Marathousa, Megalopolis - 2025
General Information
Record ID
21200
Activity Date
2025
Chronologies
Key-words
Type of Operation
Institution
Localisation
Toponym
Megalopolis
Megalopolis
Linked Record
2025
Report
Excavations at Marathousa 1, in the Megalopolis Basin, were conducted under the auspices of the Ephorate of Paleoanthropology and Speleology, Hellenic Ministry of Culture, directed by E. Panagopoulou, have brought to light the earliest handheld wooden tools in Greece, dated to ca. 430 ka (MIS12). Asystematic macro- and micromorphological investigation was conducted for the MAR-1 sample of wood remains for signatures of human and other modifications. The assemblage comprises 144 plotted wood pieces excavated from 2015 to 2019. One of the significant finds comes from alder, and shows cut marks from stone tools and rounded areas formed through repeated contact with soil (Fig. 1).
Author
Georgios Mouratidis
Bibliographic reference(s)
A. Milks,M. Ntinou,S. Koutalis,D. Michailidis,G.E. Konidaris,D. Giusti,N. Thompson,G. Tsartsidou,E. Panagopoulou,V. Tourloukis,P. Karkanas, & K. Harvati, Evidence for the earliest hominin use of wooden handheld tools found at Marathousa 1 (Greece), Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 123 (6) e2515479123, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2515479123 (2026).
https://archaeologymag.com/2026/01/430000-year-old-wooden-tools-marathousa/
https://archaeologymag.com/2026/01/430000-year-old-wooden-tools-marathousa/
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Date of creation
2026-01-30 11:03:02
Last modification
2026-01-30 11:07:44
Picture(s)
Fig. 1/ Center: Overview of 940/673-39. Fragments 1 through 4 numbered in gray. Cutaway images show (A) Phase 1 carving marks with stop mark, (B) Phase 1 chopping marks, (C) Phase 2 traces identified on the tool consist of fraying of fibres and micro-splintering concentrated at one end of the tool, (D) Phase 1 chopping mark on knot (E) Phase 1 chopping mark on knot and carving marks (F) Phase 1 carving marks with stop marks. Cutaway images taken with Leica M10 stereo microscope, with small white arrows showing working traces.