Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41587331›Full record

ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2026

Evidence for the earliest hominin use of wooden handheld tools found at Marathousa 1 (Greece).

Annemieke Milks, Maria Ntinou, Stylianos Koutalis, Dimitrios Michailidis, George E Konidaris, Domenico Giusti, Nicholas Thompson, Georgia Tsartsidou, Eleni Panagopoulou, Vangelis Tourloukis and 2 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

12 authors.

Annemieke MilksDepartment of Archaeology, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6UR, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0003-0779-6200
Maria NtinouSchool of History and Archaeology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 54124, Greece.ORCID 0000-0001-7810-5847
Stylianos KoutalisDepartment of Geosciences, Paleoanthropology, Institute for Archaeological Sciences, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen 72074, Germany.ORCID 0009-0002-4950-8801
Dimitrios MichailidisMalcolm H. Wiener Laboratory for Archaeological Science, American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Athens GR-106 76, Greece.ORCID 0000-0002-9583-8003
George E KonidarisDepartment of Geosciences, Paleoanthropology, Institute for Archaeological Sciences, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen 72074, Germany.
Domenico GiustiDepartment of Geosciences, Paleoanthropology, Institute for Archaeological Sciences, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen 72074, Germany.ORCID 0000-0003-1438-4036
Nicholas ThompsonDepartment of Geosciences, Paleoanthropology, Institute for Archaeological Sciences, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen 72074, Germany.ORCID 0009-0003-4770-1744
Georgia TsartsidouMalcolm H. Wiener Laboratory for Archaeological Science, American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Athens GR-106 76, Greece.ORCID 0000-0003-3379-1681
Eleni PanagopoulouEphorate of Paleoanthropology and Speleology, Hellenic Ministry of Culture, Athens 11636, Greece.ORCID 0000-0002-4268-6157
Vangelis TourloukisDepartment of Geosciences, Paleoanthropology, Institute for Archaeological Sciences, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen 72074, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-9527-2708
Panagiotis KarkanasMalcolm H. Wiener Laboratory for Archaeological Science, American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Athens GR-106 76, Greece.ORCID 0000-0002-7156-671X
Katerina HarvatiDepartment of Geosciences, Paleoanthropology, Institute for Archaeological Sciences, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen 72074, Germany.ORCID 0000-0001-5998-4794

Funding

British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships PF21/210027Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) DFG-HA5258Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) Leibniz award 2021EC | European Research Council (ERC) CoG-724703EC | Horizon Europe | Excellent Science | HORIZON EUROPE European Research Council (ERC) AdG-101019659EC | Horizon Europe | Excellent Science | HORIZON EUROPE European Research Council (ERC) StG-283503
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The Middle Pleistocene (MP; ca. 774 to 129 ka) marks a critical period of human evolution, characterized by increasing behavioral complexity and the first unambiguous evidence of plant-based technologies. Despite this, direct evidence for early wooden tool use remains exceptionally rare. Here, we present the earliest handheld wooden tools, identified from secure contexts at the site of Marathousa 1, Greece, dated to ca. 430 ka (MIS12). Through a systematic morphological, microscopic, taphonomic, and taxonomic analysis of the sampled wood macroremains, two specimens were securely identified as modified by hominins: one small alder (

Indexed as

FossilsHominidaeTool Use BehaviorWoodAnimalsBiological EvolutionGreeceHumanshuman evolutionLower PaleolithicMiddle Pleistocenewood technology

Identifiers

PMID41587331
PMCPMC12890827

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.