Earliest Pleistocene Hominid Cranial Remains from Dmanisi, Republic of Georgia: Taxonomy, Geological Setting, and Age

Abstract

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.

Flores hominid: New species or microcephalic dwarf?

“…Although these specimens have in fact been referred to the taxon Homo ergaster, for geographical reasons they could conceivably be relevant to the origin of the Flores hominid. The four skulls from Dmanisi have a mean cranial capacity of only 664 cc (range, 600-775 cc) (Gabunia et al, 2000;Vekua et al, 2002;Rightmire et al, 2006). It has been suggested that the Flores hominid descended from such a small-brained population, but this proposal is also unconvincing.…”

New dating of the Homo erectus cranium from Lantian (Gongwangling), China

“…It extends the Northeast Asian fossil hominin record by ca. 500 ka as Gongwangling is now close in age to the earliest Eurasian hominin fossils, such as the 1.75 Ma specimens from Dmanisi, Georgia (Gabunia et al, 2000;Ferring et al, 2011), and Sangiran (ca 1.5e1.6 Ma), Indonesia (Larick et al, 2001). Gongwangling is thus now the second oldest site outside Africa with cranial evidence for H. erectus.…”

“…The cranium was identified as H. erectus, but considered as more primitive than those from Zhoukoudian near Beijing and Trinil in Java (Woo, 1965). Its cranial capacity (780 cm 3 ) is almost identical to that of specimen D2880 (775 cm 3 ) from Dmanisi, Georgia (Gabunia et al, 2000;Rightmire et al, 2006), and is smaller than those from younger Chinese Middle Pleistocene adult hominins (Anton, 2002). Wu and Poirier (1995) and Schwartz and Tattersall (2003) provide detailed summaries.…”

“…Wu and Poirier (1995) and Schwartz and Tattersall (2003) provide detailed summaries. Although mentioned in various publications on Early Pleistocene hominin morphology (e.g., Anton, 2002), it is often overlooked and further detailed examination in the light of recent discoveries from Dmanisi (Gabunia et al, 2000;Lordkipanidze et al, 2013) and Sangiran (Zaim et al, 2011) would be advantageous. Because Gongwangling lies in the southern part of the Loess Plateau, the main means of dating the hominin cranium and other evidence is by a combination of palaeomagnetism and correlations with loess and palaeosol sequences at other sections in the Chinese Loess Plateau.…”

“…1.75 Ma (millions of years ago) (Gabunia et al, 2000;Lordkipanidze et al, 2005Lordkipanidze et al, , 2006Rightmire et al, 2006;Lordkipanidze et al, 2007Lordkipanidze et al, , 2013; but see Bermúdez de Castro et al, 2014), followed shortly afterward by the oldest from Sangiran, Java, Indonesia that are dated to ca. 1.5e1.6 Ma (Larick et al, 2001;Bettis et al, 2009;Zaim et al, 2011).…”