430,000-Year-Old Wooden Handheld Tools are Earliest Ever Found

Archaeologists claim to have discovered the “first known portable wooden tools” at the Middle Pleistocene site of Marathousa 1 in Greece.

Artist’s impression of a Marathousa 1 woman producing a digging stick from a small alder trunk with a small stone tool. Image credit: G. Prieto / K. Harvati.

“The Middle Pleistocene was a critical phase in human evolution, during which more complex behaviors developed,” said Professor Katerina Harvati from the University of Tübingen.

“The first reliable evidence of targeted technological use of plants also dates from this period. »

The 430,000-year-old wooden tools discovered by Professor Harvati and colleagues at the Marathousa 1 site include a worked alder trunk and a small willow/poplar tool.

Made from alder (Alnus sp.), the first tool bears carving marks with stop marks and associated hash marks, indicating deliberate shaping.

Approximately 81 cm long, the artifact shows signs of wear consistent with a multifunctional stick probably used for digging at the edge of the paleolake.

The second tool, a very small piece of willow/poplar (Salix sp./Population sp.) measuring 5.7 cm in length, shows signs of shaping and rounding.

The object shows two probable traces of work and the removal of annual growth rings on both sides at one end.

Based on these characteristics, researchers interpret it as a small wooden tool, whose function is uncertain, but which could have been used in stone tool retouching activities.

These wooden tools were recovered in association with the butchered remains of an elephant with straight tusks (Ancient Paleoloxodon), as well as worked stone and bone objects.

“Unlike stones, wooden objects require special conditions to survive for long periods of time,” said Dr Annemieke Milks, a researcher at the University of Reading.

“We took a close look at all the wood remains, examining their surfaces under a microscope.”

“We found cutting and carving marks on two objects – clear signs that early humans had shaped them.”

A digging or multifunctional stick (top) and a small wooden tool (bottom) from the Marathousa 1 site in Greece. Image credit: D. Michailidis / N. Thompson / K. Harvati.

In addition to the tools, scientists found a large fragment of alder trunk bearing deep striations interpreted as fossilized claw marks made by a large carnivorous animal, indicating possible hominin-carnivore competition at the site.

Cut marks and percussion damage on the elephant remains indicate early access to the carcass by hominids, while gnaw marks indicate later carnivorous activity.

“The oldest wooden tools come from countries like the United Kingdom, Zambia, Germany and China and include weapons, digging sticks and tool handles,” Dr Milks said.

“However, they are all more recent than our Marathousa 1 discoveries.”

“There is only one older evidence of wood used by humans, from the Kalambo Falls site in Zambia, dating to around 476,000 years ago.”

“Yet this wood was not used as a tool but as a structural material.”

“We have discovered the oldest wooden tools known to date, as well as the first evidence of this type from southeastern Europe,” Professor Harvati said.

“This shows once again how exceptionally good the preservation conditions of the Marathousa 1 site are.”

“And the fact that large carnivores left their mark near the slaughtered elephant alongside human activity indicates fierce competition between the two.”

The results were published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

_____

Annemieke’s Milks and others. 2026. Evidence of early hominid use of portable wooden tools found at Marathousa 1 (Greece). PNAS 123 (6): e2515479123; doi: 10.1073/pnas.25154791