Dmanisi

▪ archaeological site, Georgia

      site of paleoanthropological excavations in southern Georgia, where in 1991 a human jaw and teeth showing anatomical similarities to Homo erectus were unearthed.

      Dmanisi is the site of a medieval village located about 85 km (53 miles) southwest of Tbilisi on a promontory at the confluence of the Mashavera and Phinezauri rivers. Archaeological exploration of the ruins began in the 1930s, but systematic excavations were not undertaken until the 1980s. Shortly thereafter, it became apparent that pits or cellars dating from medieval times had been dug into deposits containing prehistoric animal bones. In addition to the jawbone found in 1991, two skulls were recovered in 1999 exhibiting the relatively small brains, flat foreheads, and low cranial profiles characteristic of H. erectus. Indeed, the fossils are close in their morphology to similarly aged specimens from eastern Africa.

      Animal and human bones along with numerous crude stone chopping tools and flakes come from layers of ash and sandy sediment dated radiometrically at 1.85 million years old. Other methods of dating indicate that the mandible and the crania must have washed into the site about 1.7 million years ago. Dmanisi is thus one of the most ancient human habitation sites anywhere in Eurasia, approximately equivalent in age to the oldest H. erectus localities in eastern Africa, which makes the Dmanisi remains crucial in the study of human evolution. It is not known whether H. erectus evolved in Africa and then spread quickly to western Asia or arose instead in Asia and then migrated to other regions.

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