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cally

(21,693 posts)
Sat Sep 23, 2023, 10:51 AM Sep 2023

Archaeologists have uncovered evidence of oldest wooden structure--See Date!!

Archaeologists have uncovered evidence of the oldest wooden structure on record: a pair of interlocking logs connected by a notch that date to 476,000 years ago.

Discovered along the Kalambo River in Zambia, the simple construction predates the first appearance of Homo sapiens in Africa. The discovery, detailed in a new paper published Wednesday in Nature, suggests human ancestors built structures made of wood and may have been more complex than previously thought.


“This is a disruptive discovery,” Larry Barham, a co-author of the new study and an archaeologist at the University of Liverpool in England, tells Scientific American’s Tom Metcalfe. “I never would have thought that pre-Homo sapiens would have had the capacity to plan something like this.”



https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/archaeologists-uncover-notched-logs-that-may-be-the-oldest-known-wooden-structure-180982942/?utm_source=smithsoniandaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=editorial&spMailingID=48810370&spUserID=MTUzNTY5NjUzOTk1OAS2&spJobID=2542629392&spReportId=MjU0MjYyOTM5MgS2

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Archaeologists have uncovered evidence of oldest wooden structure--See Date!! (Original Post) cally Sep 2023 OP
Fascinating. I'm thinking that the people who built it wnylib Sep 2023 #1
I think all we can say at this point is they must have shared a common ancestor VMA131Marine Sep 2023 #2
I wonder if that date will remain unchanged. GreenWave Sep 2023 #3
Seems astonishing cally Sep 2023 #4
I'm wondering if we haven't lost more wisdom slightlv Sep 2023 #5
Wonderful! So interested in what lies ahead with new information about this. Thank you. Judi Lynn Sep 2023 #6

wnylib

(24,147 posts)
1. Fascinating. I'm thinking that the people who built it
Sat Sep 23, 2023, 10:54 AM
Sep 2023

were direct ancestors of those who evolved into Homo sapiens. Passed their smarts onto their descendants.

VMA131Marine

(4,568 posts)
2. I think all we can say at this point is they must have shared a common ancestor
Sat Sep 23, 2023, 11:01 AM
Sep 2023

with modern humans. But they could have been on a branch that died out, like the Neanderthals did. The thinking is that this was made by Homo Heidelbergensis, which is the last common ancestor between Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens.

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