This simple log structure may be the oldest example of early humans building with wood

By MADDIE BURAKOFF
AP Science Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — A pair of crossed logs in Zambia may be the oldest evidence of early humans building with wood. That’s according to research published Wednesday in the journal Nature. The simple construction is almost half a million years old. Wood usually rots away quickly, so we don’t know much about how early humans used it. Researchers say the logs were dug up in a riverbed and that a species before Homo sapiens had carved them to fit together. It’s a sign that early humans were using tools and changing their environments.