Greek Find Uncovers 430,000-Year-Old Wooden Tools, Pushing Handheld Tool Use Back 40,000 Years
Updated
Updated · ZME Science · May 25
Greek Find Uncovers 430,000-Year-Old Wooden Tools, Pushing Handheld Tool Use Back 40,000 Years
6 articles · Updated · ZME Science · May 25
Two wooden tools from Marathousa 1 in southern Greece date to 430,000 years ago, making them the oldest known handheld wooden tools and extending the record by 40,000 years.
An 81-centimeter alder stick bears chopping and carving marks and likely served as a digging stick, while a 5.7-centimeter willow or poplar piece may have been used to retouch stone flakes.
The artifacts survived in waterlogged lakeshore sediments exposed by an opencast lignite mine, where excavations also uncovered more than 2,000 stone tools and a butchered straight-tusked elephant skeleton.
No hominin fossils were found, but researchers say the tools predate Homo sapiens in Europe and were probably made by pre-Neanderthals or Homo heidelbergensis during a severe glacial period.
The find adds to evidence that early human technology relied on perishable materials as well as stone, suggesting the "Stone Age" record is skewed by what survives.
This wooden tool is 430,000 years old. Is it time to rethink the Stone Age?
This tool survived for millennia. Are others being lost to climate change before we can find them?
World's Oldest Handheld Wooden Tools (430,000 Years Old) Unearthed in Greece Rewrite Early Human History
Overview
In early 2026, archaeologists announced the discovery of the oldest known hand-held wooden tools, dating back about 430,000 years, at the Marathousa 1 site in Greece. This groundbreaking find has significantly changed our understanding of early human technology by pushing back the timeline for the use of sophisticated wooden implements. The tools, found alongside a variety of animal remains, reveal new insights into the abilities of early hominins during the Middle Pleistocene. The discovery highlights how these ancient people were more advanced than previously thought, using crafted wooden tools much earlier than expected.