Buried beneath terraced volcanic rock in the highlands of West Java, Indonesia, lies a hill that briefly shook the archaeological world. Known as Gunung Padang, or "Mountain of Light," the site has been considered sacred for centuries. But in October 2023, it became something else entirely the subject of a sweeping scientific claim that it was, in fact, the world's oldest pyramid, built some 25,000 years ago by a civilisation that mainstream history says should not have existed. The paper, published in the peer-reviewed journal Archaeological Prospection, sent shockwaves through the global media. Just as quickly, the scientific community pushed back and by March 2024, the journal had retracted the study altogether.
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