David LORDKIPANIDZE

Georgian National Museum, Tbilisi 0105 Georgia

ABSTRACT:  The site of Dmanisi, Georgia, has produced surprising evidence for the early dispersal of hominids out of Africa. Dmanisi dates to approximately 1.77 million years ago and has revealed a wealth of cranial and post-cranial hominid fossil material along with many well-preserved animal bones and quantities of stone artifacts. These fossils bring into question whether Homo erectus was the first hominid out of Africa and Homo erectus features such as relatively large body and brain sizes were necessary adaptations for this dispersal. The Dmanisi hominids have a surprising mosaic of primitive morphology such as small body and brain sizes and an absence of humeral torsion coupled with derived human-like body proportions and lower limb morphology. Postcranially they are largely comparable to earliest Homo (cf. H. habilis) and have changed our ideas in relation to the morphological correlates of hominid migration and dispersal. The Dmanisi hominid remains are the first discovered outside of Africa to show clear affinities to early Homo, they represent the missing link between Africa, Asia and Europe.