古希腊矿坑出土40万年前木制工具，或为最古老木器

EXCAVATIONS at a mine in Greece have uncovered two wooden objects that are over 400,000 years old and appear to have been fashioned as tools by an unknown species of ancient human. Prehistoric wooden artefacts are scarce, but our extinct relatives probably used them for millions of years. "It might be the oldest type of tool that anybody used," says Katerina Harvati at the University of Tübingen in Germany. Out of 144 pieces of wood, the team identified two tools (PNAS, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2515479123). One is an 81-centimetre-long stick made from the trunk of an alder tree. Most of the bark had been removed and there are many carving and chopping marks, indicating that the wood had been purposely shaped. …