NEW YORK (Web Desk) - Two artifacts found at a lake shore in Greece are the oldest wooden tools to be uncovered so far and date back 430,000 years.
One is a spindly stick about 2 1/2 feet (80 centimeters) long that could have been used for digging in the mud.
The other is a smaller, more mysterious handheld chunk of willow or poplar wood that may have been used to shape stone tools, according to research published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Scientists think ancient humans wielded a whole litany of tools made from stone, bone, and wood. But it's particularly difficult to find evidence of wooden tools today because wood rots so quickly.
Such tools are only preserved in specific environments like in ice, caves, or underwater.
The newest tools, found in Greece's Megalopolis basin, were possibly buried quickly by sediment and preserved by a wet environment over time. For years, researchers have found other remnants at the site, including stone tools and elephant bones with cuts on them.
This undated image provided by Katerina Harvati shows various angles of a 430,000-year-old wooden tool from Greece.
While scientists didn't directly date the wooden tools, the site is about 430,000 years old, which provides insight into the objects' age.
"I've always just been thrilled to be able to touch these objects," said study author Annemieke Milks with the University of Reading.