Since Dutch colonists discovered it in 1914,
Gunung Padang has been known (though not widely) as the largest of a number of
ancient megalithic sites in Indonesia
Here our prehistoric forebears, moved by the area's
strikingly shaped columns of volcanic rock, built terraces into the mountaintop
and arranged and stacked the stones for whatever indiscernible purpose
motivated them.
And Hilman thinks there is much more to it under the
surface. If he's right - and Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is
enthusiastically encouraging his investigations - then buried beneath the piles
of ancient stone is by far the oldest pyramid on the planet.
Hilman says it could predate the next oldest by a dozen
millenniums or more, suggesting an advanced ancient civilisation in Java.
''It's older than 9000 [years] and could be up to 20,000,'' Hilman says, as he
sits on a fallen column of stone. ''It's crazy, but it's data.''
Hilman, a senior geologist at Indonesia's Centre for
Geotechnical Research, believes that most of this 100 metre hill is actually
man-made, built up on three stages over the millenniums by three different
cultures.
If he is correct the find would rewrite prehistory in the
same way as the discovery of a mini-human ''hobbit'' on the eastern Indonesian
island of Flores rewrote paleoanthropology.
Proving the authenticity of these ancient ruins among the
banana palms and tea plantations of Cianjur has taken on the aura of a
nationalistic quest.
A test being conducted on this day is one in a series of
geo-electric surveys. Men in gumboots arrange long loops of yellow cable on
huge columnar rocks denuded of their topsoil.
Hilman stands on the muddy edge and points out what he says
are patterns in the arrangement of the rocks. These patterns reflect the
geological testing already undertaken, he says - that stones usually found
upright have been laid horizontally on beds of gravel. Some are stuck together
by an ancient form of glue, he says. These have been carbon dated indicating
the sites are well in excess of 9000 years old, he says.
Below this are walls he describes as rooms, internal steps
and terraces, all evidence of a massive building, of human intelligence and
planning.
''The structure of the building is very good, it's been
defined by many lines of the geo-electric surveys, even 3D, even GPR
[ground-penetrating radar] … and core samples,'' Hilman says. ''We conclude
that the archaeological site, the arrangement of these columnar joints, has
laminated the entire hill so it's 100 metres thick. We also think it's not just
one layer of building, but multiple layers.'' They may have discovered
archaeological human structures or features to a depth of at least 15 metres.
''It's huge,'' Hilman says. ''People think the prehistoric
age was primitive, but this monument proves that wrong.''
But these views are loudly disputed. A petition signed in
April by 34 Indonesian archaeologists and geologists and submitted to Yudhoyono
agrees that the upper part of Gunung Padang is ''the largest megalithic
structure in south-east Asia'', but the experts are deeply suspicious of the
Arif team's methods and motives, and the geological flag-waving it is trying to
invoke.
The petitioners do not like Arif's ''plans to involve common
people as volunteers to support the 'the Red and White Glory Operation in
Gunung Padang' which they call 'research'''. Red and white are the colours of
the Indonesian flag. ''This activity is carried out without scientific norms of
conservation knowledge,'' the petitioners say. They believe the excavation
threatens the preservation of the existing site, and hint strongly that
archaeologists, as opposed to geologists, should be involved. One of them,
vulcanologist Sutikno Bronto, says Gunung Padang is simply the neck of a nearby
volcano, not an ancient pyramid.
''Danny Hilman is not a vulcanologist. I am,'' he says. As
for the carbon-dated cement between the stones, on which Hilman relies for his
claims about the age of the site, Sutikno believes it is simply the byproduct
of a natural weathering process, ''not man-made''.
Other sceptics are even tougher. One archaeologist, who does
not wish to be named since the President took such an interest, says the
presidential taskforce is deluding itself.
''In the Pawon cave in Padalarang [about 45 kilometres from
Gunung Padang], we found some human bones and tools made of bones about 9500
years ago, or about 7000 BCE. So, if at 7000 BCE our technology was only
producing tools of bones, how can people from 20,000 BCE obtain the technology
to build a pyramid?'' the archaeologist asks.
''In archaeology we usually find the 'culture' first … Then,
after we find out the artefact's age we'll seek out historical references to
any civilisation which existed around that period. Only then will we be able to
explain the artefact historically. In this case, they 'found' something,
carbon-dated it, then it looks like they created a civilisation around the
period to explain their finding.''
If the ancient civilisation of Gunung Padang is, indeed, a
credulist's dream, it would not be the first time the Indonesian President has
been seduced by a beautiful illusion. In 2008, a confidence man promised to
power Indonesia with ''blue energy'' - fuel made only from water. Yudhoyono
allocated $1.2 million to the project and visited the centre three times before
its proponent simply disappeared, later turning up in hospital, his idea in
tatters.
Hilman, though, is undeterred. He is certain in his
research, though he knows he still has some convincing to do.
''It's a strong case but not an easy case. We are up against
the world's belief.''
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