Archaeologists in Zambia discover the world’s oldest wooden structure, dating back 476,000 years ago

Researchers have discovered the remains of what is believed to be the world’s oldest wooden structure, an arrangement of logs on a riverbank bordering Zambia and Tanzania, that predates the arrival of modern humans .

The simple structure, created by shaping two logs with sharp stone tools, may have been part of a gateway or platform for human ancestors who lived along the Kalambo River nearly 500,000 year.

Marks on the logs suggest they were cut, chopped and scraped with a series of stone tools found at the site. One log, a type of willow, covers the other and is held in place by a large inverted U-shaped groove on its underside.

“The first time I saw it, I thought it couldn’t be real. Professor Larry Barham, an archaeologist at the University of Liverpool who led the work, said the wood and stone showed a high level of craftsmanship, technological skill and planning.

“It could be part of the walkway or part of the platform,” he said. “The pedestal can be used as a place to store things, keep firewood or dry food, or it can also be a place to sit and do things. You can put a small shelter on it and sleep there.

Scientists from Aberystwyth University have dated the structure to at least 476,000 years ago, long before Homo sapiens appeared some 300,000 years ago. The structure may be the work of Homo heidelbergensis, an ancestor of modern humans who lived in the area.

Scientists arrived at Kalambo Falls in 2019 hoping to continue excavations carried out in 2006, only to discover that the river had changed course and flooded the area.

Barham’s Plan B involved rappelling down a 30-foot cliff to a strip of beach on the Kalambo River, upstream of a 770-foot waterfall that plunged into Lake Tanganyika. There he found the first wooden object found on the journey, a digging stick dating to about 390,000 years ago.

Other wooden objects include a wedge, a notched branch that may have been part of a trap, and a log cut at either end.“It could be a work surface, like a Black and Decker desk,” Barham said of the magazine.

The results published in the journal Nature are remarkable because wood rarely survives for long. The material of Kalambo Falls is preserved by submerged and anoxic sediments.

“This may not have been the beginning of the built environment, but this was the first time humans took a tree, took over the material and shaped something that had never been, had no natural shape to imitation,” Barham said. “It was a real cultural imposition on the landscape.»

The site may contain older wooden objects and Barham said the first priority is to work with the Zambian government to have Kalambo Falls recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Dr. Sonia Harmand, an expert in early Stone Age archeology at Stony Brook University in New York, called the discovery a breakthrough. “We know so little about the use of organic materials in the early stages of evolution that this makes this a highly sought-after discovery,” she said. “The research team includes world experts and there is no doubt that this finding is solid.” Dr Annemieke Milks, a Paleolithic archaeologist at the University of Reading, said the shaped and interlocking logs were evidence of a “behavioral threshold”, demonstrating that as early as 476,000 years ago humans were Use materials on a large scale to transform your life environment.

“The rarity of wood preservation implies that such behaviours were more widespread than what we witness in the archaeological record,” she added.

“Although the use of wood for tools and structures remains commonplace today, their findings provide a rare glimpse into the role that this simple material played in human evolution.”