💬 Archaeologists have found evidence of the oldest wooden handheld tools used by humans. Discovered in Greece, these ancient tools are around 430,000 years old.

⚡Dr Annemieke Milks is a palaeolithic archaeologist and part of the team which identified the objects. They were recovered from Marathousa, a Middle Pleistocene site which may have been inhabited by Homo heidelbergensis - one of our distant ancestors.

In this episode we find out about this incredible discovery - and discuss Annemieke’s wider research looking into the ancient wooden hunting weapons used by humans in the deep past.

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🎧 Stay tuned to learn about:

➡ What these wooden hand-tools would’ve been used for

➡ How this wood has been preserved for so long

➡ The prehistoric wooden spears discovered at Schöningen in Germany

➡ What shifts in weapon design tell us about the cognitive abilities of ancient humans

➡ The emerging field of children’s archaeology

Read the paper: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2515479123

About the podcast:

What We Did Before is a podcast exploring the history of everyday life, from how we kept food fresh before fridges, to how we survived without shoes and what came before AI.

About your host:

Ollie Guillou is an award-winning podcast producer and broadcaster. He's co-founder of OG Podcasts, working with the likes of New Scientist, Dr Karan and Lessons From Our Mothers.

Connect with Ollie:

Website: www.ogpodcasts.co.uk

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ollie-guillou

Email: hello@ogpodcasts.co.uk

Image Credits:

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Annual-ring-analysis-a-Taphonomic-transverse-break-surface-from-where-micro-cuts-were_fig5_372470761