Asunto(s)
Huesos , Fósiles , Diente/anatomía & histología , Animales , Cuevas , Cronología como Asunto , Incendios , Georgia (República) , Humanos , Datación RadiométricaRESUMEN
The hominid mandible and a third metatarsal found in Dmanisi (Republic of Georgia) are accompanied by a rich faunal assemblage and a core-chopper stone tool industry. The mandible represents a somewhat isolated morphological type of Homo erectus that appears, given the combination of its primitive and advanced traits and specific dental morphology, to be a forerunner of both late H. erectus and early archaic H. sapiens. The faunal assemblage mostly consists of Villafranchian mammals, with the majority of the species assigned to an early phase of the Upper Villafranchian (Late Villanian and Early Biharian). Faunal and paleobotanical evidence as well as the depositional nature of the site indicate that hominid occupation took place in a mosaic environment of open steppe and gallery forests. Both the concentration of resources and the warm climatic conditions in the Dmanisi region at the beginning of the early Pleistocene were favorable for hominid occupation. It is possible that hominids reached the Caucasus through the Levantine corridor, and that the environment of this region allowed them to establish a stronghold and later colonize adjacent areas.
Asunto(s)
Ecosistema , Fósiles , Hominidae/anatomía & histología , Animales , Ambiente , Georgia (República) , Humanos , Mandíbula/anatomía & histología , Huesos Metatarsianos/anatomía & histología , Paleodontología , Paleontología , VertebradosRESUMEN
Archaeological excavations at the site of Dmanisi in the Republic of Georgia have uncovered two partial early Pleistocene hominid crania. The new fossils consist of a relatively complete cranium and a second relatively complete calvaria from the same site and stratigraphic unit that yielded a hominid mandible in 1991. In contrast with the uncertain taxonomic affinity of the mandible, the new fossils are comparable in size and morphology with Homo ergaster from Koobi Fora, Kenya. Paleontological, archaeological, geochronological, and paleomagnetic data from Dmanisi all indicate an earliest Pleistocene age of about 1.7 million years ago, supporting correlation of the new specimens with the Koobi Fora fossils. The Dmanisi fossils, in contrast with Pleistocene hominids from Western Europe and Eastern Asia, show clear African affinity and may represent the species that first migrated out of Africa.
Asunto(s)
Fósiles , Hominidae , Cráneo/anatomía & histología , África , Animales , Asia , Emigración e Inmigración , Europa (Continente) , Femenino , Sedimentos Geológicos , Georgia (República) , Historia Antigua , Hominidae/anatomía & histología , Hominidae/clasificación , Humanos , Masculino , PaleodontologíaRESUMEN
Archaeological excavations at the mediaeval site of Dmanisi (East Georgia) revealed that the town was built on a series of deposits yielding Late Villafranchian mammalian fossils and led to the discovery in late 1991 of a well preserved early human mandible. Dmanisi, where excavations are being carried out by a joint expedition of the Archaeological Research Centre of the Georgian Academy of Sciences and the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum (Mainz, Germany), is located southwest of Tbilisi, at about 44 degrees 20'N, 41 degrees 20'E (Fig. 1). The fossils date to the latest Pliocene (or perhaps to the earliest Pleistocene), probably between 1.8 and 1.6 million years ago (Myr). Here we identify the mandible as belonging to the species Homo erectus, of which it is the earliest known representative in western Eurasia. It shows a number of similarities to the African and Chinese representatives of this species.