Scientists find oldest-ever wooden tools used by humans

Scientists have uncovered the earliest evidence of wooden tools used by humans.

The discovery was made in southern Greece, where two objects - thought to be around 430,000 years old - were found.

Experts say both were crafted and used by humans, with one made of alder wood, and the other of willow or poplar.

The objects are believed to be the oldest hand-held wooden tools ever found, pushing back evidence of this type of tool use by at least 40,000 years.

The discovery was made by an international team led by researchers from the University of Reading in the UK, as well as the University of Tübingen and Senckenberg Nature Research Society in Germany.

The wooden objects were found at a site, in Peloponnese in southern Greece, which was once on the shore of an ancient lake.

The research team identified two artefacts that had been made and used by humans.

The first tool was made from a small piece of an alder trunk, which showed clear signs of having been shaped and used.

Experts think the stick was probably used for digging at the edge of the lake, or for removing tree bark.

The second tool was a very small piece of wood, which also showed signs of use, and was made from either a willow or a poplar tree.

The team also found a third item - a larger piece of alder trunk - which they think had been clawed by a large carnivore such as a bear, but experts decided that it hadn't been shaped by humans.

Experts say the tools were used by early humans around 430,000 years ago during the Middle Pleistocene period, within the Ice Age, from around 774,000 to 129,000 years ago.

According to the team, this period was important in human evolution, as this is when more complex behaviours started developing.

Dr Annemieke Milks, who was involved with the study, explained what the team had found.

"Looking at their surfaces under microscopes. We found marks from chopping and carving on two objects – clear signs that early humans had shaped them."

Researchers say that their find provides the earliest evidence of wooden tools ever used by humans.

Dr Milks added: "There is only one older piece of evidence of wood used by humans, from the Kalambo Falls site in Zambia, dating to around 476,000 years ago.

"Yet that wood was used not as a tool but as structural material."