Katerina Harvati

🚨There is still time to apply! Deadline March 11

Huge congratulations to Stephanie Lismann on defending her PhD - well deserved! 🎉

I was extremely honored to present my long term research in Greece at the gathering of the Omoioi of Mani yesterday, who recognized me as an honorary member. It was a great pleasure and honor!

Exposure to burn injuries played key role in shaping human evolution, study suggests Humans' exposure to high temperature burn injuries may have played an important role in our evolutionary development, shaping how our bodies heal, fight infection, and sometimes fail under extreme inj...

Human populations may have had unique adaptations to burn injuries due to long-term evolution in high-risk proximity to fire. I wonder if we also developed a degree of enhanced resistance to long-term smoke inhalation? 🏺
phys.org/news/2026-02...

A Nordic Perspective on AMOC Tipping This report is the outcome of the Nordic Council of Minister’s sponsored workshop arranged in October 21-24, 2025 in Helsinki and Rovaniemi, Finland as part of Finland’s council presidency theme resil...

While I am delighted to see this work published after collaborating with some of the field's greatest scientists, I am deeply unsettled by the consequences a potential AMOC collapse would have on communities and ecosystems. Here is to hoping global leaders take note. pub.norden.org/temanord2026...

Oldest wooden tools may have been used to butcher elephants Branches sharpened 400,000 years ago shine light on humans’ early toolmaking

That's a name to keep in mind: Sorry Schöningen spears, but there's a new top dog in town - the #Marathousa tools from southern #Greece may have been used to butcher elephants ... 400,000 years ago:

🏺 www.science.org/content/arti... by @andrewcurry.com for science.org

🚨 Job alert! The University of Tübingen announces a W3 (Full) Professorship in Early Hominin Evolution in the framework of the DFG Cluster of Excellence 'HUMAN ORIGINS':

uni-tuebingen.de/universitaet...

Application deadline: 11.03.2026 🚨

Scientists recover the oldest wooden tools from a site in Greece 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.

Two wooden tools dating back 430,000 years have been uncovered at a lakeshore site in Greece, offering rare insight into early human technology and tool use. doi.org/hbmjbx

The artwork that illustrated our PNAS paper on the oldest wooden tools was made by Gleiver Prieto, who has also worked with me on illustrations for previous projects, including the paleoenvironmental reconstruction of Marathousa 1.
Gleiver's art really brings Pleistocene Megalopolis to life ✨ 🤩

Thank you @andrewcurry.com for covering the research and to colleagues for contributing their thoughts!

Artistic reconstruction by G. Prieto of a Palaeolithic woman producing a digging stick at the Marathousa site from a small alder tree trunk with a small stone tool (copyright K. Harvati).

Evidence for the earliest hominin use of wooden handheld tools found at Marathousa 1 (Greece) | PNAS The Middle Pleistocene (MP; ca. 774 to 129 ka) marks a critical period of human evolution, characterized by increasing behavioral complexity and th...

It was such a privilege to get to work on this amazing material from an incredible site and team - now the earliest handheld wooden tools in the archaeological record, taking evidence back to 430,000 years! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Breaking News! ✨
@annemiekemilks.bsky.social , @katharv.bsky.social , @harvatilab.bsky.social and colleagues publish important artefacts from the MIS12 cold stage in Greece.
Great forensic work and a little glimpse of what we are missing from sites without the preservation of wood. 🌳🦣🏺1/3

Eine künstlerische Darstellung eines Menschen in prähistorischer Fellkleidung, der einen Ast bearbeitet. Im Hintergrund sind Landschaftselemente wie ein See, Berge und grasende Tiere zu sehen. Text im Bild: "Frühester Nachweis von Menschenhand genutzter Holzwerkzeuge". Oben ist das Wort "Forschung" zu lesen.

Die bisher frühesten bekannten Holzwerkzeuge, die Menschen nutzten, stammen aus Griechenland. Ein Forschungsteam der Universitäten Tübingen und Reading sowie der Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung hat rund 430.000 Jahre alte Belege entdeckt: 👉 uni-tuebingen.de/universitaet/… #Archäologie

An artist’s reconstruction of a Marathousa 1 paleolithic woman producing a digging stick from a small alder tree trunk with a small stone tool. This kind of wood was used for the Marathousa 1 digging stick. - Copyright K. Harvati

Earliest evidence of wooden tools used by humans
International research team from Germany, the UK and Greece finds evidence of wooden tool use in Greece 430,000 years ago...
weiterlesen

Μεγάλη ανακάλυψη στη Μεγαλόπολη: Εντοπίστηκαν τα αρχαιότερα ξύλινα εργαλεία του κόσμου | ΤΟ ΒΗΜΑ Η Κατερίνα Χαρβάτη, παλαιοανθρωπολόγος του Πανεπιστημίου Τίμπιγκεν και επικεφαλής των ερευνών, εξηγεί τη σημασία των ευρημάτων αποκλειστικά στο ψηφιακό ΒΗΜΑ.

And another by Ioanna Soufleri in To Vima!

www.tovima.gr/2026/01/26/s...

Stick shaped by ancient humans is the oldest known wooden tool Excavations at an opencast mine in Greece have uncovered two wooden objects more than 400,000 years old that appear to have been fashioned as tools by an unknown species of ancient human

A great write up of our paper in New Scientist by @michael-marshall.bsky.social!

www.newscientist.com/article/2509...

Evidence for the earliest hominin use of wooden handheld tools found at Marathousa 1 (Greece) | PNAS The Middle Pleistocene (MP; ca. 774 to 129 ka) marks a critical period of human evolution, characterized by increasing behavioral complexity and th...

Such a pleasure to share our latest article on the wooden tools from Marathousa 1 (Megalopolis), the oldest known in the world at 430 ka.

Congratulations to the team!

Evidence for the earliest hominin use of wooden handheld tools found at Marathousa 1 (Greece) | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

✨Super interesting article on elephant bone tool from Boxgrove! ✨
also referencing the bone tools from our excavation at Marathousa 1, Megalopolis, which are a bit younger, at ca 430 ka, but still among the oldest in Europe 😀

#teammember Frini Roditi was invited to give a talk today at the Biogeology seminar at the University of Tübingen! ✨ She shared her exciting ongoing work in the Megalopolis Basin, Greece 🦣🌍🦛 Well done! 🙌🏻

They built wind turbines to make power — but under the sea, they “produce” something no one expected Offshore turbines with nature‑inclusive Reef Cubes help restore oceans, boosting marine life as Dutch wind farms show clean energy can heal underwater ecosystems.

They built wind turbines to make power — but under the sea, they “produce” something no one expected
www.ecoportal.net/en/turbines-...

Most complete Homo habilis skeleton ever found dates to more than 2 million years ago and retains 'Lucy'-like features Scientists have revealed the most complete skeleton yet of our 2 million-year-old ancestor Homo habilis.

A newly published H. habilis skeleton is just the fourth post-cranial skeleton ever found from the species. 🏺🧪

The Human Remains From the MIS 6 Site of Grotta Del Poggio (Cilento, Southern Italy): A Taxonomic and Chronological Reassessment Objectives Grotta del Poggio is a key site for exploring the Middle Paleolithic in southern Italy, as it contains a pivotal anthropogenic deposit, mainly attributed to MIS 6, while in the Metal Ages...

As a belated Christmas present, our article on the human remains from the Grotta Del Poggio is now published open access in the AJBA 😀

Congratulations to Erica Piccirilli and the whole team!! ✨🎉
#humanevolution #openaccess #ERCprojectFIRSTSTEPS

Happy holidays and happy new year from all of us! 🎄✨
Wishing you a restful break, joyful moments and an inspiring start to 2026. ✨️🦴🌍

Portrait of Marina Vance, a scientist, sitting in a Colorado grassland.

The @nytimes.com Lost Science series continues. Here's my Q&A with a scientist who was studying how wildfire smoke threatens human health when the EPA decided that her research was no longer a funding priority. Gift link: nyti.ms/4jhpw14

Trump Administration Plans to Break Up Premier Weather and Climate Research Center

Trump Administration Plans to Break Up Premier Weather and Climate Research Center. Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/17/c...

Congratulations Dalila!!! 🎉✨👩‍🎓
and thank you to all committee members!

Aerial view of the Acropolis of Athens, situated on a rocky hill overlooking the city. The Parthenon, with its partially preserved columns and ruins, stands at the center. Other classical structures, including the Erechtheion and the Propylaea, are visible nearby. Below the Acropolis, the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, a semicircular stone theater, is nestled into the hillside. The surrounding area is a mix of greenery and densely packed modern buildings, showing the contrast between ancient history and contemporary Athens.

For #AncientSiteSunday this fabulous aerial photo of the Acropolis at #Athens - a site I would love to be right now!

📷 Christos Kapoulas

#Greece

🏺

And today it was the turn of the Megalopolis delegation to present our work at Marathousa 1 (Greece) 🙂
With dalil@daliladecaro.bsky.social

what a privilege to be able to visit the Vértesszőlős site yesterday, despite the snow and cold temperatures!