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This article analyzes the archaeological site of Gunung Padang in Java island (Indonesia) as an example of megalithic heritage of monumental size. It is set in the regional typology of earth and stone terraces with a stepped-pyramid appearance (punden berundak) from the Indo-Malayan Bronze-Iron Age (c. 500 BC–500/1000 AD). It is also related to other megalithic structures of Austronesian tradition, like the Polynesian marae.

Gunung Padang was acclaimed by some sensationalists as the origin of all the world pyramids. We will show how it has inspired recent pseudoarchaeological theories. Those fantastic speculations without any scientific basis defend Pleistocenic dates and the existence of an advanced ancient civilization in SouthEast Asia (the Sundaland continent) similar to Atlantis. We will also refuse each one of these hypotheses that a big audience has accepted with open arms by its novel and revolutionary nature