The 476,000-year-old log structure predates the appearance of the first modern humans by some 150,000 years and was likely the handiwork of the archaic human species Homo heidelbergensis. Paleoanthropologists believe H. heidelbergensis was highly mobile. Thus, it is surprising that the hominins would have invested labor in building a semipermanent structure. “We haven’t seen archaic humans manipulating their environment on such a large scale before,” says Barham. “It suggests an attachment to a single point on the landscape.”
Earliest Carpenters: The 476,000-year-old log structure predates the appearance of the first modern humans by some 150,000 years and was likely the handiwork of Homo heidelbergensis. (www.archaeology.org)