Dmanisi ( ka, დმანისი, tr, , ) is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

and

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or recorded history, historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline ...

in the

Kvemo Kartli Kvemo Kartli ( ka, ქვემო ქართლი ) or "Lower Kartli", is a historic province and current administrative region (mkhare) in southeastern Georgia. The city of Rustavi is the regional capital. Location Kvemo Kartli is a region ...

region of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

approximately 93 km southwest of the nation’s capital

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

in the river valley of

Mashavera The Mashavera ( ka, მაშავერა) is a river of southern Georgia. It is long, and has a drainage basin.Dukhobortsy'' exiled from

Taurida Governorate Taurida Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire. It included the territory of the Crimean Peninsula and the mainland between the lower Dnieper River with the coasts of the Black Sea and Sea o ...

. It was renamed Dmansi (Дманиси) from the ancient Mongol ''duman'', menaing "military or administrative unit". It is the site of

Dmanisi Hominid Skulls The Dmanisi hominins, Dmanisi people, or Dmanisi man were a population of Early Pleistocene Hominini, hominins whose fossils have been recovered at Dmanisi historic site, Dmanisi, Georgia. The fossils and stone tools recovered at Dmanisi range i ...

, which are dated to 1.8

million years ago Million years ago, abbreviated as Mya, Myr (megayear) or Ma (megaannum), is a unit of time equal to (i.e. years), or approximately 31.6 teraseconds. Usage Myr is in common use in fields such as Earth science and cosmology. Myr is also used w ...

, making them the earliest dated human remains in Eurasia.1.85-1.78 Ma 95% CI. Garcia, T., Féraud, G., Falguères, C., de Lumley, H., Perrenoud, C., & Lordkipanidze, D. (2010). "Earliest human remains in Eurasia: New 40Ar/39Ar dating of the Dmanisi hominid-bearing levels, Georgia". Quaternary Geochronology, 5(4), 443–451. doi:10.1016/j.quageo.2009.09.012 A series of skulls which had diverse physical traits, discovered at Dmanisi in the early 2000s, led to the hypothesis that many separate species in the genus ''Homo'' were in fact a single lineage. Also known as Skull 5, D4500 is the fifth skull to be discovered in Dmanisi.

History

The area around the town of Dmanisi has been settled since the

Early Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

. In the 6th century an Orthodox Christian cathedral named " Dmanisi Sioni" was built there. The oldest written record of the town is in the 9th century as a possession of the

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

emirate of Tbilisi The Emirate of Tbilisi ( ka, თბილისის საამირო ', ') was a Islam, Muslim emirate in Transcaucasia. The Emirs of Tbilisi ruled over the parts of today's eastern Georgia (country), Georgia from their base in the city ...

. Located on the confluence of trading routes and cultural influences, Dmanisi was particularly important, growing into a major commercial center of medieval Georgia. The town was taken by the

Seljuk Turks The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; , ''Saljuqian'',) alternatively spelled as Saljuqids or Seljuk Turks, was an Oghuz Turks, Oghuz Turkic, Sunni Muslim dynasty that gradually became Persianate society, Persianate and contributed to Turco-Persi ...

in the 1080s and by the Georgian kings

David the Builder David IV, also known as David IV the Builder ( ka, დავით IV აღმაშენებელი, tr; 1073 – 24 January 1125), of the Bagrationi dynasty, was the 5th king ('' mepe'') of the Kingdom of Georgia from 1089 until his de ...

and Demetrios I between 1123 and 1125. The

Turco-Mongol The Turco-Mongol or Turko-Mongol tradition was an ethnocultural synthesis that arose in Asia during the 14th century among the ruling elites of the Golden Horde and the Chagatai Khanate. The ruling Mongol elites of these khanates eventually ass ...

armies under

Timur Timur, also known as Tamerlane (1320s17/18 February 1405), was a Turco-Mongol conqueror who founded the Timurid Empire in and around modern-day Afghanistan, Iran, and Central Asia, becoming the first ruler of the Timurid dynasty. An undefeat ...

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. The castle was controlled by the

House of Orbeliani The House of Orbeliani ( ka, ორბელიანი) was a Georgian noble family (tavadi), which branched off the House of Baratashvili in the 17th century and later produced several lines variously called Orbeliani, Orbelishvili (ორბ ...

Archaeological site

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 ''Stephanorhinus'' is an extinct genus of two-horned rhinoceros native to Eurasia and North Africa that lived during the Late Pliocene to Late Pleistocene. Species of ''Stephanorhinus'' were the predominant and often only species of rhinoceros in ...

etruscus'' in 1983. This species dates back presumably to the early

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

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 German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

archaeologists from

Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum The Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum (RGZM), Leibniz Research Institute for Archaeology, is headquartered in Mainz. It is supported by the Federal Republic of Germany and its states and is a member of the Leibniz Association of German research ...

, and later the

U.S. The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

and

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

researchers.

''Homo erectus georgicus''

Early human (or

hominin The Hominini (hominins) form a taxonomic tribe of the subfamily Homininae (hominines). They comprise two extant genera: ''Homo'' (humans) and '' Pan'' (chimpanzees and bonobos), and in standard usage exclude the genus '' Gorilla'' ( gorillas) ...

) fossils, originally named ''Homo georgicus'' and now considered ''Homo erectus georgicus'', were found at Dmanisi between 1991 and 2005. At 1.8 million years old, they are now believed to be a subspecies of ''

Homo erectus ''Homo erectus'' ( ) is an extinction, extinct species of Homo, archaic human from the Pleistocene, spanning nearly 2 million years. It is the first human species to evolve a humanlike body plan and human gait, gait, to early expansions of h ...

'' and not a separate species of ''

Homo ''Homo'' () is a genus of great ape (family Hominidae) that emerged from the genus ''Australopithecus'' and encompasses only a single extant species, ''Homo sapiens'' (modern humans), along with a number of extinct species (collectively called ...

''. These fossils represent the earliest known human presence in the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

. Subsequently, four fossil skeletons were found, showing a species primitive in its skull and upper body but with relatively advanced spines and lower limbs. A 2017 study suggests they represent a stage soon after the transition from ''

Homo habilis ''Homo habilis'' ( 'handy man') is an extinct species of archaic human from the Early Pleistocene of East and South Africa about 2.4 million years ago to 1.65 million years ago ( mya). Upon species description in 1964, ''H. habilis'' was highly ...

'' to ''Homo erectus''. Human habitation in the Caucasus goes back to the remotest antiquity. The hominin remains discovered in 1991 by David Lordkipanidze at Dmanisi,

(1.8 million years old) are the oldest found outside Africa.

Neanderthal Neanderthals ( ; ''Homo neanderthalensis'' or sometimes ''H. sapiens neanderthalensis'') are an extinction, extinct group of archaic humans who inhabited Europe and Western and Central Asia during the Middle Pleistocene, Middle to Late Plei ...

remains have been found at Ortvale K’lde (1973) and elsewhere in the Caucasus (36,000–50,000 years old). The Dmanisi hominin remains are still making an impact on the paleontological community. the Dmanisi skull 5 is in the middle of the controversy: many hominin fossils formerly thought to be different species may not have been separate species at all. Several early members of the genus Homo were possibly one evolving lineage.Skull suggests three early human species were one: Nature News & Comment
/ref>

References

External links

Dmanisi archaeological site
* Kalmakoff, Jonathan J

* * {{Authority control Cities and towns in Kvemo Kartli Prehistoric sites in Georgia (country) Former populated places in the Caucasus Buildings and structures in Kvemo Kartli Tiflis Governorate

History

Archaeological site

''Homo erectus georgicus''

See also

References

External links