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The year of political turmoil, 1991, was
Archaeology > David Lordkipanidze
Although international research only began 25 years ago on the Dmanisi archaeological site, copies
of fossils discovered at the site are exhibited in the world's leading museums and included in all
anthropology textbooks today.
This article has been prepared in cooperation with National Geographic Georgia.
I
n 1991, the first international archae-
ological expedition began working in
Dmanisi. The discovery of stone tools
and the bones of prehistoric animals had
revealed that a prehistoric site existed
beneath the remains of a medieval town
that was being excavated at the time.
The approximate age of the site – one
million years – had also been determined
based on the paleontologist Abesalom
Vekua's data. However, the research was
not large-scale or interdisciplinary, and
Imagine, at the Conference I was
Dmanisi hominins Zezva and Mzia. Scientific reconstruction by French
in order to address these lacunae we de-
cided to involve German colleagues in
our Dmanisi project. My German mentor,
Professor Gerhard Bosinski, represented
the German team, and during a one-se-
mester internship with him in Germany,
I learned how contemporary research of
prehistoric sites should be conducted.
Mr. Vakhtang Japaridze and Mr. Jumber
Kopaliani led the research team for the
medieval times, and a group of prehis-
toric period researchers was led by Ms.
temporary African forms. The Dmanisi
Mzia
paleo-artist Elisabeth Daynès
Medea Nioradze, Ms. Nino Kopotovskaya,
Mr. Abesalom Vekua, Mr. Davit Tushabra-
mishvili, Mr. Merab Tvalchrelidze and Mr.
Givi Maisuradze led the excavations du-
ring different periods of times.
During the first season, we had plan-
ned only small-scale exploratory exca-
vations, mainly where excavations had
already taken place. We planned to
define more precisely the stratigraphy
(rock layering) and to take samples for
laboratory analysis.
marked by permanent rallies on Rusta-
veli Avenue, a coup in Moscow, the na-
tionalist movement and finally the De-
claration of Independence in Georgia
… Against this background, we carried
out work in the peaceful environment
of Dmanisi as planned. As the end of
September neared, our excavations
were about to end, when suddenly the
President of the Georgian Academy of
Sciences, Albert Tavkhelidze paid us a
visit: "Where are the human remains?"
he asked. "We have not found humans
yet," I muttered.
However, on Saturday, 24 September,
the last day of our excavations, archa-
eology students from Tbilisi State Uni-
versity who had accompanied us on
the expedition – Dato Zhvania, Teona
Shelia, Giorgi Nioradze, Gocha Kiladze
and others – were working on-site. Su-
ddenly we heard a shout! Dato Zhvania
came running towards us. The team
leaders realized that something im-
portant had happened, and we quickly
followed him to the excavation. When
we arrived we saw a grid unit that con-
tained many bones! The work had been
very hard. Three Georgians had worked
to exhaustion, then a German student,
Antje Justus, stepped in and found a
jaw-bone. This is when Bosinski and I
arrived at the site, nervous and highly
stressed. We examined the mandible
and realized that indeed it was the
lower jaw of a female hominin (later
given an old Georgian name Mzia).
Suddenly, I knew we had fulfilled the
task given by the Academy President.
I could feel something truly important
was happening, but I did not yet imagi-
ne the magnitude of the discovery.
We decided to present this lower jaw
bone at the Senckenberg International
Conference in Frankfurt in 1991. It was
the 100th anniversary of the discovery of
Homo erectus and the conference was
dedicated to recognizing that date. Befo-
re the Conference, we also received won-
derful news – the analyses of our samples
sent to Germany confirmed that the age
of the Dmanisi site was 1.8 million years!
Lower jaw discovered in Dmanisi in 1991, known to the scientific world as D211
suddenly meeting and talking to pe-
ople who, until that time, I had kno-
wn only from books – experts whose
authority had influenced my choice
of profession. The main conclusion of
the report presented at the conferen-
ce by Academician Leo Gabunia was
that the lower jaw from Dmanisi was
related to the African group of Homo
erectus (Homo ergaster). After a detai-
led study of the jaw, this opinion still
remains valid for the most part, as well
as that regarding the age of the Dma-
nisi site, an opinion which many spe-
cialists at the time did not share. Our
opponents' main argument was "It is
impossible!"
Indeed it could be argued that bones
such as a jaw and teeth are less signifi-
cant for identification than a skull. There
is even a saying among paleoanthropolo-
gists: "God created the skull but the jaw
is the Devil's doing". However skulls later
discovered in Dmanisi have completely
dispelled the scientists' skepticism.
The hominin lower jaw is relatively well
preserved as it only lacks the rami (per-
pendicular bones that join the mandible
to the skull) and the base is damaged,
though all 16 teeth are present and show
only mild wear. It has clearly archaic fe-
atures: the lower jaw is very narrow and
massive, the beginning of the rami is
placed forwardly. The morphology of the
teeth appear very archaic, similar to con-
hominin is also characterized by seemin-
gly progressive signs such as the reduc-
tion of the size of its molars from M1 to
M3 (towards the wisdom teeth).
Twenty-six years have passed since
that discovery. The acquired data have
been strongly reinforced by those from
the best laboratories of the world. To-
day, scientists agree that the hominin
remains discovered in Dmanisi have
significantly changed the theories that
existed before. Research conducted by
Georgian scientists has confirmed that
the remains discovered here are the
earliest and the most primitive in Eura-
sia. This and other discoveries were wi-
dely recognized when the world's most
reputable scientific magazine Science
attributed it the third place among the
10 most important events of the year
2000, while a fifth skull, discovered in
2013, was named the “fossil of the year”.
Last year, in 2016, the Senckenberg In-
ternational Conference of Frankfurt was
actually held in Georgia, simultaneously
celebrating the 100th anniversary of the
discovery of the first Homo erectus and
the 25th anniversary of discovering Mzia.
The luminaries of the field, whom I had
known only from books and met in Frank-
furt for the first time 26 years ago, visited
Tbilisi and Dmanisi. Today international
scientific research continues in Dmanisi
and significant new discoveries are still
being made.
GEORGIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM 41