Scientists Find Wooden Structure That Dates Back Before Humanity

For thousands of years, small populations of people wandered the Earth in search of food, water, and prosperity. While conventional knowledge has led us to believe that the transition from nomadic lifestyles to more sedentary ones did not happen until 15,000 years ago, new research has unveiled a shocking truth.

Archaeologists unearthed primitive wooden tools and structures dating back 476,000 years at a site in Kalambo Falls, Zambia.

Archaeologist J. Desmond Clark first recorded the Kalambo Falls site in 1953, then returned to the site in the ‘60s for an extensive excavation.

However, new tools and dating techniques used by the team led by Larry Barham, a professor of Archaeology at the University of Liverpool, visited Kalambo Falls in 2006 and dated the sequences to between 300,000 and 500,000 years.

By using Google Earth, Barham identified an alternate site, which turned out to have more exciting findings that could reveal more about Earth’s history.

Over four weeks, Barham and his team found evidence of modified wood, including some that appeared to be part of a structure, across the entire date range of the sequence.

This discovery suggests that primitive peoples in the area were modifying wood earlier than researchers have once believed.

Because Barham and his team unearthed the objects beneath at least 30 centimeters of dirt, which shielded them from sunlight and heat, they found well-preserved digging sticks, a cut log, a wedge, and a notched branch.

Researchers believed that early humans lived a nomadic lifestyle centered around hunting and gathering, using rudimentary tools in their day-to-day life.

The team found five pieces of worked wood spanning tens of thousands of years. The researchers used new luminescence dating techniques to determine the age of the pieces and how long they had been buried.

Quarts get full after about 100,000 years, but feldspar has a radiation charge capacity of 500,000–600,000 years. “We found wood across the entire 300,000 to 500,000-year period. This wasn’t a one-off,” Barham said.

While further exploration of the site is necessary, it seems that the hominins at Kalambo Falls identified an advantageous location with ample water resources and abundant vegetation from the nearby forest.

“Based on our current understanding, Zambia at the time was inhabited by Homo heidelbergensis, that’s the leading candidate,” Barham said.

Barham suggests that these human variations had similar habitats, but were doing something slightly different to exist.

The discovery of these tools alludes to the fact that what we have believed about life during the Stone Age might not be true.

“I’ve always assumed in the early Stone Age people were constantly moving, they were foragers. They would follow the game or a water source. Here you have a little river base, floodplain, and trees all around. No doubt there would have been animals there. You’ve got all the plant food and the wood, why not just stay there?” Barham said.

Several other constructions from the past have shaped and molded our understanding of humanity through the centuries, despite this structure being the oldest known evidence of humanity.

The Megalithic Temples of Malta, which date back 3,500 to 2,500 BCE, are some of the oldest structures in the world. European and native Maltese archaeologists rediscovered the group of stone temples in the 19th century, which are older than Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids.

Located on the Scottish island of Papa Westray, the Knap of Howar is the home to a Neolithic farmstead that dates back to 3,500 BCE.

This 5,000-year-old religious site is shrouded in mystery. Many believe that this structure had a religious function since the rising sun floods the interiors during the winter solstice.

Hulbjerg Jættestue is a burial spot in Denmark that dates back to 3,000 BCE. When discovered, they found 40 corpses inside, with one displaying early examples of dentistry.

Archaeologists discovered Monte d’Accoddi in 1954. They believe people erected the site between 2,700 and 2,000 BCE, possibly featuring an altar, temple, or step pyramid.

Dating back to 7,400 BCE, the Çatalhöyük is a network of ancient homes that archaeologists are unsure about its ancient use. Some believe that the homes were domestic buildings for families.

The Wall of Jericho didn’t come tumbling down during the Battle of Jericho. The Israelites destroyed the wall in the Book of Joshua, but part of the Wall of Jericho still stands today.