Simple Logs May Be Oldest Human-built Wood Structure

2023-09-27

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1
  • Researchers have found a structure that may be the oldest evidence yet of early humans building with wood.
  • 2
  • The structure is simple: two logs, fitted together with a notch.
  • 3
  • It is half a million years old. It provides a rare look at how ancient human relatives were working with wood and changing their environments, researchers wrote in a study published recently in Nature.
  • 4
  • Larry Barham of the University of Liverpool in Britain was one of the writers of the study.
  • 5
  • Barham said, "It took me a while before I appreciated what we were looking at."
  • 6
  • He added about the structure, "It didn't look very nice, to be honest. But it is much more complex than I thought."
  • 7
  • Barham and his team dug up the log structure, and several wooden tools, from a riverbed area that sits above a waterfall in the African country of Zambia.
  • 8
  • They think the crossed logs could have been the base for a bigger structure like a walkway or a platform.
  • 9
  • Barham explained that wood usually rots quickly due to the weather.
  • 10
  • As a result, little evidence remains of how our ancient relatives used the material.
  • 11
  • But the log structure that researchers found had been below the river's surface, which helped save them.
  • 12
  • So when Barham's team found the logs in 2019, they were still able to see signs that early humans had shaped them.
  • 13
  • "Everything just looks so fresh, you think, 'It cannot be this old,'" Barham said.
  • 14
  • It was difficult for researchers to estimate the age of the wood structure.
  • 15
  • Traditional dating techniques could not get deep enough into the past.
  • 16
  • In this study, researchers used a new method called "luminescence dating."
  • 17
  • Luminescence dating uses tiny minerals in the sand to estimate how long materials have been buried, explained study writer Geoff Duller.
  • 18
  • Duller is an expert in dating methods at Aberystwyth University in Wales.
  • 19
  • The log structure was made at least 476,000 years ago, while the wood tools are slightly younger, under 400,000 years old.
  • 20
  • That places the materials in a time before our species, Homo sapiens.
  • 21
  • The earliest-known Homo sapiens bones date from roughly 300,000 years ago in Morocco.
  • 22
  • The Kalambo Falls logs were determined to be from about 476,000 years ago.
  • 23
  • The objects would have been made by another kind of early human relative - possibly Homo heidelbergensis, which was around in Africa at the time, the study's writers said.
  • 24
  • Homo heidelbergensis had a bigger braincase and flatter face than earlier hominins - species on the human evolutionary lineage.
  • 25
  • If these ancient humans were putting effort into building these structures, it suggests they may have stayed for a while or made repeated visits.
  • 26
  • In other words, they were not just groups of hunter-gatherers, said Dirk Leder of Germany's Lower Saxony State Office for Cultural Heritage.
  • 27
  • Leder was not involved with the research.
  • 28
  • Annemieke Milks of Britain's University of Reading was also not involved in the study.
  • 29
  • Milks said about the finding, "It's an important window into what these humans were capable of."
  • 30
  • I'm John Russell.
  • 1
  • Researchers have found a structure that may be the oldest evidence yet of early humans building with wood.
  • 2
  • The structure is simple: two logs, fitted together with a notch.
  • 3
  • It is half a million years old. It provides a rare look at how ancient human relatives were working with wood and changing their environments, researchers wrote in a study published recently in Nature.
  • 4
  • Larry Barham of the University of Liverpool in Britain was one of the writers of the study. Barham said, "It took me a while before I appreciated what we were looking at." He added about the structure, "It didn't look very nice, to be honest. But it is much more complex than I thought."
  • 5
  • Barham and his team dug up the log structure, and several wooden tools, from a riverbed area that sits above a waterfall in the African country of Zambia. They think the crossed logs could have been the base for a bigger structure like a walkway or a platform.
  • 6
  • Barham explained that wood usually rots quickly due to the weather. As a result, little evidence remains of how our ancient relatives used the material. But the log structure that researchers found had been below the river's surface, which helped save them.
  • 7
  • So when Barham's team found the logs in 2019, they were still able to see signs that early humans had shaped them.
  • 8
  • "Everything just looks so fresh, you think, 'It cannot be this old,'" Barham said.
  • 9
  • It was difficult for researchers to estimate the age of the wood structure. Traditional dating techniques could not get deep enough into the past. In this study, researchers used a new method called "luminescence dating."
  • 10
  • Luminescence dating uses tiny minerals in the sand to estimate how long materials have been buried, explained study writer Geoff Duller.
  • 11
  • Duller is an expert in dating methods at Aberystwyth University in Wales.
  • 12
  • The log structure was made at least 476,000 years ago, while the wood tools are slightly younger, under 400,000 years old. That places the materials in a time before our species, Homo sapiens.
  • 13
  • The earliest-known Homo sapiens bones date from roughly 300,000 years ago in Morocco. The Kalambo Falls logs were determined to be from about 476,000 years ago.
  • 14
  • The objects would have been made by another kind of early human relative - possibly Homo heidelbergensis, which was around in Africa at the time, the study's writers said.
  • 15
  • Homo heidelbergensis had a bigger braincase and flatter face than earlier hominins - species on the human evolutionary lineage.
  • 16
  • If these ancient humans were putting effort into building these structures, it suggests they may have stayed for a while or made repeated visits. In other words, they were not just groups of hunter-gatherers, said Dirk Leder of Germany's Lower Saxony State Office for Cultural Heritage. Leder was not involved with the research.
  • 17
  • Annemieke Milks of Britain's University of Reading was also not involved in the study. Milks said about the finding, "It's an important window into what these humans were capable of."
  • 18
  • I'm John Russell.
  • 19
  • Maddie Burakoff reported on this story for the Associated Press. John Russell adapted it for VOA Learning English.
  • 20
  • ____________________________________________
  • 21
  • Words in This Story
  • 22
  • notch - n. a small cut that is shaped like a V
  • 23
  • appreciate - v. to understand the worth or importance of something
  • 24
  • platform -- n. a flat surface that is raised higher than the floor or ground
  • 25
  • rot - v. to slowly decay
  • 26
  • species -- n. a group of animals or plants that are similar and can produce young animals or plants
  • 27
  • lineage - n. a chain of species each of which is considered to have evolved from one before