430k-year-old well-preserved wooden tools are the oldest ever found

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Age and Significance of the Wooden Tools

  • Commenters clarify that tools long predate Homo sapiens; stone tools go back at least 2.6–3.3 million years, well before our species (~200–300k years old).
  • The new find is notable specifically as the oldest securely dated handheld wooden tools (~430k years), not the oldest tools overall.
  • Several point out that indirect evidence (phytoliths, microwear) shows woodworking at least 1.5 million years ago; wood just rarely preserves.
  • The NYT subheading (“earlier than archaeologists thought”) is criticized as misleading: archaeologists have accepted million‑year‑old toolmaking for a long time.

Fire, Cooking, and Early Humans

  • Distinction is drawn between controlling fire (maintaining/transporting natural fire) and starting fire on demand.
  • Evidence for controlled fire goes back ~1 million years; recent work suggests Neanderthals may have been starting fires ~350–400k years ago.
  • Cooking is discussed as enabling higher calorie extraction, smaller guts, larger brains, and reduction of pathogens; some speculate coastal diets (omega‑3) also mattered.
  • Multiple early sites (Wonderwerk, Gesher Benot Ya’aqov, Qesem) are cited as possible early cooking evidence, though dating is sometimes controversial.

Tool Use Across Species and Lineages

  • Tools and even tool manufacture appear in many non‑human animals: chimps, capuchin monkeys, corvids, and even an experimentally documented cow.
  • Within hominins, tool industries (Oldowan, Acheulean) span millions of years and multiple species (Australopithecus, Homo habilis, erectus, neanderthalensis).
  • Debate arises over what counts as a “tool” (mere use vs fashioned objects) and how to distinguish intentional shaping from natural breakage.

Human Nature, Violence, and Other Hominins

  • One subthread explores the idea that humans (and some animals) show “genocidal” intergroup violence; others argue that term is moralized and not unique to humans or even primates.
  • There is disagreement over how much evidence exists for warfare between Homo sapiens and other hominins; at least one spear‑killed Neanderthal is mentioned.
  • Some extrapolate to the “dark forest” view of hostile spacefaring civilizations; others counter that such speculation is unwarranted.

Archaeology, Evidence Gaps, and “Forbidden” Claims

  • Commenters highlight preservation bias (organic materials rot; coastal and submerged sites are underexplored) and a growing boom in underwater archaeology.
  • “Forbidden archaeology” claims about suppressed evidence are met with skepticism; others stress that science does revise models when strong data accumulates.
  • Several note that journalistic framing (“earlier than thought”, “should not exist”) overstates surprise and fuels lay distrust of expert consensus.