Dmanisi hominin fossils in Georgia: human skeletons

At the Georgian National Museum in Tbilisi is an exhibit of the Dmanisi hominin (human) fossils. Dmanisi is a region in southern Georgia, and is the most productive early paleolithic archeological site in the world. To date it has produced five individual human skeletons from over 60 cranial (skull) and post-cranial remains. The five individuals are sub-adult, adult, and an older adult.

The Dmanisi hominin fossils share similar morphological traits with early human fossils from Africa, such as the more forward projecting face and U-shaped jaw. The Dmanisi hominin fossils were fully bipedal (standing on two legs).

One of the Dmanisi hominin fossils is a toothless skull and mandible of an old adult. It is thought that he or she lived for several years without teeth before the person died. The person could only eat food that did not require heavy chewing. This edentulous person raises interesting questions about social structures, such as whether the person relied on others in the community for procuring or processing food, or whether he/she only ate soft plants or animal parts. It is the earliest known specimen of a severe masticatory (chewing) impairment in hominin fossil records.

The Dmanisi human fossils date back to about 1.8 million years, and are dubbed Homo Georgicus.

www.museum.ge

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