Ini Duo Ilmuwan Peraih Nobel Fisika 2015

Arthur B. McDonald dan Takaaki Kajita

Komite Nobel Dunia mengungkapkan dua ilmuwan yang bakal menerima penghargaan sains bergengsi pada 2015. Kali ini, Nobel bidang fisika akan diberikan kepada Takaaki Kajita dan Arthur B. McDonald. Kedua ilmuwan itu dinilai mampu memberikan terobosan baru dalam ilmu fisika. Mereka telah melakukan penelitian tentang neutron. Padahal, atom ini dinilai tidak memiliki bobot oleh para ilmuwan dunia. 

Pada penelitian itu, keduanya berhasil mengungkap bahwa neutron memiliki massa. Penemuan ini jelas berbeda dengan apa yang telah diperkirakan para ilmuwan dunia selama ini.

Neutrino merupakan partikel dasar penyusun alam semesta. Atom ini memiliki massa yang sangat kecil, bahkan hampir dikatakan tak bermassa. Neutrino hanya berinteraksi lewat interaksi lemah dan gravitasi. 

Komite Nobel menyatakan, penemuan dari penelitian mereka jelas telah mengubah paradigma ilmu fisika. Temuan ini juga mampu mengubah pemikiran dunia tentang cara kerja terdalam dari materi. Dengan demikian, dapat membuktikan betapa pentingnya alam semesta dalam pandangan masyarakat dunia.

"Penemuan yang menyebutkan bahwa neutron memiliki massa ini mampu mengubah pemikiran terhadap neutron sebelumnya," sebut Komite Nobel seperti dilansir CNN, Selasa (6/10).

Kajitamerupakan ilmuwan yang bekerja di University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Jepang. Sementara McDonald bekerja di Universitas Queen, Kingston, Kanada.

Sejak 1901, komite nobel telah membagikan hadiah Nobel dalam bidang fisika sebanyak 108 kali. Penerima nobel fisika termuda adalah Lawrence Bragg. Ia berhasil  menang di 1915 pada usia 25 tahun. Sementara ilmuwa tertua pada fisik diterima oleh Raymond Davis Jr. Ketika itu, ia berusia 88 tahun pada 2002.

Read More

Kanguru Indonesia Di Papua

Kanguru ternyata tidak hanya terdapat di Autralia saja. Ternyata di Indonesia, tepatnya di Papua, juga memiliki Kangguru, spisies yang mempunyai ciri khas kantung di perutnya (Marsupialia). Kanguru Papua ini memiliki ukuran yang lebih kecil dibandingkan dengan Kanguru Australia. Sayang Kanguru yang terdiri atas Kanguru tanah dan Kanguru pohon ini mulai langka sehingga termasuk binatang (satwa) Indonesia yang dilindungi dari kepunahan.
Kangguru Papua terdiri atas dua genus yaitu dendrolagus (Kanguru Pohon) dan thylogale (Kanguru Tanah). Kanguru pohon sebagian besar masa hidupnya ada di pohon. Sekalipun begitu satwa tersebut juga sering turun ke tanah, misalnya bila sedang mencari air minum. Moncong kanguru pohon bentuknya lebih runcing jika dibandingkan dengan moncong kanguru darat. Ekornya agak panjang dan bulat, berbulu lebat dari pangkal sampai ekornya. Sedangkan pada kanguru darat kedua kaki depannya lebih pendek dari pada kaki belakangnya, Cakarnya pun lebih kecil. Moncongnya agak tumpul dan tidak berbulu. Ekornya makin meruncing ke ujung, bulunya tidak begitu lebat.
Kangguru Tanah (lau-lau atau paunaro):
Thylogale brunii (Dusky Pademelon) merupakan jenis kangguru terkecil yang ada di dunia. Beratnya antara 3-6 kilogram, tetapi ada juga yang 10 kilogram. Panjang tubuhnya sekitar 90 sentimeter dengan lebar sekitar 50 sentimeter. Satwa langka yang dilindungi ini adalah hewan endemik Papua, dan hanya terdapat di Papua di kawasan dataran rendah di hutan-hutan di wilayah Selatan Papua, dan Papua Niugini. Di Indonesia Thylogale brunii terdapat antara lain di Taman Nasional Wasur (Kabupaten

Merauke) dan Taman Nasional Gunung Lorentz (Mimika).
Thylogale stigmata (red-legged pademelon) merupakan jenis yang hidup di daerah pantai selatan Papua. Thylogale stigmata mempunyai warna kulit tubuh lebih cerah yaitu kuning kecokelatan.
Thylogale brownii (Brown’s pademelon). Selain di Papua, binatang ini juga terdapat di Papua New Guinea.
Kangguru pohon (lau-lau):
Dendrolagus pulcherrimus (Kanguru Pohon Mantel Emas) merupakan sejenis kanguru pohon yang hanya ditemukan di hutan pegunungan pulau Irian. Spesies ini memiliki rambut-rambut halus pendek berwarna coklat muda. Leher, pipi dan kakinya berwarna kekuningan. Sisi bawah perut berwarna lebih pucat dengan dua garis keemasan dipunggungnya. Ekor panjang dan tidak prehensil dengan lingkaran-lingkaran terang.
Penampilan Kanguru-pohon Mantel-emas serupa dengan Kanguru pohon Hias. Perbedaannya adalah Kanguru-pohon Mantel-emas memiliki warna muka lebih terang atau merah-muda, pundak keemasan, telinga putih dan berukuran lebih kecil dari Kanguru-pohon Hias. Beberapa ahli menempatkan Kanguru-pohon Mantel-emas sebagai subspesies dari Kanguru-pohon Hias.
Kanguru-pohon Mantel-emas merupakan salah satu jenis kanguru-pohon yang paling terancam kepunahan diantara semua kanguru pohon. Spesies ini telah punah di sebagian besar daerah habitat aslinya
Dendrolagus goodfellowi (disebut Kanguru Pohon Goodfellow atau kanguru pohon hias atau Goodfellow’s Tree-kangaroo) merupakan jenis kanguru pohon yang paling sering ditemui. Kulit tubuhnya berwarna

cokelat sawo matang dan banyak terdapat di hutan hujan di pulau Papua
Dendrolagus mbaiso (disebut sebagai Kanguru Pohon Mbaiso atau Dingiso) kanguru ini ditemukan di hutan montane yang tinggi dan subalpine semak belukar di Puncak Sudirman. Kanguru pohon ini mempunyai bulu hitam dengan kombinasi putih di bagian dadanya.
Dengrolagus dorianus atau disebut sebagai Kangguru Pohon Ndomea atau Doria’s Tree-kangaroo.
Dendrolagus ursinus (disebut Vogelkop Tree-kangaroo atau Kanguru Pohon Nemena) merupakan kanguru pohon yang paling awal terklasifikasikan. Mempunyai telinga panjang dan ekor panjang dan hitam.

Dendrolagus inustus disebut juga sebagai Kanguru Pohon Wakera atau Grizzled Tree-kangaroo.
Dendrolagus stellarum disebut juga sebagai Seri’s Tree-kangaroo. Kanguru pohon ini terdapat di Tembagapura.
Klasifikasi: Kerajaan: Animalia; Filum: Chordata; Kelas: Mammalia; Infrakelas: Marsupialia; Ordo: Diprotodontia; Famili: Macropodidae Genus: Dendrolagus dan Thylogale

Read More

Katak "Pinokio" Spesies Baru dari Papua

 
Sebuah ekspedisi ilmiah menemukan sejumlah spesies baru di Pegunungan Foja, di Pulau Guinea Baru, Provinsi Papua. Salah satunya jenis katak baru yang pantas disebut katak Pinokio karena memiliki bagian tubuh memanjang di mukanya.

Spesies baru itu yakni katak (Litoria sp nov) yang diamati memiliki benjolan panjang pada hidung seperti pinokio yang menunjuk ke atas bila ada ajakan dari jenis jantan serta mengempis dan mengarah ke bawah bila aktivitasnya berkurang. Katak ini ditemukan herpetologis, Paulus Oliver, secara kebetulan.

Kepala Komunikasi Conservation International (CI) Elshinta S Marsden di Jakarta, Senin (17/5/2010) malam, mengatakan, katak tersebut merupakan salah satu dari sekian banyak spesies baru yang ditemukan selama Conservation International’s Rapid Assessment Program (RAP) pada tahun 2008. Ekspedisi ini merupakan kolaborasi ilmuwan dari dalam dan luar negeri, termasuk para peneliti Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia (LIPI).

Selain katak pinokio, spesies baru yang ditemukan lainnya, antara lain, tikus besar berbulu, tokek bermata kuning berjari bengkok, merpati kaisar, walabi kerdil (Dorcopsulus sp nov) anggota kanguru terkecil di dunia, serta seekor kanguru pohon berjubah emas yang sudah sangat langka penampakannya, dan sangat terancam keberadaannya karena perburuan dari bagian wilayah Guinea Baru lainnya.

Kejutan terbesar dari ekspedisi itu datang ketika seorang ornitologis, Neville Kemp, melihat sepasang merpati kaisar yang baru ditemukan (Ducula sp nov) dengan bulu-bulu yang terlihat berkarat, agak putih, dan abu-abu. Temuan lainnya yang direkam selama survei RAP itu, antara lain, kelelawar kembang baru (Syconycteris sp nov) yang memakan sari bunga dari hutan hujan, seekor tikus pohon kecil (Pogonomys sp nov), seekor kupu-kupu hitam dan putih (Ideopsis fojana) yang memiliki hubungan dengan jenis kupu-kupu raja pada umumnya, dan semak belukar berbunga yang baru (Ardisia hymenandroides).

"Untuk menentukan temuan tersebut betul-betul terbaru perlu diteliti dulu famili dan habitatnya. Hal itu butuh waktu bertahun-tahun," katanya. Kepastian penemuan itu diungkapkan dalam rangka menandai peringatan Hari Keanekaan Ragam Hayati se-Dunia (International Day for Biological Diversity) pada 22 Mei.

Pada ekspedisi RAP yang didukung The National Geographic Society dan Smithsonian Institution ini, para ahli biologi bertahan menghadapi hujan badai yang lebat dan banjir bandang yang mengancam sambil terus melacak spesies-spesies, mulai dari bukit rendah di Desa Kwerba sampai ke puncaknya pada kisaran 2.200 meter di atas permukaan laut.

Disebutkan juga, Wakil Presiden Regional CI Indonesia Jatna Supriatna, PhD, mengatakan, temuan ini dapat menunjukkan berapa banyak bentuk spesies unik yang hanya hidup di hutan-hutan pegunungan Papua, dan menyadarkan dunia betapa hutan-hutan ini harus dilestarikan.

"Para peneliti LIPI merasa sangat bersyukur turut terlibat dalam pengungkapan keanekaan ragam hayati kawasan Pegunungan Foja, Mamberamo. Adanya kerja sama penelitian ini jelas mendukung program-program konservasi pada kawasan yang memiliki biodiversitas sangat tinggi dan termasuk dalam daftar perlindungan undang-undang RI," kata Ketua Tim Peneliti dari Pusat Penelitian Biologi LIPI Dr Hari Sutrisno.

Sedangkan Gubernur Papua Barnabas Suebu mengingatkan, pihaknya sepakat dan sangat mendukung agar wilayah-wilayah ber-biodiversitas sangat tinggi di Provinsi Papua dipertahankan karena banyak spesies endemik di wilayah ini yang masih terisolasi dan tidak terdapat di belahan dunia lain.

Read More

Pinocchio frog was discovered on a RAP expedition to the Foja Mountains of Papua province, Indonesia

Pinocchio frog, ET salamander, Yoda bat and dinospider: species near extinction

This frog (Litoria sp. nov.), was discovered on a RAP expedition to the Foja Mountains of Papua province, Indonesia in 2008. It has a long, Pinocchio-like protuberance on its nose that points upwards when the male is calling but deflates and points downwards when he is less active. The frog represents a particularly distinctive find that scientists are interested in documenting and studying further. Its discovery was a happy accident, after herpetologist Paul Oliver spotted it sitting on a bag of rice in the campsite.

Read More

Indonesian Horned frogs (Megophrys spp.)

Imported from Indonesia as the Malayan Horned Frog, Megophrys nasuta, this species is in all probability the smaller species Megophrys montana. Our specimens have been collected on the island of Java. Despite having imported them several times, the largest specimen we have ever received has been around 7 cm, while the more frequently imported species known as the Malayan Horned Frog, Megophrys nasuta, grows much larger.

They are very beautiful and reasonably hardy frogs, and as the pictures show they can be quite variable in colors. This seem to change according to the individual specimens mood, and the way they are kept.

They feed greedily on anything that moves, and they love waxworms, which we use after their arrival due to the high fat content. Make sure you keep an eye on the frogs if you feed them crickets, removal of any uneaten cricket is a must, otherwise they do serious damage to the frogs` delicate skin.

Indonesian Horned frogs by Tom Halvorsen

As with the other members of the genus Megophrys the females are considerably larger than the males. The males are avid callers, with a sound quite pleasant to listen to in the late evenings.

The Indonesian Horned Frog usually hides within leaf litter during the daytime, so make sure you provide a layer of dead leaves for them, or plenty of other forms of hiding places such as pieces of cork bark. Keep their environment very clean, and do not expose them to temperatures too low. A heatmat can be used under a small part of their cage, but make sure the frogs can not get burnt from direct access to the heatmat, or otherwise overheat.

As in their natural environment, high humidity is required by frequent misting of their environment, equally good air circulation is important. They sometimes enter water and soak for a while, so it is advisable to give them access to a shallow waterbowl at all times.

Megophrys cf. montana is not commonly available in the trade, and as far as we know are not being bred in captivity. Cannibalism is know to occur within at least the larger Megophrys-species, we have always kept these frogs in larger mixed groups without any signs of cannibalism, despite some of the males being only half the size of the females.

Read More

Katak "Bertanduk" hingga Begonia Batak, "Harta Karun" Indonesia yang Terungkap Tahun 2014

Spesies hewan dan tumbuhan yang cantik, unik, dan aneh terungkap lewat ketekunan taksonom Indonesia dalam mengidentifikasi. Dari ragam spesies yang ditemukan, berikut beberapa yang paling menarik.

Katak Bertanduk

Species Diversity Polypedates pseudotilophus

Katak ini ditemukan oleh ahli herpetologi dari Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia (LIPI), Amir Hamidy. Nama spesies katak itu adalah Polypedates pseudotilophus.

Sebelumnya, spesies katak bertanduk yang ditemukan di bumi Sumatera (P pseudotilophus) ini dianggap jenis yang sama dengan yang di Kalimantan (P otilophus). Namun, analisis genetik dan morfologi mengungkap bahwa keduanya berbeda.

"Tanduk" yang dimiliki oleh P pseudotilophus sejatinya adalah tonjolan tulang di kepala. Tonjolan ini salah satunya berfungsi untuk melindungi diri dari mangsa.

Bunglon Berleher Ungu dan Jahitan Punggung

Amir Hamidy/Zootaxa Pseudocalotes guttalineatus

Tahun 2014, Indonesia punya tiga jenis bunglon baru. Ketiganya ditemukan di kawasan Bukit Barisan, Sumatera. Ketiganya juga ditemukan oleh Amir Hamidy.

Spesies pertama dinamai Pseudocalotes cybelidermus, disebut bunglon berleher ungu. Jenis kedua disebut P guttalineatus mempunyai ciri unik berupa pola garis putus-putus berwarna kebiruan pada bagian leher.

Jenis ketiga dinamai P rhammanotus, punya  punya karakter khas berupa sisik menonjol di bagian punggung, disebut bunglon dengan jahitan punggung.

Begonia "Bermarga" Siregar

Wisnu Handoyo Ardi Begonia siregarii

Begonia dengan nama Siregar adalah salah satu dari dua begonia baru yang ditemukan oleh ahli botani LIPI, Wisnu Handoyo Ardi.

Begonia siregarii, demikian nama ilmiah bunga itu, ditemukan di Tana Toraja. Nama tanaman setinggi 1 meter ini diambil dari nama Kepala Kebun raya Bogor periode 2009-2014, Mustaid Siregar.

Begonia ini memiliki tepian daun yang bergerigi, tangkai perbungaan betina yang lebih panjang dan tepian tenda bunga betina yang rata.

Satu spesies lagi yang ditemukan adalah Begonia gambutensis, memiliki kekhasan berupa warna rambut-rambut halus yang terdapat pada batang dan daunnya. Bunga ini ditemukan di Gunung Gambuta, Sulawesi.

Burung Sikatan dari Sulawesi

PLOS ONE Muscicapa sodhii

Butuh waktu lama untuk mengungkap identitas burung sikatan baru dari Sulawesi dengan nama Muscicapa sodhii ini, 17 tahun!

Burung ini pertama kali dijumpai pada tahun 1997 dan baru dikoleksi pada tahun 2012 untuk proses identifikasi. Tim Michigan State University dan LIPI sukses menguak dientitasnya sebagai identitasnya sebagai jenis baru setelah melakukan analisis morfologi dan genetik.

M sodhii punya bulu dengan bintik-bintik pada bagian lehernya, ekor yang lebih pendek dengan jenis lain, serta paruh yang lebih tajam.

Ular Berbisa dari Sumatera

G Vogel Trimeresurus gunaleni

Ular yang ditemukan bernama Trimeresurus gunaleni. Namanya diambil dari nama pembiak dan fotografer asal Jakarta, Danny Gunalen.

Spesies ular ini ditemukan lewat kerjasama sejumlah ilmuwan, salah satunya Irvan Sidik dari LIPI. Jenis ini ditemukan di hutan wilayah Sumatera Barat, di hutan pada ketinggian 1.500 hingga 2.000 meter di atas permukaan laut.

Ular ini punya corak hitam hijau yang unik, dengan dominasi warna hijau.

Kumbang yang "Hilang" sejak Tahun 1920

Trigonopterus amphoralis, itulah jenis kumbang baru yang ditemukan. Jenis ini sebenarnya sudah ada di Museum Zoologi Bogor sejak tahun 1920, namun dikatakan "hilang".

Jenis ini ditemukan lewat analisis genetik yang dilakukan oleh sejumlah ilmuwan, termasuk Yayuk Suhardjono dan Cahyo Rahmadi dari LIPI. Kumbang ini berasal dari Bukit Barisan dan Pantai Pedada, Lampung.

Punya ukuran panjang sekitar 3,02 mm, kumbang ini punya warna dominan hitam dengan antena dan kaki berwarna karat.

Read More

The hidden Pyramid in Indonesia

 
The image you see above may be that of an overgrown, 20 000 year old Pyramid. Or it may not be. The jury is still out. I present it as a possibility, not as a fact.
It`s location is at the largest megalithic site of Indonesia, Mount Padang:


Sure, just because a hill has the shape of a pyramid does not make it one. I would have dismissed it, were it not not for the surrounding megaliths and the fact that scientists and even Government officials have openly spoken of a 9000 to 20 000 year old civilization (controversially contradicting the prevailing “we are the first civilization” doctrine) and are themselves trying to find out whether there is a pyramid hidden beneath the hill.
An article by the Sydney Morning Herald on the controversial megalithic site says:
…Gunung Padang has been known (though not widely) as the largest of a number of ancient megalithic sites in Indonesia.
Here our prehistoric forebears, moved by the area’s strikingly shaped columns of volcanic rock, built terraces into the mountaintop and arranged and stacked the stones for whatever indiscernible purpose motivated them.
And Hilman thinks there is much more to it under the surface. If he’s right – and Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is enthusiastically encouraging his investigations – then buried beneath the piles of ancient stone is by far the oldest pyramid on the planet.
Hilman says it could predate the next oldest by a dozen millenniums or more, suggesting an advanced ancient civilisation in Java. ”It’s older than 9000 [years] and could be up to 20,000,” Hilman says, as he sits on a fallen column of stone. ”It’s crazy, but it’s data.’
Hilman, a senior geologist at Indonesia’s Centre for Geotechnical Research, believes that most of this 100 metre hill is actually man-made, built up on three stages over the millenniums by three different cultures.
If he is correct the find would rewrite prehistory in the same way as the discovery of a mini-human ”hobbit” on the eastern Indonesian island of Flores rewrote paleoanthropology…
In May, Hilman, who holds a PhD from the California Institute of Technology, was summoned to brief Yudhoyono on his findings. The President was so impressed that he appointed a government taskforce to investigate further, while Arif and Hilman continued with their work. President Yudhoyono urged haste, describing the team’s work as a ”task of history … of important value for humanity”. He even offered the services of the army’s earth-moving equipment.
Proving the authenticity of these ancient ruins among the banana palms and tea plantations of Cianjur has taken on the aura of a nationalistic quest.
A test being conducted on this day is one in a series of geo-electric surveys. Men in gumboots arrange long loops of yellow cable on huge columnar rocks denuded of their topsoil.
Hilman stands on the muddy edge and points out what he says are patterns in the arrangement of the rocks. These patterns reflect the geological testing already undertaken, he says – that stones usually found upright have been laid horizontally on beds of gravel. Some are stuck together by an ancient form of glue, he says. These have been carbon dated indicating the sites are well in excess of 9000 years old, he says.
Below this are walls he describes as rooms, internal steps and terraces, all evidence of a massive building, of human intelligence and planning.
”The structure of the building is very good, it’s been defined by many lines of the geo-electric surveys, even 3D, even GPR [ground-penetrating radar] … and core samples,” Hilman says. ”We conclude that the archaeological site, the arrangement of these columnar joints, has laminated the entire hill so it’s 100 metres thick. We also think it’s not just one layer of building, but multiple layers.” They may have discovered archaeological human structures or features to a depth of at least 15 metres.
”It’s huge,” Hilman says. ”People think the prehistoric age was primitive, but this monument proves that wrong.”
The remainder of the article, which I have not quoted in full length, goes into those who dispute the pyramid-theory.
Some images of the hand-carved megaliths at the site:




And some stones that are apparently in the Mountain itself and raise hopes of artificial construction:



One of the only western researcher who seems to be looking into this with any sincerity is Graham Hancock. These are snippets from an early article of his:
“Everything we’ve been taught about the origins of civilization may be wrong,” says Danny Natawidjaja, PhD, senior geologist with the Research Centre for Geotechnology at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences. “Old stories about Atlantis and other a great lost civilizations of prehistory, long dismissed as myths by archaeologists, look set to be proved true.”
I’m climbing with Dr Natawidjaja up the steep slope of a 300-ft high step-pyramid set amidst a magical landscape of volcanoes, mountains and jungles interspersed with paddy fields and tea plantations a hundred miles from the city of Bandung in West Java, Indonesia.
The pyramid has been known to archaeology since 1914 when megalithic structures formed from blocks of columnar basalt were found scattered amongst the dense trees and undergrowth that then covered its summit. Local people held the site to be sacred and called it Gunung Padang, the name it still goes by today, which means “Mountain of Light”, or “Mountain of Enlightenment”, in the local Sundanese language. The summit, where the megaliths were found arranged across five terraces had been used as a place of meditation and retreat since time immemorial, archaeologists were told, and again this remains true today.
However neither the archaeologists, nor apparently the locals realized the pyramid was a pyramid. It was believed to be a natural hill, somewhat modified by human activity, until Natawidjaja and his team began a geological survey here in 2011. By then the summit had long since been cleared and the megalithic terraces recognized to be ancient and man-made, but no radiocarbon dating was ever done and the previously accepted age of the site – about 1,500 to 2,500 BC — was based on guesswork rather than on excavations.
The first scientific radiocarbon dating was done by Natawidjaja himself on soils underlying the megaliths at or near the surface. The dates produced – around 500 to 1,500 BC – were very close to the archaeological guesswork and caused no controversy. However a surprise was in store as Natawidjaja and his team extended their investigation using tubular drills that brought up cores of earth and stone from much deeper levels.
First the drill cores contained evidence – fragments of columnar basalt – that man-made megalithic structures lay far beneath the surface. Secondly the organic materials brought up in the drill cores began to yield older and older dates – 3,000 BC to 5,000 BC, then 9,600 BC as the drills bit deeper, then around 11,000 BC, then, 15,000 BC and finally at depths of 90 feet and more an astonishing sequence of dates of 20,000 BC to 22,000 BC and earlier.
“This was not at all what my colleagues in the world of archaeology expected or wanted to hear” says Natawidjaja, who earned his PhD at Cal Tech in the United States and who, it becomes apparent, regards archaeology as a thoroughly unscientific discipline.
The problem is that those dates from 9,600 BC and earlier belong to the period that archaeologists call the “Upper Palaeolithic” and take us back deep into the last Ice Age when Indonesia was not a series of islands as it is today but was part of a vast southeast Asian continent dubbed “Sundaland” by geologists…
…”It is difficult,” Natawidjaja says, “for us to imagine what life on earth must have been like during the Younger Dryas. It was a truly cataclysmic period of immense climate instability and terrible, indeed terrifying, global conditions. It’s not surprising that many large animal species, such as the mammoths, went extinct during this precise time and of course it had huge effects on our ancestors, not just those ‘primitive’ hunter gatherers the archaeologists speak of but also, I believe, a high civilization that was wiped from the historical record by the upheavals of the Younger Dryas.”
What has brought Natawidjaja to this radical view is the evidence he and his team have uncovered at Gunung Padang. When their drill cores began to yield very ancient carbon dates from clays filling the gaps between worked stones they expanded their investigation using geophysical equipment – ground penetrating radar, seismic tomography and electrical resistivity – to get a picture of what lay under the ground. The results were stunning, showing layers of massive construction using the same megalithic elements of columnar basalt that are found on the surface but with courses of huge basaltic rocks beneath them extending down to 100 feet and more beneath the surface. At those depths the carbon dates indicate that the megaliths were put in place more than 10,000 years ago and in some cases as far back as 24,000 years ago…
…”The geophysical evidence is unambiguous,” Natawidjaja says. “Gunung Padang is not a natural hill but a man-made pyramid and the origins of construction here go back long before the end of the last Ice Age. Since the work is massive even at the deepest levels, and bears witness to the kinds of sophisticated construction skills that were deployed to build the pyramids of Egypt or the largest megalithic sites of Europe, I can only conclude that we’re looking at the work of a lost civilization and a fairly advanced one.”
“The archaeologists won’t like that,” I point out.
“They don’t!” Natawidjaja agrees with a rueful smile. “I’ve already got myself into a lot of hot water with this. My case is a solid one, based on good scientific evidence, but it’s not an easy one. I’m up against deeply entrenched beliefs.”
The next step will be a full-scale archaeological excavation. “We have to excavate in order to interrogate our remote sensing data and our carbon dating sequences and either to confirm or deny what we believe we’ve found here,” says Natawidjaja, “but unfortunately there’s a lot of obstacles in our way.”
When I ask what he means by obstacles he replies that some senior Indonesian archaeologists are lobbying the government in Jakarta to prevent him from doing any further work at Gunung Padang on the grounds that they “know” the site is less than 5,000 years old and see no justification for disturbing it.
“I don’t deny that the megaliths at the surface are less than 5,000 years old,” Natawidjaja hastens to add, “but I suggest they were put here because Gunung Padang has been recognized as a sacred place since time immemorial. It’s the deepest layers of the structure at between 12,000 and more than 20,000 years old that are the most important. They have potentially revolutionary implications for our understanding of history and I think it’s vital that we be allowed to investigate them properly.”
The hypothetical Pyramid is, as of this time, pretty much being ignored outside of Indonesia. That’s why most of the websites I have consulted about it have to be run through the Google-Translator.
According to the Wikipedia site on Mount Padang…
On October 1, 2014, surveyors halted excavation activities temporarily due to these facts and recommendations:^[6]

• There is a large structure below the surface
• A core zone site area has been confirmed
• Many man-made artefacts have been discovered
• The construction of the site spans four eras
• A recommendation has been made to extent the survey, renovation concept, conservation and management of the site

Another view:


The most recent Graham Hancock update provides grounds for optimism (excerpts only):
…evidence of deeply buried man-made chambers and yielding carbon dates going back as far as 26,000 years. This was the last Ice Age when our ancestors are supposed (according to the orthodox archaeological model) to be have been nothing more than primitive hunter gatherers incapable of large-scale construction and engineering feats. Was it possible that geologist Natawidjaja was unearthing the proof of a lost advanced civilization of prehistoric antiquity? Such ideas are heresy to mainstream archaeologists and sure enough the archaeological establishment in Indonesia banded together against Dr Natawidjaja and his team, lobbied the political authorities, agitated locally and succeeded in slowing down, though not completely stopping, the further exploration of Gunung Padang.
Dr Natawidjaja fought back, doing some high-level lobbying of his own, taking the matter to the President of Indonesia himself. There were further delays to do with elections in Indonesia but just a couple of months ago, in mid-August 2014, the final obstacles were lifted and Dr Natawidjaja and his team moved back onto the Gunung Padang site with full approval to go ahead with their work, including permission to excavate the concealed chambers.
Archaeologists were furious and immediately began lobbying to get the work stopped – fortunately to no avail as preliminary excavations have produced results that prove beyond doubt that Gunung Padang in indeed a man-made pyramid of great antiquity as Dr Natawidjaja had long ago proposed. Even the relatively young layer so far excavated (the second artificial columnar rock-layer beneath the megalithic site visible on the surface) has yielded dates of 5200 BC (nearly 3000 years older than the orthodox dating for the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt) and there are firm indications from the original remote sensing and core drilling work of much older layers below. In short, it is now evident to all that the site is vastly older than the 2500 years that archaeologists had insisted upon for decades. Even the most hostile amongst them are therefore now reframing their assessment of the site and referring to it as “a gigantic terraced tomb, which was part of the biggest megalithic culture in the archipelago.”…
…As to the progress of the work at Gunung Padang, Dr Natawidjaja writes as follows:
“The research progress has been being great.  We have excavated three more spots right on top of the megalithic site in the past couple weeks, which give more evidence and details about the buried structures.  We have uncovered lots more stone artifacts from the excavations.  The existence of the pyramid-like structure beneath the megalithic site is now loud and clear; even for non-specialists, it is not too difficult  to understand if they come and see for themselves.    We have found some kind of open hall buried by soil 5-7 meters thick; however we have not yet got into the main chamber.  We are now drilling to the suspected location of the chamber (based on subsurface geophysic) in the middle of the megalithic site.”
Even if no Pyramid were ultimately found, terraced layers of four civilizations have been found, each older civilization more advanced than the more recent. That in itself is great news for Atlantis-Researchers because we have been saying all along that civilization has not evolved over the ages, it has declined (up until the last few hundred years).
As you`ll already have guessed, Indonesia too is rife with Atlantis- and Lemuria related legends of flying serpents, giants, dwarves, warring gods and all the usual suspects. Another amazing discovery in this regard were the remains of dwarves on the island of Flores. Indonesian “myths” are full of dwarves. And as you may have also guessed, any relation to mythology was dismissed in the press. Mainstream researchers provided the usual tired explanations about genetic illnesses that cause dwarfism, down syndrome and “deformed people”. The press publicized them as “Hobbits”, further masking the significance of the find (Google “Indonesia Dwarves” or “Indonesia Hobbit” to learn more).
A Javanese legend called “Aji Saka” (King Saka or “the Primordial King”) recounts how civilization came to the area. And that’s quite a different story than the official one according to which civilization started in the year 3oo.
Saka came from an unknown mythical land to bring civilization and order to Java. For that he first had to defeat evil Giants (denawa – giant demons) that ruled the Island. These giants were cannibalistic and destructive. The King of the Giants was called Dewata Cengkar. King Saka defeated him by pushing him into the Ocean.
The legend also tells of a giant snake that claimed to be Aki Sakas son. Aki Saka however said, that in order to become his son, he would have to fight on his side and kill a being called Bajul Putih, which appears to have been another serpentine creature. The giant snake did so and then became King Sakas son. Upon seeing that his new son greedily ate the domestic pets of his palace, he was expelled by the King and sent out into the jungle and tied to a rope. He was told that he would now only be able to eat what fell in his mouth. Other variations say that the snake was expelled into a cave.

Read More