Oldest Known Wooden Structure Predates Homo Sapiens
In 2019, archaeologists working at Kalambo Falls in Zambia, discovered the oldest known wooden structure when it was determined through luminescence dating to be at least 476,000 years old, so predating Homo sapiens.
Found within the Kalambo Falls Prehistoric Sites, the Kalambo Structure is a Lower Palaeolithic wooden structure, of which two pieces have been uncovered along with other wooden tools. Consisting of two interlocking wooden logs, the smaller one has tapered ends as well as a U-shaped notch and overlies the larger one, which passes through the notch. It could have been used as a walkway, to keep food or firewood dry, or perhaps as a base to building a dwelling.
Wooden tools have also been found along with the structure, include a wedge and a digging stick. They have been found in several areas across the BLB site, and are younger than the structure itself, having been dated to between 390,000 and 324,000 years ago.
It's a discovery that could indicate that the hominins who lived at Kalambo Falls had a settled lifestyle, which would challenge the prevailing view that Stone Age hominins had a nomadic lifestyle. Though no hominin remains have been discovered at Kalambo Falls, so no conclusive attribution can be made, a 300,000-year-old Homo heidelbergensis skull has been found at another Zambian site.
Archaeologists such as Larry Barham of the University of Liverpool, the leader of the expedition that uncovered the structure, believe that wooden tools were potentially even more common than stone tools in the Stone Age, although due to rapid decay of wood in soil, archaeologists could not find such tools. Mentioning the likely co-evolution of wooden and stone tools, they link the innovation shown by the Kalambo structure to the later invention of hafting, with several parts linked together in a single tool.
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