Most of academia has divided opinions regarding early human abilities, but a recent wooden structure finding may shed some light on how advanced ancient humans were.
Archaeology is a dynamic discipline that keeps shaping our understanding of our ancestors. However, discovering an ancient wooden structure in Kalambo Falls, Zambia, completely shifts our idea of early human history. Archaeologists found evidence that wood had been used to build structures almost half a million years ago. It shows that early humans may have been more like us than we previously thought.
“This find has changed how I think about our early ancestors,” archaeologist Larry Barham told the BBC. He is the leader of Deep Roots of Humanity researcher and a professor in the Department of Archaeology, Classics, and Egyptology at the University of Liverpool.
Professors Larry Barham and Geoff Duller and their team published their findings in Nature in September 2023.
Early human abilities and the significance of Kalambo Falls
Wood rots very fast unless it’s preserved in particular conditions. So it’s usually challenging for scientists to fill in the gaps in early human history, especially in architecture. But Kalambo’s waterlogged conditions are perfect for preserving ancient woodworking artifacts.
The site’s immediate access to water and lush environment have attracted various hominin species across hundreds of thousands of years. This increases the likelihood that multiple groups will leave clues about themselves behind, and the periodic floods bring about sediments that protect these artifacts from decay. Archaeologists can then create a chronological time from these layered sediments and link found artifacts with specific periods.
Discovery of a 500,000-year-old wooden structure
The multidisciplinary team led by Barham discovered wooden tools and logs from the bushwillow tree, a common species in the African Savannah. The most fascinating part was that the logs found at right angles with each other had been shaped, tapered, and notched to interlock and form a structure. There was also potential evidence of burning.
“You can see stone tools have cut those notches. It makes the two logs fit together to become structural objects,” Geoff Duller, a geography professor at the University of Aberystwyth and a Deep Roots of Humanity member, told the BBC.
The woodworking technique is incredible, but the period was more striking. Scientists dated it to about 476,000 years old. At this time, it is believed that our species, Homo sapiens, weren’t around yet — and we wouldn’t be for another 200,000 years. This structure challenges the long-held beliefs that early hominins led simple, nomadic lives.
The scientists don’t think this was a dwelling or hut, but part of another structure. “It might be some structure to sit beside the river and fish,” Duller suggested. “But it’s hard to tell what sort of [complete] structure it might have been.”
Barham, on the other hand, hypothesized to Reuters that the structure may have been a section of “a walkway or platform raised above the seasonally wet surroundings” or maybe served as “storage for firewood, tools, food, and as a foundation on which to place a hut.”
What’s the hominin species behind this structure
Researchers don’t know which ancient human or hominin made the structure. Although they have found other wooden tools at the site dated between 390,000 and 324,000 years old, they have yet to find any bones.
Duller told BBC that they hadn’t found any fossils, suggesting it was our species behind the structure. He suggested: “It could be a different species — [perhaps] Homo erectus or Homo naledi — there were several hominid species around at that time in southern Africa.”
A deeper understanding of early human ancestors’ abilities
Larry Barham said this archaeological discovery completely changed his “assumptions about what early humans could and couldn’t do.” It suggests that precursors of homo sapiens may have had better coordination, skills, and maybe cognition than we thought they had.
Ms. Perrice Nkombwe, the director of the Moto Moto museum in Zambia and a team member, was awed by this discovery. Initially, evidence for human use of wood has been limited to firewood, den spears, and digging sticks. However, she said, if they are lucky, they might find more fossils and structures to fill in the gaps in humanity’s early history.
She hopes the digging at Kalambo will continue to “deepen our knowledge of ancient woodworking techniques, craftsmanship, and human interactions with the environment.”
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