2. Dmanisi (Georgian: დმანისი) is
a townlet and archaeological site in the Kvemo
Kartli region of Georgia approximately 93 km
southwest of the nation’s capital Tbilisi in the
river valley of Mashavera. It is the earliest
known hominid site outside of Africa.
3. • The town of Dmanisi is first mentioned in the 9th century
as a possession of the Arab emirate of Tbilisi, though the
area had been settled since the Early Bronze Age.
An Orthodox Christian cathedral – “Dmansis Sioni” – was
built there in the 6th century. Located on the confluence of
trading routes and cultural influences, Dmanisi was of
particular importance, growing into a major commercial
center of medieval Georgia. The town was conquered by
the Seljuk Turks in the 1080s, but was later liberated by the
Georgian kings David the Builder and Demetrios I between
1123 and 1125. The Turco-Mongol armies under Timur laid
waste to the town in the 14th century. Sacked again by
the Turkomans in 1486, Dmanisi never recovered and
declined to a scarcely inhabited village by the 18th century.
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8. • Extensive archaeological studies began in the area in 1936
and continued in the 1960s. Beyond a rich collection of
ancient and medieval artifacts and the ruins of various
buildings and structures, unique remains of prehistoric
animals and humans have been unearthed. Some of the
animal bones were identified by the Georgian
paleontologist A. Vekua with the teeth of the extinct
rhino Dicerorhinus etruscus etruscus in 1983. This species
dates back presumably to the early Pleistocene epoch.
• The discovery of primitive stone tools in 1984 led to
increasing interest to the archaeological site. In 1991, a
team of Georgian scholars was joined by
the German archaeologists from Römisch-Germanisches
Zentralmuseum, and later
the U.S., French and Spanish researchers.
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12. • Early human fossils, dubbed Homo georgicus, were
found at Dmanisi between 1991 and 2005. At 1.8
million years old, H. georgicus may have been a
separate species of Homo, predating Homo
erectus, and represent the earliest stage of human
presence in the Caucasus.
• Subsequently, four fossil skeletons were
found, showing a species primitive in its skull and
upper body but with relatively advanced spines and
lower limbs. They are now thought not to be a
separate species, but to represent a stage soon after
the transition between Australopithecus and Homo
erectus, and have been dated at 1.8 million years.
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14. 1.8 million-year old girl displayed in
Dmanisi
“It is a very important discovery which has changed
the world's view of ancient human beings. I worked in
a similar way to crime scene analysts - the girl was
very well preserved and it was fantastic for
me, because when the skull is intact it makes it easier
for me to work on it. I feel that the Georgian
archaeological sites haven't yet revealed all their
secrets and this site is so exceptional that every new
find is in an extraordinary state of preservation,” said
Elisabeth Daynes who has reconstructed the whole
body of the girl, who would have been aged around 13
or 14, on the basis of its bones, found at Dmanisi in
2001.
