January
27
/ 2026
Two unassuming pieces of wood recovered from a prehistoric lakeshore in southern Greece have become a headline-grabbing rarity - the oldest known handheld wooden tools, dated to around 430,000 years ago. Found at Marathousa 1 in the Megalopolis Basin, the artifacts hint at a far richer toolkit for early humans than stone alone can show, one that normally vanishes without trace. A Lakeshore Time Capsule at Marathousa 1 The tools come from a site that was once the edge of a lake, where early humans processed animal carcasses, describes a University of Reading release. Researchers have previously uncovered stone tools and evidence of butchery, including elephant remains, suggesting repeated visits and varied tasks, exactly the sort of setting where a
