430,000-Year-Old Wooden Tools Found in Greece

Archaeologists have unearthed what appear to be the oldest known wooden tools, dating back 430,000 years, at an ancient lakeshore site in southern Greece. The artifacts, discovered during excavations at Marathousa 1 in the Megalopolis basin, include a shaped digging stick and a smaller, enigmatic handheld piece, offering new insights into the tool-making capabilities of early human ancestors during a harsh glacial period.

The larger tool is an 81-centimeter-long stick fashioned from an alder tree trunk, with most of its bark removed and marks from carving and chopping. One end features a rounded section that may have served as a handle, while the other is flattened, showing signs of fraying and splintering consistent with use for digging, possibly to extract tubers or process animal remains. It was found amid bones of a straight-tusked elephant, suggesting it might have aided in butchery. The second artifact, measuring about 5.7 centimeters long and made from willow or poplar wood, also lacks bark and bears shaping marks, but its purpose remains unclear. Researchers propose it could have been used to retouch stone tools or for another handheld task, marking it as a potentially...