Researchers believe the ancient wood, found in Greece, is actually evidence of the earliest hand-held wooden tool usage in human history.
What You’ll Discover in This Story
Scientists think they have identified the earliest known hand-held wooden tools ever used by humans.
The evidence comes from carefully shaped wooden artifacts found in Greece, made from alder and either willow or poplar.
These tools date back an astonishing 430,000 years.
The discovery pushes the known use of wooden tools by humans back by about 40,000 years.
The Oldest Wooden Tools Ever Found
Humans were working with wood far earlier than researchers once believed. A new study reveals that early humans were crafting hand-held wooden tools as long as 430,000 years ago. The discovery centers on two wooden implements—one made from alder, and the other from either willow or poplar—now considered the oldest hand-held wooden tools known to science.
This finding significantly rewrites the timeline of early human technology, showing that woodworking skills emerged tens of thousands of years earlier than previously documented.
Rare Evidence Preserved by Special Conditions
Wood rarely survives for hundreds of thousands of years, making discoveries like this exceptionally rare. According to Annemieke Milks, an expert in early wooden tools at the University of Reading, the team carefully examined the artifacts using microscopes to study their surfaces in detail.
The analysis revealed clear traces of chopping and carving, unmistakable signs that the wood had been deliberately shaped by early humans rather than altered by natural processes.
A Key Site in Early Human Activity
The tools were uncovered at the Marathousa 1 archaeological site in the central Peloponnese region of Greece. The findings were published in the journal PNAS by researchers from the University of Tübingen and the University of Reading.
In addition to the wooden tools, archaeologists found stone tools and animal remains, including those of an elephant. During the Middle Pleistocene period—roughly 774,000 to 129,000 years ago—the site was located along the shore of a lake and likely served as an important place for butchering animals.
Rethinking Early Human Innovation
Together, these discoveries suggest that early humans were not only skilled stone toolmakers but also capable woodworkers, using a wider range of materials and techniques than once assumed. The findings add a new dimension to our understanding of early human behavior, adaptability, and technological creativity.
