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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Science
Robin McKie Science Editor

‘Really, really weak’: experts attack claim that Indonesia site is ‘world’s oldest building’

Gunung Padang in West Java, Indonesia. A team recently claimed to have discovered an ancient construction beneath the site.
Gunung Padang in West Java, Indonesia. A team recently claimed to have discovered an ancient construction beneath the site. Photograph: Ade Lukmanul Hakimmm/Shutterstock

It was one of the most sensational science stories of 2023. Researchers claimed last month that the Gunung Padang site in West Java, Indonesia, is the world’s most ancient pyramid and could be more than 25,000 years old.

Such antiquity would be unprecedented. Stonehenge and the oldest major pyramids of Egypt are only a few thousand years old, while the previous record holder, Turkey’s Göbekli Tepe stone monuments, are thought to be about 11,000 years old.

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