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.
The logs, modified using stone tools, appear to have been part of a framework for a structure, a conclusion that contradicts the notion humans at that time simply roamed the landscape hunting and gathering resources.
