Dmanisi is a site in eastern Georgia approximately 85 km southwest of Tbilisi in the Mashavera River Valley. It is located on the territory of the medieval town of Dmanisi, which was of great importance as the caravan routes to the Byzantine Empire, Armenia and Persia converged here.

The excavations of the ruins of Dmanisi were begun in 1936 and continued in the 1960s. Beneath the medieval cellars archeologists found animal bones, among which Georgian paleontologist Prof. A. Vekua identified the teeth of rhino Dicerorhinus etruscus etruscus in 1983. This species is typical of Villafranchian faunas, which shows Early Pleistocene epoch. In 1984 first stone tools also were discovered. Since that year Georgian scientists have been excavating the pleistocene deposits at Dmanisi and, in 1991 they were joined by German archeologists from Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum . Work in Dmanisi has now evolved into an international research project under the auspices of the Georgian Academy of Sciences, with participants of colleagues from Germany, the USA, France and Spain.

In 1999 and 2001, fossil hominid skulls and jaws later described as Homo Georgicus were found at Dmanisi.

See also

• Cradle of Humanity
• Subdivisions of Georgia

External link

• http://www.dmanisi.org.ge/