Gunung Padang 2013

 

Photo By: Santha Pania - Contact: santhafaiia@gmail.com 

Written By: Graham Hancock

http://www.grahamhancock.com/

On site at Gunung Padang, "the Mountain of Light", West Java, Indonesia. Photo shows Danny Hilman PhD (centre) senior geologist at Indonesia's Geotechnology Centre, Robert Schoch PhD (left of picture) geology professor at Boston University (renowned for his geological redating of the Great Sphinx of Giza) and myself, Graham Hancock, at the right of the picture. Dr Hilman is showing us some of the remote sensing results his team have obtained at Gunung Padang over the past two years of research. They have conducted extensive surveys with electrical resistivity, ground penetrating radar and seismic tomography and have analysed drill cores from selected areas across this mysterious and complex site. A brief synopsis is that there are large man-made structures of columnar basalt down to 15 metres beneath the surface with carbon found in the soils between the blocks giving dates that extend back as far as 26,000 years, but with intermediate dates of 17,000 years ago, 12,500 years ago and 11,600 years ago rising to as recently 2,500 years ago at the presently exposed surface. There is no doubt that the columnar basalt elements at all depths reflect human construction since they are laid in horizontal and in some cases sloping layers, whereas columnar basalt in its natural state is found only in the vertical formations. The implication is that we are looking at a megalithic site that has been in continuous use and has undergone continuous modification and development from before the last glacial maximum (21,300 years ago), through the meltdown of the Ice Age between 21,300 years ago and 11,600 years ago and on through to historical times. Indeed the site is STILL held sacred today: "Gunung Padang" in the Sundanese language indigenous to West Java means "Mountain of Light" or "Mountain of Enlightenment" and local people still revere its powerful spiritual qualities and resort to it as a place of reflection and meditation.

Needless to say, complex, large-scale megalithic constructions that are more than 20,000 years old (or 17,000 years old or 12,000 years old for that matter) cannot be explained by the current historical paradigm which tells us that the world in that period was populated only by "primitive" hunter gatherer societies incapable of such organisational and architectural feats. The overall appearance of Gunung Padang is roughly that of a step pyramid and interestingly Dr Hilman tells us that the remote sensing studies have revealed the existence of not just two, but in fact three intriguing voids concealed deep within this 100 metre (300 feet) tall "pyramid". Of these the largest lies at a depth of between 20 and 30 metres and is roughly 15 metres long and 10 metres high. Only excavation can reveal whether this is some freakishly regular natural tunnel or whether its rectilinear characteristics confirm, as Dr Hilman believes, that it is a man-made chamber. And if it -- and the other two voids -- do prove to be man-made, then what do they contain? The Halls of Records of a lost civilisation perhaps? Because this part of Indonesia stands at the southern edge of of what was once the vast Ice Age continent known to geologists as Sundaland, a continent that was submerged very rapidly by rising sea levels at the end of the last Ice Age, and a landmass that, when intact, was certainly large enough to have supported the emergence of a high civilisation.
 

 

Photo By: Santha Pania - Contact: santhafaiia@gmail.com

The work at Gunung Padang is only just beginning. The next step is a careful geological excavation to interrogate the initial carbon-dating evidence from the drill cores. As Dr Hilman says: "We have to do much more dating. We know its very important to have very accurate dating." It's important, of course, because on the present evidence Gunung Padang rewrites history, but archaeologists will resist any change to the established paradigm tooth and nail. Indeed there have already been attempts by archaeologists to prevent any further geological work at Gunung Padang on the grounds that it would be intrusive and they "know" that the site cannot possibly be as old as Hilman and his team claim. How they can possibly "know" that is a mystery since there has never been a proper excavation of Gunung Padang and all prior dates given for the site by the mainstream are pure speculation. As Dr Hilman says, before his team got to work there was just "no useful scientific data about the site at all". Even so a ferocious political battle is brewing with established archaeological interests lobbying at the highest political level to get Hilman's work at Gunung Padang stopped. It is in my view a matter of vital importance for the global human heritage that Hilman should be allowed to go ahead without impediment and with all the funding his team needs to get the job done.

For those who wish to visit Gunung Padang the site is a approximately a 3 to 4 hour drive from Bandung depending on traffic conditions (sometimes very heavy and frenetic!). Follow the road to Cianjur from Bandung. At Cianjur take the road towards Sukabumi for 10 kms until you come to Warung Kondang. At Warung Kondang there is a sign on the left side of the road reading "Gunung Padang Megalitik". Follow the left turn and you will find yourself on a very degraded, deeply potholed asphalt road where the going is very slow -- this last 20 kilometres will take you about an hour. The road rises up through tea plantations with beautiful mountain views. When you get to Gunung Padang you will have a fifteen-minute steep climb to the spectacular exposed megalithic terraces. It's an adventure. Enjoy!
 

 

Photo of Gunung Padang by Mohamed Fadil, Wikimedia Commons

 

 

Sachsayhuaman, Cusco Peru

 

 

Arial View of  the Huge Complex of Sachsayhuaman above Cusco Peru

Saksaywaman, Sasawaman, Saksawaman, Sasaywaman, Saqsaywaman or Saksaq Waman is a walled complex on the northern outskirts of the city of Cusco, Peru, the former capital of the Inca Empire. Like other Pre-Inca constructions, the complex is made of large polished dry stone walls with boulders carefully cut to fit together tightly without mortar.

Sachsayhuaman sits at an altitude of 3,701 meters above sealevel and is part of the city of Cusco in Peru.

Megalithic Cuzco; Sachsayhuaman and the 120 Ton Stones

Video Source: Brien Foerster

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctPDMwomsQQ

Located on a steep hill that overlooks the city, Sachsayhuaman contains an impressive view of the valley to the southeast. Surface collections of pottery at Saksaywaman indicate that occupation of the hill top dates back at least a millennium. However recent theories point to the construction being thousands of years older due to their similar construction of megalithic stone building’s found around the World.
 

 

Because of its location high above Cusco and its immense terrace walls, this area of Saksaywaman is frequently referred to as a fortress.

Inca: The Largest Stone Wall: Sachsayhuaman

Video Source: Brien Foerster

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FtB7Bjxr7w

The importance of its military functions was highlighted in 1536 when Manco Inca lay siege to Cusco. Much of the fighting occurred in and around Saksaywaman as it was critical for maintaining control over the city. It is clear from descriptions of the siege, as well as from excavations at the site, that there were towers on its summit as well as a series of other buildings. For example Pedro Sancho, who visited the complex before the siege, mentions the labyrinth-like quality of the complex and the fact that it held a great number of storage rooms filled with a wide variety of items. He also notes that there were buildings with large windows that looked over the city. These structures, like so much of the site, have long since been destroyed.

The best-known zone of Saksaywaman includes its great plaza and its adjacent three massive terrace walls. The stones used in the construction of these terraces are among the largest used in any building in prehispanic America and display a precision of fitting that is unmatched in the Americas. The stones are so closely spaced that a single piece of paper will not fit between many of the stones. This precision, combined with the rounded corners of the blocks, the variety of their interlocking shapes, and the way the walls lean inward, is thought to have helped the ruins survive devastating earthquakes in Cuzco. It is believed by many that they were built precisely to survive earthquakes.

The longest of three walls is about 400 meters. They are about 6 meters tall. The estimated volume of stone is over 6,000 cubic meters. Estimates for the weight of the largest Andesite block vary from 128 tonnes to almost 200 tonnes.

Video Source: Brien Foerster

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRI0VQoxkiI

Following the siege of Cuzco, the Spaniards began to use Saksaywaman as a source of stones for building Spanish Cuzco and within a few years much of the complex was demolished. The site was destroyed block-by-block to build the new governmental and religious buildings of the city, as well as the houses of the wealthiest Spaniards. In the words of Garcilaso de la Vega (1966:471 [1609: Part 1, Book. Bk. 7, Ch. 29]): "to save themselves the expense, effort and delay with which the Indians worked the stone, they pulled down all the smooth masonry in the walls. There is indeed not a house in the city that has not been made of this stone, or at least the houses built by the Spaniards." Today, only the stones that were too large to be easily moved remain at the site.

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Sideways view of the walls of Saksaywaman showing the details of the stonework and the angle of the walls.