Sunday silliness: the pyramids of Java

 
Geometrically, geomechanically, and geomorphologically, the pyramid is a natural shape that reflects a stable response in the constant conflict between landscape construction and erosion. The stability of this shape has been exploited by humans for a long time, by many different cultures, and in many different forms – although it even took the ancient Egyptians some experimentation to get the angles right for optimum stability (see at least one of the possible reasons behind the strange geometry of the “Bent Pyramid,” otherwise known as “Sneferu’s snafu”).

But the problem is that, if you are one of those people who ignore reason and geomechanics, preferring exotic and bizarre hypotheses that can be portrayed as offering the delicious excitement of presenting a challenge to conventional science (as if it didn’t have enough already), then you see man-made pyramids everywhere: landforms that are “too pyramidal in shape to be a natural occurrence.” And, of course, there are a lot of those people around. That quote is from “a special staff member to the [Indonesian] president on social affairs and disaster management.” For yes, the news is that we have ancient pyramids here in Java, structures that are “older than the Giza pyramid” and demonstrate “that civilization in Indonesia had begun much earlier than currently assumed.”

One of these, Mount Sadahurip in West Java (shown in the photo above) is a typical candidate, and the focus of intensive geotechnical and archaeological investigations that, amongst other results, have encountered mysterious buried layers of sand that have been cited as showing textural evidence for human sieving, or as demonstrating tsunami protection engineering. Great revelations are waiting not far below the surface that will completely re-write history.

Now, excuse, please, my scepticism, but the foundations of Java and its landscapes are chains of volcanoes – well illustrated by the photo of Mount Sadahurip. What are those things in the background – more pyramids? Java must represent the greatest concentration of pyramids in the world. The terraced appearance, of course, cannot possibly be related to agriculture exploiting layered lava flows. The pyramid shape cannot be natural – something must be buried beneath. The words “Indonesian pyramids” in Google opens a portal into a parallel universe. 

So far so entertaining and apparently harmless. But unfortunately there’s another, potentially tragic, side to all this. Here’s the article from yesterday’s Jakarta Globe:

A presidential staff member is trying to convince three ministries to support a team of scientists who want to look into rumors of pyramids lying beneath West Java’s Mount Sadahurip and Mount Padang.
Andi Arief, a special staff member to the president on social affairs and disaster management, set up a meeting on Friday to discuss the issues.
In attendance were members of the so-called Ancient Catastrophic Studies Team, led by seismologist Danny Hilman, and representatives from the ministries of tourism, research and technology, and education and culture.
Andi said there had also been informal meetings between the team and officials from the Tourism Ministry.
The ministries, he said, could bring much-needed expertise, equipment and funding to help bring the project to fruition.
Finding pyramids in Indonesia, Hilman said, would rewrite the history of the archipelago, and possibly the world.
“We could prove that our ancient civilizations were much more advanced than previously believed, even long before the Majapahit,” he said referring to one of the archipelago’s oldest and biggest known kingdoms.
“We [showed ministry officials] geological and geophysical research, which indicate that ancient ruins lie beneath the mountains,” he said.
Teguh Rahardjo, deputy minister for research and technology, said his office would look into the findings before deciding whether to get involved in the project. “But of course we support this kind of research,” he said.
The team, Andi said, had initially set out to conduct geological research rather than find pyramids. He said that the idea of looking for pyramids had come about after adventure travel company Geotrek Indonesia pointed out that Mount Sadahurip, located in Garut district, was too pyramidal in shape to be a natural occurrence.
Not everybody has bought into the pyramid theory. Sujatmiko, a geologist from the Indonesian Geological Experts Association, said he thought Sadahurip had formed naturally.
The mountain is located on a dominant volcanic line in West Java, and Sujatmiko said it had formed as a pyroclastic volcanic mound out of magma that emerged from the earth’s surface without a typical magma channel beneath.
I Gde Pitana, acting director general of the Tourism Ministry, has said the notion that Indonesia’s history might have included pyramids was implausible. There are enough mountains here that there was no need to build tall structures for worship, he said.
Pitana said his ministry had asked several universities to conduct tests and research on the site to see if the Sadahurip structure was man-made or natural. The findings, he said, conflicted with each other.
And that should give the pyramid hunters reason to hope.

The resources being devoted to this lunacy, with the encouragement of the authorities, are those whose real remit is disaster mitigation. The idea that research into tsunamis and earthquakes from the historic and pre-historic records can shed light on managing for the future – and saving lives – is well founded and based on good science. One of my earliest blog posts was on such work following the 2004 Sumatran earthquake, and I wrote a couple of posts in the context of the Japanese catastrophe. This kind of work is vital, and to fritter away time, money and expertise that should be devoted to it on chasing pyramid dreams is inexcusable.

But then, for any pyramid hallucinators who have arrived on this post, here are some more that I encountered in Egypt’s Western Desert.

 
STOP PRESS: adenda and corrigenda

Since writing this, I have been approached by two friends with helpful comments and clarifications:

1. An Indonesian geologist friend has pointed out the confusion in the media reports. Gunung (Mount) Padang, referred to in the article quoted, is a genuine archaeological site, with megalithic structures (the largest such site in South East Asia), that continues to be investigated both archaeologically and geologically. Coring has revealed sand layers that seem difficult to explain. This site has been muddled in the pyramid fever with the yet-to-be-investigated Gunung Sadahurip and Gunung Lalakon, neither of which bear much resemblance to Gunung Padang.

2. An American friend (a stickler for objectivity and accuracy) has felt compelled to write to me on the Bent Pyramid controversy. It seems that the timing of the change of angle coincides with the spectacular collapse of the nearby Meidum Pyramid whose descent into a pile of rubble resulted from poor construction standards, including the fact that much of it was built on a foundation of compacted sand (so yes, blame the sand). It did not collapse because it was too steep. Nevertheless, this struck fear into the Egyptians, who, clever though they were, were not at that point mathematically advanced. Then there's also the possibility that the Bent Pyramid was taking too long, Sneferu might have been getting a sense of mortality (or diminishing funds), and lowering the angle enabled the thing to be finished quickly.

[There are, of course, any number of rational voices here echoing my doubts about the ancient pyramids of Java – see, for example, this earlier article from the Jakarta Globe; however, all the signs are that the project will continue.]

Comments

[Richard Bready]

Doubtless the works of Homo palaeojavanicus.

[Sandglass]

Or perhaps Javanhotep the VIIIth, pausing on his way to a short break in Bali.

Please see important adenda et corrigenda just added to the post.

[Richard Bready]

Before crossing the Pacific to build Puntiagudo-Cordón Cenizos. Promisingly, the Wikipedia article on glacial horns is titled Pyramidal Peaks. A scientific question is why mass wasting approximates tetrahedra in so many cases.

[Sandglass]

Very good scientific question - and one that occurred to me as I was glibly writing the first sentence of this post. Any answers?

[Richard Bready]

Papers on sandpiles, make that about sandpiles, say that piles started on a square base will retain a pyramidal shape. Sensitive dependence on initial conditions. Pyramidal peaks are thought to begin when glaciers form cirques on several faces of a mountain, eroding out the spaces between arêtes. Again a posterior effect. Where edges join faces, perhaps gravity tends to direct flow between the edges? Possibly also perceptual--if a mountain has six or eight major faces, individual faces may not offer the clear cutout silhouette that appears so geometric.
I did enjoy that sequence of adverbs in your first sentence.

[Steam Shower Kits]

This is pretty interesting I have never heard of sand piles before. Did you guys hear about the 16+ pyramids they found in the Nile Delta with thermal satellite imaging.