “I try to sense whether there is some power coming from them.”
He then admitted, “I’m certainly impressed when he leads me over to two special long rocks and shows me how they make musical sounds when you hit them in the right place.”