Archaeologists in Zambia have found proof of the oldest known wooden structure in the world.
The simple structure is made up of two logs that fit together and are joined by a notch. The logs have marks that show they were cut and chopped with different types of stone tools about 476,000 years ago.
The structure was discovered upstream of Kalambo Falls, close to the border between Zambia and Tanzania. It was most likely part of a platform that was used as a path or to store food or fuel. It could also have been the base of a shelter.
The study, which came out in the scientific journal Nature on September 20, is important because the wooden structure was built before Homo sapiens appeared. This makes it harder for scientists to figure out what early hominins were like. Archaeologists think that the structure may have been made by Homo heidelbergensis, a species of human that lived in the area before modern humans.
The discovery shows a high level of cognitive development, since structure such a structure would have required following a complicated plan and maybe even using language. It also calls into question the idea that people in the early Stone Age were mostly nomadic because the water and food in the area were enough to support a group that stayed in one place.
“These new data not only broaden the age range of woodworking in Africa, but they also help us learn more about how early hominins thought about technology,” the researchers wrote in Nature. “Extremely good preservation conditions give us this glimpse of hominins’ ability to build a built environment by hominins that were previously thought of as mobile hunters with limited technological diversity.”
Stone Age wooden artefacts are very hard to find because they usually break down over time. The findings at Kalambo Falls were kept safe by sediments that were saturated with water and had no oxygen.
Four more wooden tools from 390,000 to 324,000 years ago were also found on the site. These were a wedge, a cutting stick, a cut log, and a notched branch.
The York Archaeological Trust in the U.K. is taking care of preserving the samples right now. They will eventually be sent back to Zambia and kept at the Livingstone Museum, which is the oldest and biggest museum in the country and has a collection of regional anthropological and archaeological artefacts.
A smooth board discovered in Israel’s northern Jordan Valley in 1991 is the oldest known piece of wood art. It is more than 780,000 years old.
