14 DAY TRIAL // Archaeologists working at a site in the Dmanisi hills of the former Soviet republic of Georgia have recently discovered a number of skeletons that have been dated back to 1.8 million years ago. Experts believe that the new find may change the established timelines on when the earliest humans began to move out of Africa and populate the rest of the world. The entire “schedule” could be shifted by 800,000 years, as, by all accounts and purposes, such old skeletons should not have been found at this location.
The remains, which are exceptionally well preserved, are the oldest found anywhere other than Africa, which means that the existing theories may be wrong. If the skeleton analysis is proven correct, then it could be that the early humans left Africa 800,000 years before their departure was established by other finds, and then returned later on to spread throughout the continent. The bones, which hint at a race of small people, with a brain volume of about 600 cubic centimeters, were found alongside plants, animal remains and early stone tools, which suggest that their owners were hunters who shared the spoils of their hunt.
“Before our findings, the prevailing view was that humans came out of Africa almost 1million years ago, that they already had sophisticated stone tools, and that their body anatomy was quite advanced in terms of brain capacity and limb proportions. But what we are finding is quite different,” the Director of the Georgian National Museum, Professor David Lordkipanidze, explains, quoted by The Daily Mail. He says that, while Africa, indeed, remains the place where the first humanoids appeared, it could be that Georgia was the spot where the first anatomically modern Europeans emerged.
“While the Dmanisi people were almost modern in their body proportions, and were highly efficient walkers and runners, their arms moved in a different way and their brains were tiny compared to ours. Their brain capacity is about 600 cubic centimeters. The prevailing view before this discovery was that the humans who first left Africa had a brain size of about 1,000 cubic centimeters. Nevertheless they were sophisticated tool makers with high social and cognitive skills,” the expert has recently said at the British Science Festival, held at the Surrey University, in the UK.
“The question is whether Homo erectus originated in Africa or Eurasia, and if in Eurasia, did we have vice-versa migrations? This idea looked very stupid a few years ago, but not today,” he has added. The earliest humans are believed to have appeared in Africa some 2.5 million years ago, and to have steadily developed over the millennia. When the Homo erectus appeared, a first wave of migrations in Europe and Asia took place, but it was unsuccessful, and individuals died out. After the Homo sapiens developed, they too moved out to colonize the world, starting some 120,000 years ago, and, this time, our ancestors managed to do so successfully.