The US publisher of a study that challenged scientific orthodoxy by claiming an archaeological site in Indonesia could possibly be the “world’s oldest pyramid” says it has been retracted.
An October 2023 study in the journal Archaeological Prospection made the explosive finding that the site’s deepest layer, Gunung Padang, appears to have been “carved” by humans as much as 27,000 years ago.
Critics of the study say it incorrectly dated human presence at Gunung Padang based on radiocarbon measurements of soil from drilling samples, quite than artifacts. The magazine’s American publisher, Wiley, cited this exact reasoning in: withdrawal notice released on Monday.
Gunung Padang is widely considered a dormant volcano, and archaeologists say pottery found there suggests humans have been using it for several hundred years or more, quite than 27,000 years. The pyramids of Giza in Egypt are only about 4,500 years old.
Based on a months-long investigation, the application was withdrawn, stating that the study was flawed because the soil samples were “not associated with any artifacts or features that could plausibly be interpreted as anthropogenic or ‘man-made.’
Some archaeologists in interviews said they welcomed the retraction. However, the study authors called it “unfair” – we read in Wednesday’s statement that their soil samples were “clearly determined to be man-made structures or archaeological features,” in part because there were artifacts in the soil layers.
“We call on the academic community, scientific organizations and interested individuals to support us in challenging this decision and upholding the principles of honesty, transparency and integrity in scientific research and publications,” the authors wrote.
The testlead author Danny Hilman Natawidjaja, an earthquake geologist, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Neither did Wiley, nor Archaeological Prospection editors Eileen Ernenwein and Gregory Tsokas.
One prominent supporter of Mr Natawidjaja’s research, journalist Graham Hancock, said in a statement that he did not see the retraction of his research as “honest, valid or good science”. He said that instead of retracting its comments, the journal should publish a critique of the article, which he said would allow readers to make up their own minds.
“Science shouldn’t be about suppression,” said Mr. Hancock, who interviewed Mr. Natawidjaya in an episode about Gunung Padang in “Ancient Apocalypse,”his 2022 Netflix docuseries.
The Society of American Archeology does he said that Hancock’s Netflix series “devalues the archaeological career based on false claims and disinformation.” He did it energetically rejected this 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 recall.
Indonesians have long traveled to Gunung Padang, a hilltop site dotted with stone terraces, to perform Islamic and Hindu rituals. The national narrative of it as a very, very old pyramid scheme had support and funding from the central government during the term of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who left office in 2014. His successor, President Joko Widodo, cut off the funding.
In interviews Wednesday, archaeologists said they welcomed the withdrawal of the proposal.
One of them, Noel Hidalgo Tan, an archaeologist in Bangkok who raised concerns about the study to Wiley, said he believed it was “entirely appropriate” to withdraw the study because the study’s evidence did not support its conclusions.
“It is unfortunate that the paper had to reach this stage,” said Dr Tan, who works at the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Archeology and Fine Arts. “But it was better to withdraw than to say nothing about it at all.”
Dwi Ratna Nurhajarini, director of the Cultural Heritage Protection Office in West Java province, responsible for locating the site, said the study’s conclusions should be re-examined 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.”
Hindryati too reporting contributed.
