In the African context, indirect evidence for woodworking comes from use-wear traces and residues on Early Pleistocene stone tools in East Africa (Oldowan, Acheulean)
14,
15,
16. Actual wood objects are found in Mid-Pleistocene waterlogged deposits in southern Africa with Acheulean and Middle Stone Age tools. At Kalambo Falls, wood was recovered from Acheulean horizons in the 1950s–1960s (sites A and B), but taphonomic processes removed evidence of intentional shaping from most pieces
17. A wood chip and three objects with transverse notches raised the possibility of intentional modification. Attempts to date the wood gave minimum ages
18,
19,
20. At Amanzi Springs, South Africa, a single stick with a possible chop mark was reported from waterlogged Acheulean deposits excavated in the 1960s
21. The deposits were radiometrically dated (approximately 404–390 kyr), with wood found in recent excavations but without evidence of modification
10. The earliest clearly modified wood object, collected in 1952 from spring deposits at Florisbad, South Africa, was associated with Middle Stone Age tools and hominin remains (
Homo helmei)
22. The object’s tip shows cutmarks and fine striations
23, but its location relative to dated deposits is uncertain
24.