The Wooden Structure Created BEFORE Homo Sapiens Existed

For the longest time the early human species that preceded Homo Sapiens were seen as purely hunter gatherers continuously roaming from one source of food to the next. However, new evidence has arisen that shows that not only did pre-Homo Sapiens species such as Homo Heidelbergensis likely live in one place for extended periods, but they also built wooden structures to make their lives easier. In Zambia along the Kalambo River in the 1950’s and 1960’s wood objects that appeared to have been modified by human hands were found. Technology of the time was not able to conclusively determine the age of the constructions. In the 2000’s, based on these past findings, and anticipating on finding more artifacts an archaeological team returned to the site of the river. Eventually they came across potential evidence of human woodworking sticking out from the side of a cliff and began digging. Many objects were found, but the most important was a pair of logs that had been carved and positioned in such a way so that they would interlock with each other. Archaeologists strongly believe that this is foundational evidence of a far larger construction. It has been hypothesized that the two interlocking logs are the remains of the foundation of a walking platform or a house. More astoundingly was the age of the construction, which was dated to around 500,000 years ago, around 200,000 years before the appearance of Homo Sapiens. The 500,000 years old age makes the wooden structure the oldest ever found. This amazed scientists who did not think that early humans who came before Homo Sapiens were capable of building such things, which would have required sophisticated woodworking skills as well as a certain level of team work with others. This all implies that the early humans before Homo Sapiens likely had a language system of some sort. Building a structure like a walking platform or a house would also require the individuals to live in the same area for an extended period of time, which also upends theories that early human species including early Homo Sapiens were all continuously wandering around from one food source to the next. The 500,000 year old wood structure finding has inspired many scientists to look for more evidence of woodworking in the archeological record.

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Photo of Homo Heidelbergensis recreation done by Tim Evanson:

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Background of image was cropped to focus on just the recreation subject

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[kcflick]

I wonder how many "wood ages" have come and gone in earth's history

[pyrotechnick]

Homo Habilis has been real quiet since this dropped

[scottnunnemaker]

It makes sense. A lot of mammals build dens/burrows/nests of some kind. Even if you’re a Hunter gatherer group, if you moved into an area that was plentiful why wouldn’t you build semi-permanent or permanent structures there and stay? We know from research on great apes today that they all build nests/beds/platforms whatever you want to call it so it would make a lot of sense for early hominids to also be builders of some kind.

[macario]

The fact that there were human beings that were born, lived and died so long ago, with their own stories and experiences, and now are lost to time send chills to my spine.

[augustday]

It's amazing to imagine the sheer number of human (and near-human) lives, stories, and events have occurred during prehistory that we will simply never know about. How many incredible adventures, moments of bravery and heroism, how many tragic tales of hardship and strife, how many wars to change the path of history...
It staggers the mind to try and comprehend.

[jimparsons]

Who knew that carpentry might be one of the older human or even pre-human activities?

[rmb]

Some apes such as chimps and orangutans build nests of branches each night so building structures of some sort is a natural activity for higher primates. Granted that making a Lincoln log type of joint is a leap beyond a branch nest, the task is still an activity one would expect.

[bforman]

What's easier to work? Wood? Or Stone?
If you are finding worked stone artifacts for a given species / time, it's a given that they were also working wood and doing fiber crafts.

[earthknight]

It should be noted that the Terra Amata site in southern France is around 400, 000 years old and has evidence of a free-standing wood based structure. The evidence is regularly spaced post hole remains that appear to have been the frame for some type of free-standing shelter built along the same lines as others constructed around the world by many different cultures.

"At Terra Amata in southern France, traces of large huts have been found. The huts were formed by embedding saplings into the ground in an oval and then bringing their tops together at the centre. Stones placed in a ring around the hut braced the saplings. Some of these huts were found to contain hearths scooped in the ground and lined with burned stones and blackened bones."

[radseven]

How am I just hearing now that Quartz holds sunlight?

[terenceokane]

The coolest part about this (to me) is just how much more there might be out there to find. Just when you think we've hit a wall theres something like this or Gobekli Tepe that make us take a step back. So cool to see things attributed to homo sapiens be pushed back before their origin. You'd think a field of study like this would be so limited, like looking into a band's discography from the 70s or something. Sure you might find a B-Side or demo that was hiding in an attic, but this is like finding out Pink Floyd started in the middle ages!

[jsydulp]

I've always been in love with astronomy and what happens out there, but recently have started finding a huge interest in history and archaeology and what has happened with our ancestors. Thank you so much for this video; your content is easily digestible for a newbie like me, lol. You have a new subscriber here, and I'll make sure to share you to my friends and family!!

[FindTheFun]

People in the comments mention other apes building nests, but even birds like Weaver Birds and Bower Birds construct elaborate structures from multiple different types of objects. It's not even a behavior or technology exclusive to primates.

[FunnyHaHa]

It was obviously built by an extinct race of hyper intelligent beavers. I saw an old documentary about them called "The Disco Beaver From Outer Space" .

[HANKTHEDANKEST]

Just so cool that we have this TRULY ancient evidence of woodworking--proper woodworking, not just "I leaned these sticks against some other sticks and thus a house is made" (not that there's anything wrong with that). I'd give anything to see these early woodworkers at their craft, and it only compels me to wonder: how early did complex woodworking begin? It was some time before this, but how long??? Man, what an amazing discovery. Thanks for sharing.

[Bob-]

Discoveries like these are a 'snapshot in time' which it would be foolish to assume are 'first time' events, practices, discoveries, etc. Especially with a material such as wood. Pre-h.Sapiens may have been using wood in amazing and complicated ways for hundreds of thousands of years before even this time. Excellent video - and great length, thank you. I love documentaries of any style, but unfortunately will skip over the longer 40+ minute ones. Give me 10 - 15 minutes on an intriguing topic, and I'm in.

[davidegaruti]

another thing that may have predated stone work : bone

bone would have been an extremley avialable resource unlike flint, and it's almost as sturdy ...

[chriscarson]

Great video. You labeled the photos, you clearly narrated the facts, and you made both video and audio interesting.

[scotttatertot]

I have taken a few classes in anthropology and archaeology. I hadn't heard about this discovery until now. Absolutely fascinating! What incredible preservation for half a million years of time.

Even if these weren't homo sapiens, these were still in the genus homo and are more similar to us than we could ever imagine.

If these people could talk to us, I wonder what they'd say?

[deankirby]

Depends how you interpret it. Either the wood is the remains of an assemblage purposefully put together by intelligent hominids, or its just a few bits of wood randomly laying in the earth. I am inclined to go with the latter.