Archaeologists have unearthed the earliest known handheld wooden tools at the Marathousa 1 site in Greece, dating back approximately 430,000 years. The discovery offers a rare glimpse into the technological capabilities of early humans during the Middle Pleistocene epoch, a period pivotal for the development of more complex behaviors.
The Tools and Their Significance
The artifacts include a worked alder trunk fragment—roughly 81 centimeters long—and a much smaller tool crafted from willow or poplar, measuring just 5.7 centimeters. The alder piece shows clear evidence of deliberate shaping through carving and chopping marks, suggesting it was used for digging near ancient lake shores. The smaller tool also bears signs of shaping and rounding, though its precise function remains uncertain; researchers speculate it might have been used for refining stone tools.
Why this matters: Wood rarely survives for hundreds of thousands of years, making these finds exceptionally rare. Unlike stone tools, wooden objects degrade quickly unless preserved in exceptional conditions. The Marathousa 1 site appears to have provided such conditions, allowing these artifacts to endure.
Context: Human Competition with Carnivores
The tools were found alongside the butchered remains of a straight-tusked elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus), alongside stone artifacts and worked bone. This suggests early humans actively processed large animal carcasses. However, the site also reveals evidence of competition with large carnivores: fossilized claw marks on the alder trunk indicate a predator likely interacted with the same area. Cut marks on the elephant remains show hominins accessed the carcass first, followed by gnawing from carnivores.
“The fact that large carnivores left their mark near the butchered elephant alongside human activity indicates fierce competition between the two.” — Professor Katerina Harvati
Comparing to Other Finds
Previous discoveries of ancient wooden tools exist, including finds in the United Kingdom, Zambia, Germany, and China. However, these are generally younger than the Marathousa 1 artifacts. The closest comparison is a 476,000-year-old wooden structure from Kalambo Falls in Zambia, but that was not a handheld tool; it was used for construction.
The Marathousa 1 tools represent the oldest handheld wooden tools discovered to date, and the first such evidence from southeastern Europe. The preservation conditions at this site are exceptional, yielding insights into hominin behavior previously lost to time.
The findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
These discoveries underscore the ingenuity of early humans and the pressures they faced in a landscape shared with formidable predators. The evidence suggests that humans were not merely surviving, but actively exploiting resources and competing for dominance in their environment.
