8 August 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

The new study presents evidence suggesting the use of threshing sledges in Neolithic Greece as early as 6500 BCE, about 3000 Years Earlier than Previously Thought

The threshing sledges, which until a few decades ago was used in many Mediterranean countries from Turkey to Spain to separate the chaff from the wheat, is estimated to have appeared in Greece as early as 6500 BC.

By applying advanced analytical methods, including co-orientated microscopy, to the flint industries, researchers led by the University of Pisa were able to trace the early adoption of such technology and the adaptation of what can be considered among the first agricultural machines in Europe.

The research, conducted as part of several research projects funded by the European Union, Italy, and Spain and directed by the University of Pisa in collaboration with the CSIC in Spain and the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, predates previous records of this technology in Europe by at least 3,000 years, providing new insights into Neolithic society’s technological innovations.

We have been working for years to reconstruct the routes and mechanisms of the spread of agriculture from the Near East to the rest of the Mediterranean, explains Professor Niccolò Mazzucco, of the University of Pisa, principal investigator of the work, discovering the processes of technological innovation and how new machines were introduced is fundamental to reconstructing past technological systems.

The use of the threshing sledge, also known by the Roman term tribulum, allowed for a considerable increase in the amount of grain processed and accelerated its processing. In the past, it was believed that this innovation was linked to the birth of the first states, but our study shows that its first use is much older.

Photo: University of Pisa

In recent years – adds Mazzucco – more and more evidence has emerged that the first domesticated animals were not only used as a source of food but also as labor. And threshing sledges are part of a broader process of technological innovation that involved the use of animals in this sense. The detailed analysis of archaeological findings and the use of advanced methodologies thus add a crucial chapter to the history of agricultural development and underline how the Neolithic was a period of significant technological advances.

The researcher concludes that this understanding of agricultural technologies’ spread and their effects on the social structure and economy of the time allows us to better understand the development dynamics of the first European agricultural societies.

The University of Pisa-led study’s findings, which were published in the most recent issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, show that technological innovation has been present in the agricultural sector since prehistory and raises important questions regarding the dissemination of technological knowledge across the Mediterranean.

What until a few decades ago was considered a late innovation, today proves to be, in fact, a practice that has existed since the earliest Neolithic stages in Europe.

University of Pisa

doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2024.104579

Related Articles

1,800-year-old Bronze military medal with Medusa head found in southeastern Turkey

5 October 2022

5 October 2022

A military medal believed to be almost 1,800 years old has been found by archaeologists in Turkey. The discovery was...

5,000-Year-Old Fortress Discovered in Romania Using LiDAR Technology

22 March 2025

22 March 2025

Archaeologists have unveiled a 5,000-year-old fortress hidden deep within the forests of Neamț County, Romania. This remarkable find, made possible...

21 Copperplate Inscriptions discovered at Ghanta Matham in India

14 June 2021

14 June 2021

During excavations at Ghanta Matham in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh,  important 21 copper plates for the Mallikarjuna Swami...

The exciting discovery of a 4000-year-old stone box grave in western Norway

10 November 2023

10 November 2023

Archaeologists report an extremely important 4,000-year-old stone box grave has been unearthed in Western Norway, describing it as the most...

Archaeologists Discover Fragment of Medieval Inscription of Church in Melnik

1 March 2024

1 March 2024

124 artifacts made of stone, ceramics, and metal were discovered during archaeological excavations in the Church of the Holy Mother...

Study Reveals Mysterious Avars Origin

1 April 2022

1 April 2022

Ruled much of Central and Eastern Europe for 250 years, the Avars were less well known than Attila’s Huns, but...

Peru finds perfectly preserved a wooden figure in the Americas’ largest mud-brick city

29 June 2022

29 June 2022

A perfectly preserved wooden figure has been discovered at the Chan Chan archaeological site, in northern Peru, the Ministry of...

Iron Age and Roman Skeletons Discovered on Alderney

19 May 2021

19 May 2021

Well-preserved skeletons from the late Iron Age and Roman periods were found in Alderney, one of the channel islands. The...

New Discovery at Karahan Tepe: The Figure of a Running Wild Donkey Carved on Stone

31 August 2024

31 August 2024

The figure of a running wild donkey carved on a stone was discovered during excavations at Karahan Tepe, a Pre-Pottery...

Czech experimental archaeologists successfully completed their 1-month voyage in the Aegean Sea using a replica of a prehistoric vessel

17 July 2023

17 July 2023

Radomír Tichý, an archeology professor at the University of Hradec Králové who is also the director of the Všestary Archeopark,...

“Scythian golds” will be returned to Ukraine

15 November 2021

15 November 2021

The fate of the Scythian Golds, which were sent to be exhibited in the Allard Pierson Museum before the Russian...

City swallowed by sea now center of boat tours

10 September 2023

10 September 2023

The Kekova region, or Sunken City, which has remained under the sea after two major earthquakes in the sixth century...

Japan’s Ancient Practice Of Cranial Modification: Hirota people in Tanegashima

21 August 2023

21 August 2023

A team of researchers from Kyushu University and the University of Montana has found evidence suggesting that the Hirota community,...

Giant handaxe discovered at Ice Age site in Kent, UK

8 July 2023

8 July 2023

Researchers in Kent in southeastern England have discovered a prehistoric handaxe so big it would have been almost impossible to...

The Longest Greek Papyrus from the Judean Desert Sheds Light on a Pivotal Roman Court Case

31 January 2025

31 January 2025

New research by a group of Austrian and Israeli scholars has finally deciphered a 1,900-year-old scroll describing a tense court...