Along the banks of the Kalambo River in Zambia near Africa’s second-highest waterfall, archaeologists have excavated two logs of the large-fruited bushwillow tree that were notched, shaped, and joined nearly half a million years ago.
These artifacts, researchers said on Wednesday, represent the oldest-known example of humans—in this case, a species that preceded our own—building wooden structures, a milestone in technological achievement that indicates that our forerunners displayed more ingenuity than previously thought.
