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Agence France-Presse

Archaeologists said they unearthed the oldest wooden structure ever discovered, dating from nearly half a million years ago, which suggests that our ancestors may have been more advanced than previously thought.
The exceptionally well-preserved wooden structure was found at Kalambo Falls in the north of Zambia near the border with Tanzania.
It dates back at least 476,000 years, well before the evolution of Homo sapiens, according to a study describing the find in the journal Nature.
The wood bears cut-marks showing that stone tools were used to join two large logs to make the structure, which is believed to be a platform, walkway or raised dwelling to keep our relatives above the water.

A collection of wooden tools, including a wedge and a digging stick, were also discovered at the site.
The ancestors of humans were already known to use wood at this time, but for limited purposes such as starting a fire or hunting.
Gene study points to link between Stone Age China and the Americas
Larry Barham, an archaeologist at the UK’s University of Liverpool and the study’s lead author, said that to his knowledge the previous record-holder for oldest wooden structure dated back around 9,000 years.
Barham said the structure was a “chance discovery” made in 2019 while excavating at the site located on the banks of the Kalambo River, above a 235-metre-high (770-foot) waterfall.
Discoveries involving such ancient wood are rare, because it tends to rot leaving behind little trace for the historical record.
But the high level of water at Kalambo Falls is believed to have preserved the structure over the centuries.
Excavations at the Kalambo site in the 1950s and 1960s unearthed some wood, but it was not able to be accurately dated.
However this time around, the researchers used a new method called luminescence dating, which determines age by measuring the last time minerals were exposed to sunlight.

This revealed that the structure was much older than the researchers had thought, dating back at least 476,000 years.
The earliest evidence of Homo sapiens is from around 300,000 years ago.
But fossils of human relative Homo heidelbergensis, thought to have lived between 700,000 to 200,000 years ago, have been found in the region, Barham said.
The discovery of the wooden structure “changed how I thought about these people”, Barham added.
“They transformed their surroundings to make life easier, even if it was only by making a platform to sit on by the river to do their daily chores,” he said.
Scientists extract human DNA from 5,700-year-old ‘chewing gum’
“They used their intelligence, imagination and skills to create something they’d never seen before, something that had never previously existed.”
This suggests an abstract level of thinking and “probably language”, he added.
Sophie Archambault de Beaune, an archaeologist at France’s Lyon 3 University not involved in the study, said the structure “presupposes cognitive abilities such as planning and the ability to visualise the finished product.”
But “these capacities were already assumed from the study of cut stone tools”, she said.
The authors of the study also said the discovery challenges the idea that human ancestors were nomadic, because the structure seems to be a permanent dwelling near the waterfalls, a perennial source of water.
Archambault de Beaune cautioned that this hypothesis had not yet been proven, because the structure could have been installed for the season, rather than permanently.
Additional reporting by Reuters


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Science

Archaeologists unearth world’s oldest wooden structure, made at least 476,000 years ago

Researchers uncover a wooden structure dating to at least 476,000 years ago near Kalambo Falls in Zambia. Photo: Geoff Duller/Aberystwyth University via Reuters

Researchers uncover wooden artefacts on the banks of the Kalambo River in Zambia. Photo: Larry Barham/University of Liverpool via Reuters

Kalambo Falls in Zambia. Photo: Geoff Duller/Aberystwyth University via Reuters

Gene study points to link between Stone Age China and the Americas

Scientists found a genetic link beween indigenous peoples in the Americas and China. Photo: Shutterstock

Researchers traced the route of the D4h gene. Photo: Handout

Scientists extract human DNA from 5,700-year-old ‘chewing gum’

A 5,700-year-old type of “chewing gum” made from birch pitch was found during archaeological excavations at Syltholm, southern Denmark. Photo: University of Copenhagen via AFP

Stonehenge’s massive rocks were transported from quarries 290km away, study suggests

Scientists have discovered the exact location of the quarries where dozens of Stonehenge’s massive stones came from. Photo: Reuters

The Stonehenge quarry, Carn Goedog. MUST CREDIT: Handout courtesy of University College London

FILE - In this Sunday, June 21, 2015 file photo, the sun rises as thousands of revellers gather at the ancient stone circle Stonehenge to celebrate the Summer Solstice, near Salisbury, England. A new study suggests the practice of building huge stone monuments was spread throughout ancient Europe from northwestern France. In an email Tuesday, Feb. 12 2019 Bettina Schulz Paulsson of the University of Gothenburg said the findings challenge previous theories that claimed megaliths originated in the Middle East or independently in different parts of Europe.(AP Photo/Tim Ireland, file)

The first war: Stone-age massacre site offers earliest evidence of mass conflict

In this August 2012 photo provided by Marta Mirazon Lahr, researcher Frances Rivera, right, Michael Emsugut, left, and Tot Ekulukum excavate a human skeleton at the site of Nataruk, West Turkana, Kenya. This skeleton was that of a woman, found lying on her back, with lesions on her neck vertebrae consistent with a projectile wound. She also had multiple fractures on one of her hands. Writing in a paper released Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016, by the journal Nature, scientists said it’s one of the clearest cases of violence between groups among prehistoric hunter-gatherers. (Marta Mirazon Lahr via AP)

In this August 2012 photo provided by Marta Mirazon Lahr, researcher Frances Rivera, right, and Michael Emsugut, left, excavate a human skeleton at the site of Nataruk, West Turkana, Kenya. This skeleton was that of a woman, found lying on her back, with lesions on her neck vertebrae consistent with a projectile wound. Photo: AP

News

World

Africa

Discovery in Zambia of a simple structure from the Stone Age suggests early humans built with wood
It contradicts the notion humans at that time simply roamed the landscape hunting and gathering resources


Researchers have uncovered a simple structure from the Stone Age that may be the oldest evidence yet of early humans building with wood.


History

Archaeology and palaeontology

Zambia

Archaeologists unearth world’s oldest wooden structure, made at least 476,000 years ago

Discovery in Zambia of a simple structure from the Stone Age suggests early humans built with wood It contradicts the notion humans at that time simply roamed the landscape hunting and gathering resources

Discovery in Zambia of a simple structure from the Stone Age suggests early humans built with wood

It contradicts the notion humans at that time simply roamed the landscape hunting and gathering resources