| Homo georgicus Temporal range: Pleistocene |
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|---|---|
| Skull | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Primates |
| Family: | Hominidae |
| Genus: | Homo |
| Species: | H. georgicus |
| Binomial name | |
| †Homo georgicus Vekua et al., 2002 |
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| Location of discovery in Dmanissi, Georgia | |
Homo georgicus is a species of Homo that was suggested in 2002 to describe fossil skulls and jaws found in Dmanisi, Georgia in 1999 and 2001, which seem intermediate between Homo habilis and H. erectus.[1] A partial skeleton was discovered in 2001. The fossils are about 1.8 million years old. The remains were first discovered in 1991 by Georgian scientist, David Lordkipanidze, accompanied by an international team which unearthed the remains. Implements and animal bones were found alongside the ancient human remains.
At first, scientists thought they had found mandibles and skulls belonging to Homo ergaster, but size differences led them to name a new species, Homo georgicus, which would be the descendant of Homo habilis and ancestor of Asian Homo erectus.
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At around 600 cc (cubic centimeter)brain volume, the skull D2700 is dated to 1.77 million years old and in good condition offering insights in comparison to the modern human cranial morphology. The cranium was the smallest and most primitive Hominina skull ever discovered outside of Africa where typical Hominina, the Australopithecines and early Homo represent two distinctive evolutionary paths sharing a common ancestor. In Georgia the specimens with a brain half the size compared to anatomically modern humans were considered the smallest until the discovery of Homo floresiensis from the island of Flores in 2003. There is a strong sexual dimorphism present in the morphological beings revealing a primitive trait (less present in more modern humans in Europe, i.e. Homo antecessor, Homo heidelbergensis and Homo neanderthalensis), with males being significantly larger than females. Due to the dwarf morphology of this species, no subsequent role of H. georgicus can be so far determined. H. georgicus is the earliest known species of Homo to settle in Europe, some 800,000 years before H. erectus.
Subsequently, four fossil skeletons were found, showing a species primitive in its skull and upper body but with relatively advanced spines and lower limbs, providing greater mobility. They are now thought not to be a separate species, but to represent a stage soon after the transition between Australopithecus and Homo erectus, and have been dated at 1.8 million years before the present, according to the leader of the project, David Lordkipanidze.[2][3] The assemblage includes one of the largest Pleistocene Homo mandibles (D2600), one of the smallest Lower Pleistocene mandibles (D211), a nearly complete sub‐adult (D2735), and a completely edentulous specimen (D3900).[4]
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