The Ancient Logs of Kalambo Falls

Deep in southern Africa, where the Kalambo River crashes over a massive waterfall on the border of Zambia and Tanzania, the ground has been keeping a secret for an almost unimaginable amount of time. 

For hundreds of thousands of years, layers of wet sand, silt, and mud along the riverbank acted like nature’s own time capsule. No air could get in. Bacteria and rot couldn’t touch what was buried there. It was the perfect hiding place.

The Ancient Logs of Kalambo FallsSources

Primary scientific paper (the original research):
Barham et al. (2023). “Evidence for the earliest structural use of wood at least 476,000 years ago.” Nature.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06557-9

Free full-text version of the paper:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10550827/

University of Liverpool official announcement (clear summary from the lead researcher’s team):
https://news.liverpool.ac.uk/2023/09/20/archaeologists-discover-worlds-oldest-wooden-structure/

Wikipedia overview (good starting point with links):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalambo_structure

Smithsonian Magazine accessible article:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/archaeologists-uncover-notched-logs-that-may-be-the-oldest-known-wooden-structure-180982942/

BBC News coverage: Search “BBC Kalambo Falls wooden structure” or visit bbc.com for related reporting from September 2023.

Music from #Uppbeat

https://uppbeat.io/t/future-forests/mindful-moments

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