A pair of prehistoric logs unearthed near Kalambo Falls in Zambia are believed to be part of the earliest known wooden structure on Earth at nearly half a million years old.
Now, researchers say this discovery is challenging long-held beliefs about the way early human ancestors lived.
While digging on the banks of the Kalambo River, archaeologists discovered a pair of wooden logs joined by a carved notch and lying on top of one another at a right angle.
“One is lying over the other and both pieces of wood have notches cut into them,” Geoff Duller, professor of geography at the University of Aberystwyth and a member of the team, told the BBC.
“You can clearly see those notches have been cut by stone tools. It makes the two logs fit together to become structural objects.”
Dating on the logs showed the structure is an astonishing 476,000 years old — predating the evolution of Homo sapiens by more than 100,000 years.
The find was shocking because researchers had long believed that such early human ancestors were nomadic and used wood only to make fire and craft tools.
Read More Here: 500,000-Year-Old Wooden Logs Found In Zambia May Be The World’s Oldest Known Wooden Structure
