Claims › Pyramids around the world
Pyramids around the world
Pyramid-shaped monuments appear on several continents. Some are much older than textbooks once said (Caral in Peru, Shimao in China). Some claimed pyramids turned out to be natural hills or 19th-century farm terraces. One headline claim, Gunung Padang, rests on a paper that was retracted in 2024 while its authors stand by it.
Claims in this section
| Claim | Status | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Gunung Padang in Java is the world's oldest pyramid Gunung Padang, a terraced megalithic site in West Java, Indonesia, is a buried pyramid whose deepest layers were shaped by people from about 27,000 years ago. | Leading Edge | Open question: 2023 paper retracted March 2024 |
| The hills near Visoko, Bosnia, are ancient pyramids Visočica hill and neighbouring hills near Visoko, Bosnia and Herzegovina, are giant pyramids built tens of thousands of years ago, with tunnels beneath them. | Leading Edge | Open question: geologists describe natural hills; no construction dated |
| Pyramids around the world point to a common lost source Pyramids appear in Egypt, Sudan, Mesoamerica, South America, China and elsewhere because these cultures inherited the idea from an older, shared civilisation. | Leading Edge | Open question |
| Monumental pyramids in Peru are as old as Egypt's Caral, in Peru's Supe Valley, had large platform pyramids and a planned urban centre by about 2600 BCE. | Mainstream | Measured: c. 2600 BCE |
| The Güímar step pyramids in Tenerife are ancient The stepped stone structures at Güímar, Tenerife, are ancient pyramids, possibly linked to Egypt or the Americas. | Leading Edge | Excavation dates them to the 19th century |
Sites in this section
Gunung Padang · Visočica hill ('Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun') · Caral (Sacred City of Caral-Supe) · Shimao and the Huangchengtai platform · Great Pyramid of Cholula (Tlachihualtépetl) · Teotihuacan: Pyramid of the Sun · Pyramids of Meroë · Pyramids of Güímar · Giza pyramids
Labels describe claims, not people. Leading Edge entries marked "Open question" present the proponents' case and the mainstream position neutrally. How labels work.