430,000-Year-Old Discovery Reveals Earliest-Known Evidence of Humans Using Wooden Tools
At the edge of a lake in what is now southern Greece, early humans once butchered elephants while large carnivores circled nearby. Buried in the lakebed mud, alongside stone tools and animal remains, were fragments of worked wood that survived for nearly half a million years.
A new study published in PNAS describes those fragments, two carefully shaped wooden tools dating back about 430,000 years, uncovered at the Marathousa 1 site in the Peloponnese. The artifacts, made from alder and willow or poplar, represent the oldest known hand-held wooden tools and push back evidence of this kind of technology by at least 40,000 years.
“We have discovered the oldest wooden tools known to date, as well as the first evidence of this kind from southeastern Europe,” said Katerina Harvati, a co-lead author of the study, in a press release.
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Identifying the Earliest Evidence of Wooden Tools
Wood rarely survives for hundreds of thousands of years. Unlike stone, it decays quickly unless preserved under the right conditions. At Marathousa 1, waterlogged mud along the lakeshore appears to have slowed that process enough to preserve wood and other plant remains.
Researchers examined the fragments under microscopes, looking for signs of shaping. Two pieces stood out. One, made from alder, shows carving marks and wear, suggesting it was used repeatedly. It appears to have been shaped from a small trunk and may have functioned as a digging stick or for removing tree bark.
A second, much smaller fragment made from willow or poplar also shows signs that it had been shaped. Its size suggests it may have been used for more precise tasks, representing a type of wooden tool rarely found from this time.
A third piece initially drew attention because of its groove pattern, but analysis showed the marks were likely made by a large carnivore rather than by humans.
Expanding the Early Human Toolkit
The wooden fragments were found among stone tools and animal remains at the lakeshore site, suggesting that different materials were used side by side. Rather than relying solely on stone, the people at Marathousa appear to have chosen wood for tasks where flexibility or shape mattered.
Working wood requires deliberate shaping and an understanding of how different tree species behave. Even a simple digging stick reflects planning and familiarity with available resources. The finds show that early humans used plant materials more regularly than the surviving archaeological record shows.
Comparable wooden artifacts from sites in the U.K., Germany, Zambia, and China are younger. An older example from Kalambo Falls in Zambia dates to about 476,000 years ago, but it appears to have been used as part of a structure rather than as a portable, hand-held tool. The Marathousa artifacts, therefore, extend direct evidence of shaped wooden tools further back in time.
Where Humans and Carnivores Crossed Paths
Marathousa 1 was more than a toolmaking site. Cut marks on bones show that humans processed large animals there, while tooth marks indicate that carnivores fed on the same carcasses. The lakeshore likely drew multiple species seeking food.
“The fact that large carnivores left their mark near the butchered elephant alongside human activity indicates fierce competition between the two,” added Harvati.
The site captures a moment when humans and predators were navigating the same landscape and resources. It also highlights how rarely tools made from wood and other plant materials survive in the archaeological record. Wooden tools may once have been common, but in most environments, they decay long before archaeologists can find them.
Marathousa 1 preserves a record that usually disappears. The shaped wooden tools suggest that early human technology included more than stone, even if most of that evidence has since decayed.
Read More: 160,000-Year-Old Stone Tools Reveal Advanced Tool Making in East Asia
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