Evidence for the earliest structural use of wood at least 476,000 years ago

Evidence for the earliest structural use of wood at least 476,000 years ago

Wood artefacts rarely survive from the Early Stone Age since they require exceptional conditions for preservation; consequently, we have limited information about when and how hominins used this basic raw material 1 . We report here on the earliest evidence for structural use of wood in the archaeol...

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Published in:Nature (London) Vol. 622; no. 7981; pp. 107 - 111
Main Authors: Barham, L., Duller, G. A. T., Candy, I., Scott, C., Cartwright, C. R., Peterson, J. R., Kabukcu, C., Chapot, M. S., Melia, F., Rots, V., George, N., Taipale, N., Gethin, P., Nkombwe, P.
Format: Journal Article Web Resource
Language:English
Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 05-10-2023
Nature Publishing Group
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Subjects:
631/181/27
704/106/413
704/2151/3930
704/286
706/689/19/27
Archaeology
Archéologie
Arts & humanities
Arts & sciences humaines
Cognition
Humanities and Social Sciences
Multidisciplinary
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Sediments
Stone Age
Wood
Woodworking
Kalambo Falls
South Africa
Africa
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Summary:Wood artefacts rarely survive from the Early Stone Age since they require exceptional conditions for preservation; consequently, we have limited information about when and how hominins used this basic raw material 1 . We report here on the earliest evidence for structural use of wood in the archaeological record. Waterlogged deposits at the archaeological site of Kalambo Falls, Zambia, dated by luminescence to at least 476 ± 23 kyr ago (ka), preserved two interlocking logs joined transversely by an intentionally cut notch. This construction has no known parallels in the African or Eurasian Palaeolithic. The earliest known wood artefact is a fragment of polished plank from the Acheulean site of Gesher Benot Ya’aqov, Israel, more than 780 ka (refs. 2 , 3 ). Wooden tools for foraging and hunting appear 400 ka in Europe 4 – 8 , China 9 and possibly Africa 10 . At Kalambo we also recovered four wood tools from 390 ka to 324 ka, including a wedge, digging stick, cut log and notched branch. The finds show an unexpected early diversity of forms and the capacity to shape tree trunks into large combined structures. These new data not only extend the age range of woodworking in Africa but expand our understanding of the technical cognition of early hominins 11 , forcing re-examination of the use of trees in the history of technology 12 , 13 . Wooden artefacts from waterlogged deposits in Zambia dating back 477 ka indicate hitherto unknown sophistication in woodworking at an early date.
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scopus-id:2-s2.0-85171545417
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/s41586-023-06557-9