{"id":4853,"date":"2024-03-20T07:55:07","date_gmt":"2024-03-20T07:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/20\/study-about-purported-ancient-pyramid-in-indonesia-is-retracted\/"},"modified":"2024-03-20T07:55:07","modified_gmt":"2024-03-20T07:55:07","slug":"study-about-purported-ancient-pyramid-in-indonesia-is-retracted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/20\/study-about-purported-ancient-pyramid-in-indonesia-is-retracted\/","title":{"rendered":"Study About Purported Ancient \u2018Pyramid\u2019 in Indonesia Is Retracted"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/03\/20\/multimedia\/20xp-pyramid-cghm\/20xp-pyramid-cghm-facebookJumbo.jpg?resize=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Study About Purported Ancient \u2018Pyramid\u2019 in Indonesia Is Retracted\" title=\"Study About Purported Ancient \u2018Pyramid\u2019 in Indonesia Is Retracted\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The American publisher of a study that challenged scientific orthodoxy by claiming that an archaeological site in Indonesia may be the world\u2019s \u201coldest pyramid\u201d says it has been retracted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The October 2023 <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/01\/03\/world\/asia\/oldest-pyramid-indonesia-netflix.html\" title=\"\">study in the journal Archaeological Prospection<\/a> made the explosive claim that the deepest layer of the site, Gunung Padang, appears to have been \u201csculpted\u201d by humans up to 27,000 years ago.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The study\u2019s critics say that it incorrectly dated the human presence at Gunung Padang based on radiocarbon measurements of soil from drilling samples, not artifacts. The journal\u2019s American publisher, Wiley, cited that exact reasoning in the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1002\/arp.1932\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">retraction notice<\/a> it issued on Monday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Gunung Padang is widely considered a dormant volcano, and archaeologists say that ceramics recovered there so far suggest that humans have been using it for several hundred years or more \u2014 not anything close to 27,000 years. The <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/08\/30\/science\/pyramids-nile-river-construction-egypt.html\" title=\"\">pyramids of Giza in Egypt<\/a> are only about 4,500 years old.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The retraction, based on a monthslong investigation, said that the study was flawed because its soil samples \u201cwere not associated with any artifacts or features that could be reliably interpreted as anthropogenic or \u2018man-made.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Some archaeologists said in interviews that they welcomed the retraction. But the study\u2019s authors called it \u201cunjust,\u201d <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dannyhilman.natawidjaja\/posts\/10221568918126201\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">saying in a statement on Wednesday<\/a> that their soil samples had been \u201cunequivocally established as man-made constructions or archaeological features,\u201d in part because the soil layers included artifacts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe urge the academic community, scientific organizations, and concerned individuals to stand with us in challenging this decision and upholding the principles of integrity, transparency, and fairness in scientific research and publishing,\u201d the authors wrote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1002\/arp.1912\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">study<\/a>\u2019s lead author, Danny Hilman Natawidjaja, an earthquake geologist, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Neither did Wiley or the editors of Archaeological Prospection, Eileen Ernenwein and Gregory Tsokas.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">One prominent supporter of Mr. Natawidjaja\u2019s research, the journalist Graham Hancock, said in a statement he did not see the retraction as \u201cfair, justified or good science.\u201d He said that instead of issuing a retraction, the journal should have published critiques of the paper, a move he said would have allowed readers to make up their own minds.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cScience should not be about suppression,\u201d said Mr. Hancock, who interviewed Mr. Natawidjaja for an episode about Gunung Padang on \u201c<a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.netflix.com\/title\/81211003\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Ancient Apocalypse,<\/a>\u201d his 2022 Netflix documentary series.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Society for American Archaeology has <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/saa.org\/quick-nav\/saa-media-room\/saa-news\/2022\/12\/01\/saa-sends-letter-to-netflix-concerning-ancient-apocalypse-series\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">said<\/a> that Mr. Hancock\u2019s Netflix show \u201cdevalues the archaeological profession on the basis of false claims and disinformation.\u201d He has vigorously <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/grahamhancock.com\/hancockg22-saa\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">rejected<\/a> that 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 retraction.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">People from Indonesia have long traveled to Gunung Padang, a hilltop site dotted with stone terraces, to hold Islamic and Hindu rituals. A domestic narrative portraying it as a very, very old pyramid had support, and financing, from the central government during the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who left office in 2014. His successor, President Joko Widodo, cut off the funding.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Archaeologists said in interviews on Wednesday that they welcomed the retraction.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">One of them, Noel Hidalgo Tan, an archaeologist in Bangkok who had relayed his concerns about the study to Wiley, said that he considered the retraction \u201centirely appropriate\u201d because the study\u2019s evidence did not support its conclusions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt was unfortunate that the paper had to get to this stage,\u201d said Dr. Tan, who works at the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Archaeology and Fine Arts. \u201cBut it was better to be retracted than to have nothing said about it at all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Dwi Ratna Nurhajarini, the head of the Cultural Heritage Conservation Office in West Java Province, the location of the site, said the study\u2019s conclusions should be re-examined in light of the retraction.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe structures at Gunung Padang are indeed layered and terraced, reminiscent of civilizations from Indonesia\u2019s distant past,\u201d she said by phone on Wednesday. \u201cBut their age might not be as old as suggested.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\">Rin Hindryati<!-- --> contributed reporting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The American publisher of a study that challenged scientific orthodoxy by claiming that an archaeological site in Indonesia may be the world\u2019s \u201coldest pyramid\u201d says it has been retracted. The October 2023 study in the journal Archaeological Prospection made the explosive claim that the deepest layer of the site, Gunung Padang, appears to have been [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/03\/20\/multimedia\/20xp-pyramid-cghm\/20xp-pyramid-cghm-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[8221,5769,8220,8222,8223,250],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4853"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4853"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4853\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4855,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4853\/revisions\/4855"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}