"Evidence for the earliest structural use of wood at least 476,000 years ago" - that's the TITLE of the paper and it's published in the most prestigious science journal in the world, "NATURE." https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-66846772
The researchers also uncovered ancient wooden tools, including digging sticks. But what excited them most were two pieces of wood found at right angles to each other.
"One is lying over the other and both pieces of wood have notches cut into them," said Geoff Duller, professor of geography at the University of Aberystwyth and a member of the team.
"You can clearly see those notches have been cut by stone tools.
"It makes the two logs fit together to become structural objects."
The team measured the age of layers of earth in which it was buried, using luminescence dating.
Grains of rock absorb natural radioactivity from the environment over time - essentially charging up like tiny batteries, as Prof Duller put it.
And that radioactivity can be released and measured by heating up the grains and analysing the light emitted.
"Aberystwyth University utilized luminescence dating techniques,
focusing on when the surrounding sand’s minerals were last exposed to
sunlight. This method pushes the boundaries of dating techniques, giving
insights deeper into human evolution than ever before."
Professor
Geoff Duller highlighted the importance of this, mentioning that
although Kalambo Falls had been excavated in the 1960s, the lack of
advanced dating techniques at that time meant the site’s significance
remained veiled.
The discovery of the world’s oldest wooden structure shows ‘when
people started to alter the planet for their own benefit’, according to a
University of Reading archaeology expert.
Found by researchers from the Universities of Liverpool and Aberystwyth
near Kalambo Falls, Zambia, the structure is believed to date back
476,000 years and predates the evolution of homo sapiens. The discovery
is outlined in a new study published in Nature.
Expert analysis of stone tool cut marks on the wood shows that these
early humans shaped and joined two large logs to make a structure,
probably the foundation of a platform or part of a dwelling.
Dr Annemieke Milks, of the University of Reading’s Department of
Archaeology, has analysed the ‘remarkable’ find in Nature’s news and
views, Dr Milks said: “Kalambo Falls, a Middle Pleistocene site, was
first excavated during the 1950s and 1960s.
“When did our human relatives begin crafting structures as a means of
adapting to their environments? Examples of hominin-made structures from
the Pleistocene are rare, and evidence of the modification of
structural elements is rarer still.
“The individuals at Kalambo Falls did not just drag two unmodified logs
into the same place, such as might be done to build a nest. Rather, the
modifications and visible tool marks suggest that the individuals shaped
the top log to fit together with the bottom one, creating a single
interlocking structure.
“Although [the study’s authors] are rightly cautious about the function
of the interconnected logs, they propose a few possibilities to
consider, including a walkway, a raised platform or a habitation
structure.
“Studies such as this one highlight the role of this most humble of
materials in the human story, and simultaneously reveal when people
started to structurally alter the planet for their own benefit.”
Annemieke
Milks is a Palaeolithic archaeologist. Her current postdoctoral
research focuses on the transition from wooden spears to stone-tipped
weapons during the Middle and Late Pleistocene.
"The site
of Schöningen (Germany), dated to ca. 300,000 years ago, yielded the
earliest large-scale record of humanly-made wooden tools. These include
wooden spears and shorter double-pointed sticks, discovered in
association with herbivores that were hunted and butchered along a
lakeshore"
A double-pointed wooden throwing stick from Schöningen, Germany: Results and new insights from a multianalytical study
July 2023PLoS ONE 18(7):e0287719
"Our multi-analytical
study includes micro-CT scanning, 3-dimensional microscopy, and Fourier
transform infrared spectroscopy, supporting a systematic technological
and taphonomic analysis, thus setting a new standard for wooden tool
analysis. "
The waterlogged contexts led to the exceptional
organic preservation including macro- and micro-fauna, and macro- and
micro-botanical
remains that together demonstrate that Scho¨ningen 13 II-4 was a
lakeshore setting [16, 19, 20].
Tree species previously evidenced in the Spear Horizon include pine
(Pinus), with dropping levels of birch (Betula), and very few alder
(Alnus), willow (Salix), juniper (Juniperus) and spruce/larch (Picea /
Larix) [16, 19–21]. Spruce pollen is sparse in the profile, and is
thought to
have originated from a significant distance to the lakeshore [19, 20].
Thermoluminescence dating suggests the site formed between ca. 337–300
ka BP corresponding to the end of interglacial Marine Isotope Stage
(MIS) 9, in a context of deteriorating climatic conditions [22]."
There
is a dark grey discoloration, with associated use polish on protruding knots (Fig 15C) in the
midsection of the shaft of the tool (View A3–A4, ca 40–56 cm) where the stick was probably
held. The association of polish and staining in this mid-section demonstrates that the tool had
a long use life. In addition to the potential for use residues on the points (Section 3.2.2) this is
the clearest evidence of use on the artefact. If the tool was multifunctionally used as a shorter
stabbing weapon, the dark areas on the points could reflect residues such as blood or fat.
Although some of the wooden tools from the site were likely repaired and maintained [7],
there are no clear traces on this artefact that point to reworking after damage. The location of
the double-pointed stick at some distance from other wooden tools, its completeness upon dis-
card, and taphonomic evidence of rapid burial in mud (see 3.4) suggest that it was lost along
the lakeshore during use rather than discarded due to breakage or cached for future use [15]"
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