Archaeologists find 500,000 years old 'never seen before' wooden structures in Zambia

Researchers in Zambia have uncovered remains of the world’s oldest known wooden structures which are logs shaped with sharp tools. This structure is a collection of logs on the bank of a river bordering Zambia and Tanzania that existed during the rise of modern humans. It is made by shaping two logs with sharp stone tools. 

According to the researchers, this simple structure might have formed part of a walkway or platform for human ancestors who lived along the Kalambo River nearly 500,000 years ago. The marks on the logs have revealed that the logs have been cut, chopped, and scraped with an array of stone tools found at the site. 

World’s oldest known wooden structures

Archaeologists also explained in detail how these structures were built. One log, a type of bushwillow, overlaps the other and is held in place by a large inverted U-shaped notch in its underside. According to the archaeologist at the University of Liverpool who led the work, Prof. Larry Barham, “When I first saw it, I thought this can’t be real. The wood and the stone suggest a high level of ingenuity, technological skill, and planning,” reported the Guardian. 

Further, he said, "It could be part of a walkway or part of a foundation for a platform.” On the use of this simple structure, he presumed that it could be a platform that is used to store things, to keep firewood or food dry, or it might have been a place to sit and make things. "You could put a little shelter on top and sleep there,” said the professor while sharing his research.  

As per the scientists at the University of Aberystwyth, the wooden structure dates back to at least 476,000 years old, from long before Homo sapiens are thought to have emerged about 300,000 years ago. The wooden arrangement might be the result of Homo heidelbergensis, a predecessor of modern humans that lived in the region, reported the Guardian.

Notably, the Archaeologists reached Kalambo Falls in 2019 in the hope of pushing with excavations made in 2006, only to find the river had shifted course and flooded the area. In this research study, Barham’s plan was to slide down a 30-foot cliff to a strip of beach on the Kalambo River upstream of a 770-foot waterfall that plunges towards Lake Tanganyika.

Barham discovered the wooden items recovered on the trip, a digging stick dated to about 390,000 years ago. Apart from the world’s oldest known wooden remains, he also found some other items which included a wedge, and a split branch with a notch. According to the Professor, all these wooden items might have formed part of a trap and a log cut at both ends. “It might be a work surface, like a Black and Decker workbench,” said Barham.  

It is to be noted that these findings have been considered remarkable as wood rarely survives for long periods. The material at Kalambo Falls was preserved by waterlogged sediments that were starved of oxygen. “It may not be the beginning of the built environment, but it is the earliest time we have of people taking trees, taking charge of this material, and shaping something that has no precedent, that has no natural form to emulate,” said Barham while sharing his findings.