Discovery of the Oldest Wooden Structure Left by Early Humans

Researchers have discovered a simple wooden structure from the Stone Age, believed to be the oldest example of wood use for making objects by early humans. This structure is very simple: two logs that are interlocked through a notch. According to a new study published on Wednesday in the scientific journal 'Nature', this structure is nearly half a million years old and provides a fresh and exceptional look at how wood was used by our early ancestors and how they changed their environment. Larry Barham, an archaeologist at the University of Liverpool and author of the study, along with his team, uncovered this wooden structure, along with several other wooden tools, from the bed of a river located above a waterfall in Zambia. The Kalambo Falls in Zambia is where the wooden structure was discovered nearby. They believe that these connected logs were likely the foundation of a larger structure, such as a walkway or a platform. Barham explained that wood typically decays quickly when exposed to environmental elements, which is why there is little evidence of how this material was used by our ancient ancestors. However, these woods were submerged in the river, which helped preserve them. As a result, when his team discovered these wooden logs in 2019, there were still signs of carving, cutting, and tool marks that shaped them. Barham said, 'Everything looks very fresh; you think it can't be that old.' Since traditional dating techniques could not reach back far enough, determining how old these wooden logs are posed a specific challenge. Jeff Duller, a dating methods specialist at Aberystwyth University in Wales and another author of the study, explained that in this research, the researchers used a new method called 'luminescence dating,' which estimates how long an object has been buried based on fine mineral materials in sand. According to the dating, the wooden structure was made at least 476,000 years ago, while the wooden tools are slightly newer, being less than 400,000 years old. This study places the found objects in a time before the evolution of our species, 'Homo sapiens.' The authors of this study suggest that these objects were made by another species of early human ancestors—likely Homo heidelbergensis, who lived in Africa at that time.