[civilian]

If the wooden structures eventually became covered in earth, or if they had foundations going into the ground, then archaeologists can identify them. Often wood posts that have been driven into the earth will crumble and rot, _but it still leaves a hole_ that's filled with water/sludge and it eventually looks like a column of dirt very different than all the dirt it's next to.

Archaeologists were able to use this technique at pompei, to learn exactly how vines & vineyard fenceposts were placed in ancient vineyards.

[azakai]

Interesting, but do those holes and such survive the 11,000 years we are talking about here (as opposed to 2,000)? That's so much time it's hard to even imagine. Aside from gradual erosion and settling, wouldn't one major earthquake or flood wipe them out?

[civilian]

I'm just shooting from the hip, but: Unless the posthole was actually on a fault line, there's no reason that an earthquake would wipe it out. The ground all moves together. Erosion & flooding can absolutely destroy them. But there's enough places that have been undisturbed since that time period.

When I was in Chengdu I visited Jinsha, which has lots of evidence of postholes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jinsha_(archaeological_site) http://www.kaogu.cn/en/Chinese%20Archaeology/3/Discovery%20a... Granted, that's only 3000 years old.

A better example (which I just learned about-- I'm literally trying to google for the oldest post holes found :) ) is Monte Verde: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monte_Verde

> Radiocarbon dating of bones and charcoal in 1982 gave the site an average age of 14,800 years ago (calibrated), more than 1000 years earlier than the oldest-known site of human habitation in the Americas at that time.[2][8][9]

> In the initial excavation, two large hearths were found and many small ones as well. The remains of local animals were found, in addition to wooden posts from approximately twelve huts.