Archaeologists discover 476,000 year old structure, thought to be oldest known wooden structure ...

Read more: www.ksat.com/tech/2023/09/20/...
Researchers from two UK universities have discovered what they say is the oldest known wooden structure, which they found at the Kalambo Falls, in Zambia, and, at almost 500,000 years old, predates the emergence of Homo sapiens. The archaeologists think the two large logs they found were joined together to make a structure, possibly the foundation of a platform or part of a dwelling. Prof Larry Barham, from the University of Liverpool’s Department of Archaeology, said whoever built this structure “transformed their surroundings to make life easier, even if it was only by making a platform to sit on by the river to do their daily chores. These folks were more like us than we thought.”

[@KeithRingo]

Even 500,000 years ago apprentices were forgetting to load all the tools into the van. Fascinating.

[@LibertarianGalt]

I bet they got sent out for tartan paint as well

[@SuperBANDIT68]

🤣🤣🤣

[@ausgepicht]

@@LibertarianGalt The "left-handed" screwdriver was our hazing go-to for noobs. lol I still remember the eagerness they would all have and then the confused looks on their faces as they were rifling through tools. When they'd turn around and look over, we'd all burst out laughing. Not a tool, but when I worked at a scallop plant, we'd send noobs to get the "scallop soap" for scallops that were dirty. Once the salespeople in the other side of the building found out, they joined in and printed out a fancy label to put on dish detergent. So, we would send them the sales department to get the scallop soap. Hahaha! They'd come back and we'd give them a toothbrush and have the noob cleaned 4-5 scallops with it. I remember actually craughing. That is, laughing and crying at the same time. Good times, good times.

[@myview1875]

@@ausgepicht You forgot the " Long Stand ". Go see Mike and get the Long Stand. 🤣🤣😂😂.

[@quidproquo3933]

those prehistoric board stretchers though

[@MrNobody-bv4ec]

I'm a firm believer that we've heavily under-estimated past cultures and ancient peoples due to having no written records and so little survived to show us how far they had come, so history has always assumed that past a certain point humans were just dumb and could only do elementary work, yet as more and more comes to light we are beginning to realize how much we've underestimated ancient people.

[@zemog1025]

these tools may have not been made by "people"

[@jomiguides]

I believe the catastrophes within the Bible account for the loss of knowledge and mass extinctions. Look what's happening to the greatest country on earth. Evil has a way of pervading throughout it's container.

[@TruthSurge]

"we've heavily under-estimated past cultures and ancient peoples due to having no written records and so little survived to show us how far they had come," Cuz we've dug up SO many intricate technological marvels like.... bricks.... and stone buildings... and clay pots...... and jewelry and spears and swords.... I'm still waiting on a star gate to emerge from the fossil evidence!

[@coastrider9673]

Understatement. What we don't know dwarfs what we do know by an unknowable magnitude.

[@eatdabutt]

I believe the most significant remnants of ancient civilizations will eventually be discovered in the ocean.

[@satohime]

i'm an amateur sumerologist (ancient mesopotamia stuff) and feel like it's important to emphasise just how *insane* 500,000 years ago is- sometimes i fall into a stupor when i try to fathom the vastness of time that makes up what we call "ancient sumer", the amount of generations that made up all those centuries, but that's only about 2,000 years that gets my head spinning... we aren't even capable of grasping the magnitude of five *hundred thousand* years of human development, with no lasting record to tell us what really could have happened

[@Byronic19134]

I’m tracking I was just trying to explain to somebody the vast difference in time between what we were told were the first cities in ancient Sumer around 4,500 BC and Gobelki Tepe which is confirmed atleast 12,000 BC and possibly as far back as 30,000BC. And then you realize theoretically human life could have began as early as 500 million years ago. 500 million! The vastness of time is awe inspiring.

[@Helios601]

Now think 30.000.000 + which was first root race

[@PuppetMasterdaath144]

its obvious that there are beings inside the earth that dont die from all the things surface dwellers die from

[@PuppetMasterdaath144]

and I just realized that I have to explain that it means the inner earth people do not reset...

[@Padraigp]

Not really considering humans had tools 3 million years ago. They weren't making tools for no reason .

[@steg_of_neth.2877]

It's a fish trap. It was attached to a reed basket type structure. Rope is tied to the lower pole which fits in the notch. When fish/ marine reptiles enter the trap, you pull the rope to spring the trap, encasing the trapped prey inside the reed basket. They still use them in Zimbabwe/Rhodesia or they did in the 1950's anyway.

[@me5atworld]

Bubz?!

[@stefanthorpenberg887]

Seems definitely to be a valid idea. I guessed it perhaps was a bridge. If they had canoes of some kind it was difficult to walk in the mud. To build a platform/bridge made it easier to reach dry land.

[@mushedits]

Keep in mind that same river might not have even been there that long ago.

[@sqnhunter]

I think it was just wood on a fire made out to be a two wood structure by great imaginations.

[@StalkedByLosers]

​@@sqnhunter valid criticism. In that spirit, how would you explain the scratch marks that seem to form the notch?

[@johnsebaton2526]

This type of discovery makes me wonder how many times humanity has advanced, then some cataclysmic event happens, and hits the reset button. Truly remarkable discovery.

[@NobodyNeedstoknow-bq5px]

I would say that finding a crude wood structure made from crude stone tools indicates that they didn't advance all that far.

[@user-bh1fo2wg1g]

Yeah, if there was a calamity today the survivors would likely be People who build bunkers ( rich Folks along with some scientists, Military and some hunter gatherers possibly in New Guinea or deep in the Amazon or Africa

[@ginkhoba]

@@user-bh1fo2wg1g in general I agree, except the surviving hunter/gatherers would most likely be in the mountain caves, and all those in their bunkers, depending on geographic location, might have drowned.

[@sqnhunter]

@@NobodyNeedstoknow-bq5px They still right there today!!

[@somerandomname3124]

Advanced is a rough word. I don't think we ever got beyond bronze age technology until recently every time socieites did or did not collapse. We know bottlenecks exist for certain, we don't know exactly why, some theories more logical than others. Stonemasonry and carving was advanced but without a writing system there was no way to advance technologically, or without the agricultural revolution forcing humans to begin production and labor on larger scales.

[@mackthenight]

What's more amazing is that river hasn't changed course in 476,000 years.

[@andriesquast2028]

Actually, it is extremely unlikely.

[@voidisyinyangvoidisyinyang885]

@@andriesquast2028 the waterfall hasn't moved and so the river that is right at the waterfalls hasn't moved.

[@user-yy9kw3su8x]

TO HELL WITHTHE REDCOAT PLUNDERERS !!

[@Manospondylus]

Indeed. 🤔

[@savage22bolt32]

My parents gave me a Lincoln Log set in 1958.

[@Katherine-zi6mw]

I lived here 50 years ago. Have walked up river from Lake Tanganyika to the falls. And spent much time at the falls with the villagers that lived there. A very early Leaky dig near-by. Archeology here is breath taking! A real sense of time and place. Also interesting modern history in the Gorge from WW ll. Your find is not surprising!!!

[@Ricardofromage]

As a joiner, carpenter and cabinet maker, this sings to my bones, amazing work guys

[@foghornleghorn8536]

To those of you that might be wondering how this discovery was dated, I found this: Luminescence dating One of the oldest wooden discoveries was a 400,000-year-old spear in prehistoric sands at Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, in 1911. Unless it is preserved in very specific conditions, wood simply rots away. But in the meandering riverbanks above the Kalambo Falls, close to the Zambia-Tanzania border, it was waterlogged and essentially pickled for millennia. The team measured the age of layers of earth in which it was buried, using luminescence dating. Grains of rock absorb natural radioactivity from the environment over time - essentially charging up like tiny batteries, as Prof Duller put it. And that radioactivity can be released and measured by heating up the grains and analysing the light emitted.

[@casper191985]

That’s not true. You are wrong sir!!

[@foghornleghorn8536]

@@casper191985 Try searching for this "Half-million-year-old wooden structure unearthed in Zambia" + BBC, and then shut the FU.

[@peter9477]

​@@casper191985You present neither evidence for your claim nor is it specific enough to give any weight to your comment. Wrong about what? Every sentence he wrote?

[@casper191985]

@@peter9477 You know exactly why he was wrong with all of his points. He never took the time to research any of it!!

[@donnievance1942]

@@casper191985 Do you have some kind of mental condition? You have no way of knowing whether foghornleghorn researched anything or not. What he said was consistent with standard information about archeological dating methods.

[@StupidDanimations]

The oldest found stone tools are dated from 3.3 million years ago. It is likely that early ancestors to humans used these to create useful things out of plant material such as structures, wood tools, rope, baskets, clothing, etc. Unfortunately, it takes a very rare set of conditions in a special environment for these organic artifacts to survive beyond a few hundred years. What a wonderful find this is!

[@BringDHouseDown]

and cataclysms wiping the records doesn't help us either

[@ThriftyCHNR]

so you mean primates way way before humans?

[@wannaxwannerx]

@@ThriftyCHNRyep they pre date humanity

[@michaelpacnw2419]

@@BringDHouseDown I think it is much more likely these were actual modern human created artifacts than some proto-human half ape. Science now believes humans are 300k yrs old, no reason that can't be 500k yrs. (or older) That is plenty of time for several civilizations to rise and fall.

[@cleverja]

oh my

[@swedishancap3672]

the fact people did this 4-500k years ago is absolutely amazing

[@466rudy6]

Even today construction of structures in the area is similar.

[@BeeHash]

You give people time and reasons and they can do cool stuff.

[@ronarprefect7709]

Especially considering the earth could not have existed(and didn't exist), more than 100,000 years ago. Look at the evidence of how the earth's magnetic field strength has decreased with time(more than 40% loss of strength since A.D. 1000). It is impossible that it has been decreasing this way for hundreds of thousands of years. We would already have reached the state of the earth being completely irradiated with cosmic radiation beyond the ability of ANY living thing to exist on it. If you say the magnetic field was just much stronger millions of years ago, such that it could have decreased like it has been shown to for hundreds of thousand or millions of years and be where it is now, the strength it would have to have had to be where it is and have decreased in the way it obvious has(strength can be read in magma flows of known age), then life could not have existed then.

[@160p2GHz]

This is amazing. I love learning about early human life and advancements. I would be curious to learn in future videos more about the context: what species of tree was it and what was the environment like that long ago and what other sorts of things do you find (you showed a bit of this) and what is known about humans or intelligent species that may have built such things at that time. Congrats on the find and keep up the truly amazing work.

[@stephanieyee9784]

This is a remarkable discovery and the fact these pieces of wood have survived so well is a miracle. It is also more proof that our ancient ancestors or cousins were not ignorant brutes. They were far more intelligent than previously thought. They were amazingly talented tool makers.

[@walkinaxyl]

🤣😶‍🌫️😅🥱🤮

[@kevinmelton7954]

Oh yes, VERY remarkable the wood survived near 1/2 million years. 😂

[@ossiedunstan4419]

It it not a miracle it is ludicrous and clearly a scam.

[@WillyEckaslike]

this is nonsense dressed up to "prove" how "clever" these people were...same people that never got around to inventing the wheel

[@helene3120]

Not so 'clearly' and please outline how the scam was perpetrated. University departments just are not in the habit of resorting to scams. If they did, they wouldn't last very long, i.e. elaborate documentation and verification, plus peer reviews, soon sort out any wheat from chaff.@@ossiedunstan4419

[@danwhite2760]

Half a million years and humans were advanced & intelligent enough to build these structures. I honestly believe humans have been on earth far longer than is currently estimated.

[@Johnny-rj9on]

You assume it was humans

[@kukuri007]

Hahahahahahahahahahaha!!!

[@gusolsthoorn1002]

But the number of humans who would have lived since then would be astronomical. I seriously question the dates assumed.

[@modrarybivrana5654]

did you not watch the finale of Battlestar Gallactica?

[@eriklittlebigg7440]

​@@modrarybivrana5654 Frackkin yes, I did see that!

[@Damngoodcoffee_n_cherrypie]

Mind blowing that a structure of this sophistication existed 500,000 years ago. I am also struck by the social use of such a wooden platform - as a bridge, as a dry space to socialise and congregate. Really shows how civilised humans were even back then.

[@blauskie]

It was a deck for their hot tub.

[@johnrebel9539]

Looks like the remains of a camp fire circa 1995

[@omefea8501]

Yeah. I…. Yeah.

[@johnrebel9539]

​@@omefea8501I just had to re-watch that to figure out wtf I was talking about. I stand by my assessment firmly

[@omefea8501]

@@johnrebel9539 yeah man. I appreciate all their hard work and excitement. All the amazement and human speculation from the mass of commenters. But when they claimed oldest structure ever and produced two pieces of wood from out a river…it may infact be a wooden ufo. Or a flintstone car.

[@johnrebel9539]

@@omefea8501 a wooden ufo 😂 love it!!

[@victoryfirst2878]

This is just unbelievable. I tip my hat to whoever was lucky enough to find this items.This is a labor of love.

[@roveriia6334]

sorry to burst your bubble I do not mean to be negative just truthful and honest. Scientifically this is hype. Not that it may be what they are proposing but at this point it is a grainy picture of big foot. It is found wood that appears to be worn and has scratch marks and a human tools was found nearby. The tools are great! It is like explaining to a psychic that I felt strange one night (The wood is found) and then I said my father died sometime prior (The Tool is found) and the psychic concludes it must have been the spirit of my dead father that made me feel strange... now give me your money in the form of academic grants. This is done everyday many times over and over. Hope you are happy and well today and in the future.

[@rymic72]

A labour for funding

[@stephenburgess5710]

One of my favorite bits of trivia is that Lincoln logs were invented by the son of Frank Lloyd Wright. They were inspired by the anti-earthquake building techniques FLW used on the Japanese Imperial Palace, which in turn were inspired by long-standing Japanese building techniques. So the lincoln log notches you reference are a traditional japanese building style that likely goes back hundreds if not thousands of years.

[@judeirwin2222]

I was a child in 1950s America, and these Lincoln Logs were one of my favorite creative toys or tools.

[@markuse3472]

Your "likely" comes from wishful thinking, nothing to do with probability.

[@rachelnyn5543]

@@markuse3472 explain it to us, oh great one!

[@ximono]

Looks a lot like the log houses of Scandinavian and Baltic countries too. I'm writing this comment from inside one that's probably from the 18th century.

[@rachelnyn5543]

@@ximono wow! That is so interesting! Enjoy and have a wonderful day! 🤍🤍🤍

[@esabeausoguel8480]

Thank you for this video, a truly amazing discoverie 😍 and the way it's presentated is really clear and pedagogical, showing different sides of archeological work !

[@darkstar18498]

People like you are important,just subscribed.i look forward to seeing more

[@chrisc765]

weve probably been finding stuff like this for years but just need the experts like yourselves to figure out what it is. This is SO intteresting! keep up the great work

[@ruthlewis6678]

I was thinking the same thing. I would bet just learning how to identify what one is looking at would be an entire study on its own.

[@hulkgqnissanpatrol6121]

Apparently if you can replicate it, it must be man made. 😂

[@jblack8679]

I found a petrified wood toothpick once.

[@hanikaram3351]

i found one still stuck between the molars@@jblack8679

[@illbeyourmonster5752]

@@hulkgqnissanpatrol6121 Just because you can imitate raw ignorance, doesn't mean you have to. 🙄

[@therealzilch]

Brilliant. As a luthier, I also make many of my own tools, though not of stone. I too can see the obvious toolmarks- we still make them today. I salute the skills of our ancestors, or the cousins of our ancestors, and congratulations Unversity of Liverpool for this great video.

[@WVa007]

😂

[@Cognitoman]

You build guitars ?

[@therealzilch]

@@Cognitoman No guitars so far. Mostly medieval and earlier instruments- lyres, psalteries, kitheras, harps.

[@gordslater]

just like Ian Gillan did, this guy ^ really gets into Da Luth

[@keithspillett5888]

Fantastic article. I so enjoyed it. And, absolutely amazing to find a wooden structure so old - that was built nearly half a million years ago. Good luck with your next finds... x

[@steveleonard5206]

I grew up Canada and familiar with log cabins. The "notch" is a standard fixture of that basic shelter structure. A simple building process with modern tools. With stone tools, you just need more time.

[@jeil5676]

Its almost unbelievable that a piece of wood can remain so well preserved for half a million years in what you would think is a volatile sort of climate (not permafrost).

[@bobriquardo5317]

They find a lot of stuff in wetlands actually because the clay helps preserve stuff. Some of our best discoveries come from swamps and wetlands.

[@TheJagjr4450]

the mineralization(fossilization) is what protected or helped keep it intact, that and first of all it being encased in an anerobic environment.

[@HuplesCat]

Zambia dude

[@NumberSixAtTheVillage]

that's because it's unbelievable

[@christopherellis2663]

Anaerobic silt.

[@GaiaCarney]

Thank you for sharing this! I found the water preservation details fascinating as well as the stone tool work!

[@anim8torfiddler871]

For a river to continue flowing in the same rivercourse for HALF a MILLION YEARS is an extraordinary concept. So many things can change: Continents tear apart and separate, Ice Ages come and go; Watersheds with all the thousands of rills, brooks, and streams Feeding the river can turn to DESERTS of blowing Sand. It truly is miraculous for a river to have continued flowing within identically the same banks for that long. Might be reasonable for a river's meandering to bring it back to a general course repeatedly, though, as long as the watershed persists. Maybe the area with the preserved "worked" wood had been covered by ice at different times. Think I'll shut up and listen for a bit.

[@Planet-Anime]

It takes hundreds of millions for noticeable change to happen 500k is basically nothing

[@paulainsc8212]

Fascinating. No words. Thank you for this post. I love the clear and concise explanations.

[@OldWolf1933]

For everyone asking, they used luminescence dating techniques. A quick search found the following: Luminescence dating refers to a group of methods of determining how long ago mineral grains were last exposed to sunlight or sufficient heating. It is useful to geologists and archaeologists who want to know when such an event occurred. It uses various methods to stimulate and measure luminescence.

[@user-ef4gf7rr9r]

Well, that answers about 5% of the question. (Not insulting you, but rather that particular definition you found.) That rises to about the level of "car repair: a way of restoring a vehicle to an improved (usually running) condition." Yeah, ok, but did you put air in the tires or replace the transmission? And did you do a good job when you did it?

[@Archangels1]

@@user-ef4gf7rr9rOh shut your pie hole. Hater

[@ericmatt2368]

You can give it any label you want it's still complete horseshit

[@eshootziscrs2868]

Yes the method of dating as well as the material leave many unanswered questions. The explanation from wiki is very vague and offers no counter points. I will wait another half million years and see if the test still gives the presumably correct results. For now, we really don't know much of anything, half of what we think we know is incorrect and the other half misunderstood. Frankly it doesn't much matter. Take what we get and do what we do. No reason to get excited about any of it.

[@raimesey]

“Stuff just keeps on getting older!” - Graham Hancock

[@W-G]

Ah yes, the master of speculation

[@rellummm]

what a triumph! congratulations to everyone involved...may this continue forward our look back into our mutual beginnings

[@B30pt87]

Wow! That was riveting. Thank you for making this video - I'm glad I watched it.

[@sandramorey2529]

I heard about this a few days ago on BBC but seeing is better. Thanks.

[@galeocean4182]

Tantalizing discovery! Well done

[@rethamoore4282]

I love all the history finds and enlightenment you scientists bring to us. Thank you so much for your hard work.❤🇺🇸

[@CRIMSONKINGRAGE]

I can tell you now that the item you are talking about is used to harvest clay from the river bed to be used for housing or even yo build furnace. And it can be used as a make shift weapon for hunting.

[@judeirwin2222]

Incredibly interesting and so cogently presented. Thank you! I am in Merseyside now and delighted to know about some of the important facilities and people being used to reveal wonders of mankind’s ancient history.

[@Lwah0812]

I would like to see detailed videos of people doing stuff like they did in ancient time, finding food..grains etc and hunting, cooking, storage, what they wore and how the did it how they built their shelters…everything they did day to day for the course of a whole year. I am so fascinated by it and in my head I envision so many different things but of course it’s colored by my modern life.

[@Macarite]

There’s a channel for that, it’s called primitive technology

[@Lwah0812]

@@Macarite thank you

[@jenford7078]

Fascinating, absolutely amazing that there are scientists doing this discovery work and not a few be many, many people.

[@jerrycallender9352]

'Lincoln Logs' were among my favorite toys, along with the Erector Set.

[@fibonaccisrazor]

Quite possibly this could be part of a structure of a wooden bridge. As reference for the design: the Mathematical Bridge next to Queens' College, Cambridge; a sophisticated rigid and self-supporting structure composed of tangent and radial trussing, optically an arch bridge, but comprising completely straight timbers in an arrangement where the tangent members are almost completely under compression and the radial members under tension. The MB originally used iron wedges for the joinery, but after its first of two rebuilds these were replaced by nuts and bolts. Presumably this nearly half a million year-old structure had no metal parts, but a rigid structure could nevertheless be achieved by carving notches into the timbers and binding adjacent parts together with natural rope-like material. Interestingly the ratio of the lengths of the discovered timbers resembles very much that of the tangent and radial members of the Mathematical Bridge in Cambridge. A conjecture, but food for thought.

[@ximono]

I think it's plausible that it was part of a bridge or a pier, being just downriver from a waterfall that I assume was there ~476,000 years ago.

[@nino-gs5yt]

Was also thinking it could have been from a wooden bridge over the river.

[@chrisjohnston3405]

I would love to take a class from this professor! Just an amazing presentation! I hope this video helps raise money for these type of projects!

[@judeirwin2222]

This type or these types, not these type.

[@chrisjohnston3405]

Oh, goodness! Thank you so very much for correcting my mistake! Perhaps you are unaware, sometimes autocorrect will continue to reshuffle choices even after you make a selection! It’s a problem with the software going back decades to the very beginning! Any rational Boomer or Gen X’er would know this fact, accept it and move on! Unfortunately, Karen’s, such as yourself, go looking for problems to give yourself validation or meaning in your miserable lives! I suggest finding a therapist or a new hobby!

[@vermont741]

Karens. No apostrophe.

[@SmallFry900]

😂@@vermont741

[@SmallFry900]

@@chrisjohnston3405 😂

[@trevorcalhoun4530]

What an incredible find! Keep up the great work!

[@REDOS1988]

Thank you for making this video!

[@boshmow3600]

With the articulating joint on top, it resembles a Center Pole. The main structural support for a large tent or canopy.

[@davidcooke8005]

Homeowner: Do you guarantee your work? Builder: Yes we do. for 476,000 years. Best warrantee in the business. Also: "HI. I'm Dr Chris Scott. I went to school for 8 years to get my doctorate. Now I'm trying to learn how the heck cavemen did what they did. It's really hard. Based on my studies I've concluded that cavemen must have had doctorates too."

[@toi_techno]

Amazing I hope these artefacts will be returned to Zambia when your analysis and preservation of them has been completed.

[@bluestormcloud791]

The stone tool will be appreciated but they will likely throw the branches back in the river. The locals will never believe the tall tale these people are trying to tell.

[@digemsmacks5690]

That notching is very similar to the notching used for the framework of a walkway across a marsh on a Time Team episode I watched yrs ago. They would cross like an X and tied together with cordage made from grass or sedge etc and plank went across the X so the weight of a person actually made for a stronger connection.

[@captainjj7184]

If that path of river stream is just as old (which I doubt), I'm imagining a sturdy ledge structure to sit on and wash food, tools and apparels, while also being sort of ancient river side toilet like they still have in rural Asia, maybe? Once you have water source, communal tribes just do everything in it from one spot. Where the waterfal is present, perhaps it'd be possible to track down how far the stream had moved for the last 477 thousand years to help in finding more of the missing puzzles?

[@bobriquardo5317]

could be an aquafer nearby which helps maintain the position of bodies of water over long periods of time

[@MrDaveBurl]

How bout this, that piece of log landed on top of the larger piece in a rapid stream, got wedged in place but was able to rock up and down and sideways by (water) a sandy tidal fluctuation over a long period of time. The serrations made by rock shards passing over the piece in one direction and then another and another over a long period of eb and flow tidal direction change.

[@SoSickRick]

this seems like the most logical thing.

[@rymic72]

That’s actually a much more plausible explanation than what they came up with.

[@bartlebyscrivener2980]

Locations on or very near rivers have always been highly useful for many purposes, and popular sites for stone age peoples. The Nature article mentions flooding. To use a river an adjacent people must adjust to their river running high and low. I can see the structure as merely a makeshift device for staying out of mud while you access the river for your various needs when it recently ran high or flooded, and then recended again, turning normally solid ground soggy. One might make such a structure to use like setting say, a shipping pallet onto a patch of mud to access water beyond it while avoiding getting muddy oneself.

[@BobbyClements]

I like the idea of a walkway that you mentioned at the end. Especially if that was a marshy area with swamps and rivers.

[@mossylog]

I would be very interested to hear how researchers ruled out other possibilities of how two pieces of wood could have ended up looking like this. To my mind, identifying specifically why other explanations are not possible is the most important piece of information and I think it is lacking here. Amazing find!

[@NobodyNeedstoknow-bq5px]

That would be the whole "experimental archeology" thing he mentioned. They found what manner of tools would leave the marks on the wood by examining the marks left by various types, which indicated stone tools.

[@mossylog]

@@NobodyNeedstoknow-bq5px I agree that they confirmed that the use of certain tools could create those marks. I am interested in how they ruled out other possibilities. I imagine a LOT of things could happen to a piece of wood in half a million years. What makes these marks clearly and undeniably different from marks that could occur from contact with any other object over that period of time, natural degradation, or manipulation by other animals? I am not doubting these scientists, I am simply curious about HOW they ruled out other scenarios. What reasoning did they use? A stone tool is a very simple object - there are literally billions of stones all over the place, especially tumbling around in rivers. Incredible claims require incredible evidence. I hope more will be shared with the public and I look forward to reading about it!

[@user-hd1qx2bd1r]

I thought exactly the same thing.

[@DIREWOLFx75]

"identifying specifically why other explanations are not possible is the most important piece of information and I think it is lacking here." Uh, he specifically talks about how they've been able to compare the toolmarks from its making with modern experimental testing...

[@mossylog]

@@DIREWOLFx75 Yes, but I think about it this way: if I show you a mark on a piece of wood and ask you to create a mark just like it, then it’s pretty likely you could find some tool that would make a close enough match. In the video, they demonstrate that one person did find a way to recreate the marks (that they are intentionally trying to recreate while looking at the model for reference) with a stone from the river. The only thing that proves is that humans COULD have done it with a stone from the river. It does not prove that they actually DID it. I’d love to hear from the scientists how other possibilities were refuted.

[@user-yq8ck8yf3u]

The wedge tool gives good credence for this theory, but I will add that when a natural fire sees overlapping wood with contact it sustains a fire for longer, and will naturally produce a notch given the right conditions. Fallen tree provide many cross over points in the position of the canopy, and water can also carry, and pile up wood. Tool marking may carry this one for early human ancestors.

[@OneWildTurkey]

That's been my experience as well. I've come across similar 'structures' when putting out fires, and they also have the striations but I'd always considered they were caused by sand scraping between the pieces as they moved over each other.

[@Tom-tg2jl]

Looks an awful lot like a burned stack of wood to me too, the presence of the tool is interesting but how do we know it wasn’t used to cut down the wood that they stacked up and burned or something idk very interesting but man I really not totally sold.

[@007JHS]

Good points, but i'm guessing that the researchers have looked for evidence of burning through carbonisation.

[@JakeRichardsong]

Right, it was a fire that carved the wood and added all the scrapes and scratches, or maybe a wood nymph or a ghost.

[@OneWildTurkey]

@@JakeRichardsong With a good imagination - anything is 'possible'. Where do you think anthropologists get the ideas for their claims?

[@dellaelkins4924]

Thank you for showing these tools to me.

[@user-ls9ty2gz2z]

When they knew how to make a structure for shelter by shaping wood, then they also knew how to make platforms and boats and bridges for fishing and more convenient transportation, and many other things that can be made out of wood. That stone wedge also appeared to show some very apt craftmanship. It suggests that they could discover, invent, learn, remember, and teach. They could work together and communicate at a level beyond most animals. If you found part of a structure from 476,000 years ago, there is no telling how many thousands of years previously other structures and tools were being made. Truly amazing discovery.

[@darinbasile6754]

Amazing find!

[@Naturalook]

How local are the stones/rocks being used to make tools? Is there any info on how far away materials were sourced from?

[@Uruz2012]

They mentioned using stone from the site for the experimenral archaeology they did. Most likely the people worked right where they lived, making the tools on site.

[@samward6754]

I accept that the river may not have been there in the past but ive seen a water powered fulcrum hammer that used a notch like that. Great video, thank you.

[@jameschavira565]

I MOST INTERSETING WELL PUT TOGETHER HIGHLEY INFOMATIVE & HUMBLEY NARETED VEDIO THIS OLD MAN HAS SEEN SINCE JOSPH CAMBLE PBS INTERVIEW ON POWE OF THE MYTH c. 1984. THANK YOU ALL GOoD WORK

[@IndridCool54]

Raft? Bridge? I would like to know the geology and geography of the area half a million years ago. I wonder if the river was there then. Really interesting! 👍🏼👍🏼

[@legendofman12]

Clearly a spaceship

[@-in-the-meantime...]

Yeah the geography was my first thought. No way that lil creek was same spot that long ago.

[@HuplesCat]

and a random without any education dismisses the video. Well done lol @@-in-the-meantime...

[@IndridCool54]

@@legendofman12 anything is possible! 😂

[@bobs5596]

@@-in-the-meantime... how would the log be preserved without being submerged? that's a clue.

[@mssusanmarie]

When something is found that's older than anything like it discovered before, I request that scientists describe it as being the oldest thing of its kind discovered *so far.*

[@christinae30]

That is given, as long as time goes in one direction.

[@mssusanmarie]

@christinae30. It appears that you are unfamiliar with the hubris of some scientists, as well as how words work.

[@dannykabat514]

People have no idea how important this is this changes everything we have evidence that people were building things a half a million years ago that is Major😮 what a great find good job 💯

[@mtcdnp]

I love old history and have been a student for over 40 years. I agree with the researchers that found out that our accepted human civilization (say last 15,000 years) it is preceded by many more other civilizations dated well over 1 million years ago.

[@SuperChaoticus]

I would see wood all the time growing up that looked like this, from simple water erosion in streams.

[@voidisyinyangvoidisyinyang885]

when you say "looked like this" you mean you haven't read the study. I gave the link and quotes from it in the other comments. thanks

[@SoSickRick]

@@voidisyinyangvoidisyinyang885 they're bias in wanting this to be more than old wood was worn down... while also finding a rock thats at every natural water source lol

[@SandDancing]

Thank you for such a clear explanation of what was found. Voicing the speculations and using Lincoln Logs to demonstrate was a big bonus!

[@Patrick.Weightman]

So a piece of wood was dug up from the bottom of a rocky riverbed, it had scratches from stone on it, and the only possible explanation is "ah yes clearly these were cut by tools"?? I like how they very conveniently gloss over that a roaring and winding river somehow hasn't changed it's position in half a million years.

[@LauraPitts-jo2lp]

Thank you for the hard work I understand 💫

[@SuperHans700]

Wonder why he didn’t say a it could possibly be a bridge. If the falls were there 400k years ago, there probably was a river. And trees falling across rivers to form a natural bridge seems to me to be an easy source of inspiration to try to replicate by early man

[@jiffytoast]

All dating by scientists is complete nonsense.

[@1974fatback]

@@jiffytoast 9th grade dude…. Go back to the 9th grade.

[@jiffytoast]

@@1974fatback carbon dating lol

[@1974fatback]

@@jiffytoast I bet you think the shroud of Turin is real. If science is jacking up your world view then your world is wrong 😑

[@jiffytoast]

@@1974fatback lol religion

[@NunyaBidness-zr5mn]

I would love to hear some analysis on what this all means in terms of the larger picture of human development. Does it push back generally-agreed timelines? Does it require long-held beliefs to be reexamined? Etc.

[@Find-Your-Bliss-]

Everything we’ve been taught is now in question. Clearly this undermines the concept of early humans being hunter-gatherers.

[@mpetersen6]

Given that gorillas will build crude shelters of branches and leaves I do not doubt that our ancestors were doing similiar things. Once we gained greater dexterity and cognitive skills we started making better tools and eventually we learned to apply those tools to tasks beyond simple bashing.

[@Deploracle]

No and no.

[@casper191985]

@@Deploracleand no😊

[@mauricegold9377]

@@Deploracle Did you mean no? It seems that communicating with these ancestors of ours would be more meaningful than the unreasoning that an entitled know-nothing chooses to write to get attention on a channel well above his/her intelligence-level.

[@mattsapero1896]

Great clip of amazing archeology!

[@kopashamsu9913]

You just found a unfinished DIY log raft project from 5 million years ago.

[@karmatraining]

It's incredible to see such ancient things, it makes you wonder about the people who made them and what their societies were like. They weren't quite like modern humans, but they were largely the same as us.

[@LyuboA]

well i bet their society was millions times better then ours today

[@usernamesrlamo]

Depends, if you like short, violence filled lives, full of disease and always being on the brink of starvation, while fighting off other males who want to steal your breeding women and helplessly watching many of your children die, than yes, it was a way better society.

[@twonumber22]

how far back do we go to find the first setup and punchline jokes

[@bigdaddyleroy1915]

they are lying. the earth isn't that old. there ius no way to prove something is that old. he is full of crap

[@twonumber22]

@@bigdaddyleroy1915 Earth is my age, 42.

[@thestraightroad305]

I am so impressed by the ancient technologies workshop and the water preservation. While in Sirmione, Italy, I saw the remains of an ancient barque that had been found in the water. And I remember the first century fishing boat found in the Sea of Galilee… I love the imagination you and your team have applied to these projects and your conclusions. Thanks for this presentation.

[@1Kroopak]

Thank you. Fascinating.

[@charlesstevensEnki]

I appreciate your honesty.

[@rebeccamd7903]

Wonderful!!

[@boogersmcgee]

I've seen a few of these before, its a see-saw. From one of the earliest theme parks. If you keep looking you should find the remains of a wooden roller coaster, or the scrambler

[@TheSouthernLady777]

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@davidbaldwin1591]

If you can't see that's the transom of a boat.. the intersecting piece, without the curve, is the rudder handle. Flip the curved piece down, there is your transom.

[@mchrome3366]

Congratulations! Great work.

[@robertodebeers2551]

I've often seen trees in the forests of Montana and Colorado with similar "grooves" that were caused by leaning trees rubbing against each other in the wind.

[@kendigjl]

How does this relate to the structure that showed signs of being shaped by stone scraping?

[@TuorTheBlessedOfUlmo]

​@@jessfagettaboutit3122yeah it's the MSM heliocentric media Man

[@bobriquardo5317]

Oh, well if you saw it with your eyes it must be as good as this collaborate study by some of the most knowledgeable people on the topic in the entire world.

[@robertodebeers2551]

Let's say you dig up a piece of wood that has been buried for half a million years and there are some nicks and scratches on it. Does that mean people put those marks on the wood? You think so100%? Would you bet your life on it because some professors said so? @@bobriquardo5317

[@luciatheron1621]

...where's the tree that this was rubbing against?

[@RaraAvis1138]

Wow! What a dream job to be an a maker of ancient tools! So cool. Wonderful video ❤

[@Just_Sara]

You might like the channel AncientCraftUK, he does lots of flint knapping.

[@paulsmith1411]

Great work on this, nice to Share...

[@asphaltrox]

What an incredible people, to have such mechanical minds half a million years ago.

[@JakeRichardsong]

A wooden platform in a wet, muddy area would make some sense. Could be used for scooping up water and not getting wet or fishing or spearing. Thanks.

[@karenneill9109]

Of perhaps part of a dock for a boat, or bridge across the river?

[@Solar_Max]

Its hard to see the size - but it looks more like a fire starting tool than a structure. But that would be even more even more surprising.

[@danguee1]

Interesting that people in that area were so advanced 1/2 million years ago! Also - I suppose - that they haven't advanced much in development since.....

[@joycepetrina2791]

That was very interesting. Thank you.

[@user-ud5xw8ox8g]

Amazing! Even gawd wasn't around yet for this build lol.

[@YourKingJDG]

There are miles of different religious texts that are hidden under these historical colleges and religious institutions. Chances are we were given one that plays into their narrative rather than the truth.

[@miker252]

I'd like to believe it but, maybe they're seeing what they want see. Maybe it's because I grew up by a river and he had Lincoln Logs. I see two pieces of wood rubbing together with abrasive muddy flowing water over eons.

[@kooale]

tool marks

[@upscaleshack]

"I grew up by a river" is literally a qualification to run an archaeology department at the University of Liverpool?

[@Killswitch1411]

@@upscaleshack Look how crazy wood can be shaped in the ocean. So would it not be possible there was a flood that caused the wood to get buried and be shaped like this? Just because they're from archaeology department at the University of Liverpool doesn't mean they're never immune to being wrong about something.

[@destob9586]

Could it of been a raft or a smoker imagine almost 500,000ya honestly most intriguing find of my life its amazing

[@willeypoboy5607]

Funded to explain Lincoln logs to us. Brilliant!

[@TheCreep144]

Don’t look now, but here comes the History Channel’s team of producers. In their unbiased scientifically enriched assessment there can be only one explanation. By removing all other possible explanations they will surely reach the conclusion that it can only be aliens that created it, if they haven’t done so already.

[@ibeetellingya5683]

Absolutely amazing. I'm puzzled though by the context. During a half a million years, wouldn't the terrain undergo major changes?

[@Tugela60]

Yes.

[@ibeetellingya5683]

@@Tugela60 so that formation was just "lucky" to survive untouched?

[@Tugela60]

@@ibeetellingya5683 Pretty much. The waterfall has probably wandered all across that cliff face over the last half million years, in fact that cliff face likely was not even there a half million years ago, it has eroded to its current position since then. People don't realize how much waterfalls move due to erosion and a half million years is a long time. Take the Niagra river falls for example, it has moved 11 kilometers upstream in the last 12,000 years. You think that because these things are so big they have been there forever, but that is not true, especially for waterfalls, most of which are eroding back pretty quickly due to the energy involved.

[@sashajames8686]

Pieces of wood from this site were fossilised under layers of clay and mud from where the river had dried up/changed course. The clay compacted them so tightly that they were preserved incredibly well :)

[@lshtar777]

@5:30 That process is called PETRIFICATION. It is key, to understanding, the "Megalithic" structures, with how and what they were built with, and why they are so heavy.

[@simonwilliams9398]

I think I'll come back in another half-million years to see how that conservation went!

[@christopherellis2663]

Having visited la musée nationale de préhistoire, just down the road from l'abri Crô-Magnon, I have absolutely no doubt that we were as capable in the distant past as now, if not more so, because the deadwood is no longer trimmed. The essential impulse of human life remains constant.

[@gurglejug627]

if you visited the Tate, just down the road from Cornwall, would you construe that we are all made of modern art pieces?

[@christopherellis2663]

@@gurglejug627 Try the musée de Montmaetre and the grotte de Font de Gaume. Keep your pretentious Tate.

[@gurglejug627]

@@christopherellis2663 dopey f....r you don't get cynical irony do you? You American by any chance?

[@bustinbass78]

Looks like an ol beaver dam. Many times you will find a log chewed in the center near beaver dams.

[@martha-anastasia]

Yep. And it looks like a couple of logs that got caught in a fire. Maybe the charred parts contained some concentrated mineral salts that animals were attracted to and they chewed it...

[@karenneill9109]

Interesting idea. But beaver chew marks would look totally different though. I’ve seen plenty of beaver chewed wood, and it has a very distinctive pattern.

[@jamescook5617]

This sounds way more plausible than the video. The certainty they package their wild speculation with is sickening.

[@MWhaleK]

I had heard about this, good to find out more.

[@manomyth11]

Looks natural, it just got those marks from being washed around, from a creek and it grinded along the ground making those marks.