Archaeologists discover the oldest wooden structure in the world
A scientific team from the University of Liverpool, Aberystwyth University and the University of Liège has just unearthed sections of wooden structures at the Kalambo Falls site in Zambia that date back at least 476,000 years, predating the evolution of our own species, Homo sapiens. The results of this discovery, published in Nature, describe the oldest evidence in the world of the deliberate manufacture of logs to assemble them.
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alf a million years ago, much earlier than previously thought, humans were already building wooden structures. This is the finding of a new study by a team of scientists from the University of Liverpool, Aberystwyth University and the University of Liège. The research, published in the journal Nature, reports on the excavation of well-preserved wood from the Kalambo Falls archaeological site in Zambia, dating back at least 476,000 years and preceding the evolution of our own species, Homo sapiens.
Veerle Rots, Director of TraceoLab at the University of Liège Historical science department, explains: "TraceoLab partly carried out the analysis of the marks left on the wood by stone tools. These analyses show that early man shaped and assembled two large tree trunks to form a structure, probably the foundation of a platform or part of a dwelling. This discovery represents the oldest evidence in the world of the deliberate manufacture of logs to assemble them. Until now, evidence of the use of wood by man has been limited to its use for making fire and digging sticks and spears. It is rare to find wood in such ancient sites because with time and humidity, it eventually rots or disintegrates completely. The Kalambo Falls site (Zambia), where the remains were found, has a permanently high level of water, which helped preserve the wood."
This discovery calls into question the prevailing idea that Stone Age man was nomadic. At Kalambo Falls, not only did they have a perennial source of water, but the surrounding forest provided them with enough food to allow them to settle down and build structures.
Larry Barham, Professor in the Department of Archaeology, Classical Archaeology and Egyptology at the University of Liverpool (UK), who is leading the "Deep Roots of Humanity" research project, said: "This discovery has changed the way I look at things and changed my vision of our earliest ancestors. Forget the 'Stone Age' label, look at what these people were doing: they were making something new, and great, out of wood. They used their intelligence, imagination and skills to create something they had never seen before, something that had never existed before. They transformed their environment to make life easier for themselves, if only by making a platform on which they sat by the river to carry out their daily tasks. These people were more like us than we realised".
Experimental research carried out at the University of Liverpool and the University of Liège has made it possible to reproduce the marks on wood when stone tools were used. At the University of Liège's TraceoLab, experiments focused on the use of cleavers made from local quartzite. Similar cleavers were found on the site in direct association with the wooden remains. Professor Veerle Rots and Dr Noora Taipale compared the experimentally reproduced marks with those observed on the archaeological wooden remains in order to confirm the origin of the cutting marks. The TraceoLab is still busy analysing the stone tools.
The finds were dated by experts from Aberystwyth University (Wales, UK). To do this, they used new luminescence dating techniques, which reveal the last time the minerals present in the sand surrounding the objects were exposed to sunlight, in order to determine their age. "At the time, it was very difficult to date finds, and we used luminescence dating to achieve this," explains Prof Geoff Duller of Aberystwyth University. These new dating methods have far-reaching implications, enabling us to go much further back in time and reconstruct sites that give us an insight into human evolution. The Kalambo Falls site had already been excavated in the 1960s, during which similar pieces of wood were found, but it had not been possible to date them, so the real significance of the site was unclear until now".
The Kalambo Falls site on the Kalambo River sits above a 235-metre waterfall on the border between Zambia and the Rukwa region of Tanzania, on the shores of Lake Tanganyika. The region is on a UNESCO 'tentative' list to become a World Heritage Site because of its archaeological importance. "Our research proves that this site is much older than previously thought, so its archaeological importance is even greater," continues Prof. Duller. This lends even more weight to the argument that this site should be listed as a United Nations World Heritage Site."
This research is part of the pioneering Deep Roots of Humanity project, which aims to determine how human technology developed during the Stone Age. The project is funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council. It involves teams from Zambia's National Heritage Conservation Commission, the Livingstone Museum, the Moto Museum and the Lusaka National Museum.
Professor Barham concludes: "Kalambo Falls is an extraordinary site and a major heritage asset for Zambia. The Deep Roots team looks forward to seeing more exciting discoveries emerge from its water-logged sands."
Scientific Reference
L. Barham, G. A. T. Duller, I. Candy, C. Scott, C. R. Cartwright, J. R. Peterson, C. Kabukcu, M. S. Chapot, F. Melia, V. Rots, N. George, N. Taipale, P. Gethin & P. Nkombwe, Evidence for the earliest structural use of wood at least 476,000 years ago, Nature, 20 September 2023
