Earliest Pleistocene hominid cranial remains from Dmanisi, Republic of Georgia: Taxonomy, geological setting, and age

Science

Volumn 288, Issue 5468, 2000, Pages 1019-1025

  Gabunia, Leo ^a   Vekua, Abesalom ^a   Lordkipanidze, David ^b   Swisher III, Carl C ^c   Ferring, Reid ^d   Justus, Antje ^e   Nioradze, Medea ^b   Tvalchrelidze, Merab ^b   Antón, Susan C ^f   Bosinski, Gerhard ^e   Jöris, Olaf ^e   Lumley, Marie A De ^g   Majsuradze, Givi ^b   Mouskhelishvili, Aleksander ^b  

^a INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS   (Georgia)

^b National Museum of Georgia   (Georgia)

^c BERKELEY GEOCHRONOLOGY CENTER   (United States)

^d UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS   (United States)

^e Romisch Germanisches Zentralmuseum   (Germany)

^f University of Florida   (United States)

^g CNRS   (France)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

PLEISTOCENE; SKULL; TAXONOMY;

ARCHEOLOGY; ARTICLE; CALVARIA; CHRONOLOGY; FOSSIL; GEOLOGY; HOMINID; HUMAN; HUMAN TISSUE; MIGRATION; MORPHOLOGY; PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY; PRIORITY JOURNAL; RUSSIAN FEDERATION; SKULL; TAXONOMY;

AFRICA; ANIMALS; ASIA; EMIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION; EUROPE; FEMALE; FOSSILS; GEOLOGIC SEDIMENTS; GEORGIA (REPUBLIC); HISTORY, ANCIENT; HOMINIDAE; HUMANS; MALE; PALEODONTOLOGY; SKULL;

GEORGIA;

EID: 0034640363     PISSN: 00368075     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1126/science.288.5468.1019     Document Type: Article

References (49)

1. J.-L. Arsuaga et al., J. Hum. Evol. 37, 430 (1999).
2. S. C. Antón, Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 102, 497 (1997).
3. L. Gabunia, Jahrb. RGZM 39, 185 (1992); L. Gabunia and A. Vekua, Nature 373, 509 (1995).
4. L. Gabunia, Jahrb. RGZM 39, 185 (1992); L. Gabunia and A. Vekua, Nature 373, 509 (1995).
5. H. Wanpo et al., Nature 378, 275 (1995). We consider that the mandible described in this report is most likely not from a hominid.
6. H. Yamei et al., Science 287, 1621 (2000).
7. R. G. Klein, The Human Career: Human Biological and Cultural Origins (Univ. of Chicago Press, ed. 2, Chicago, 1999), pp. 1-810.
8. O. Bar-Yosef, in Early Human Behavior in Global Context: The Rise and Diversity of the Lower Palaeolithic Record, M. D. Petraglia and R. Korisettar, Eds. (Routledge Press, London, 1998), pp. 221-279.
9. S. C. Antón, F. Aziz, Y. Zaim, in Conference Proceedings of International Association for Study of Human Paleontology and International Association of Human Biologists, "Humanity from African Naissance to Coming Millennia" (Edizioni Cadmo/Casalini Libri, Fiesole, Itàly, 2000), pp. 97-108. W. R. Leonard and M. L. Robertson in On the Move: How and Why Animals Travel in Groups, S. Boinski and P. A. Garber, Eds. (Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL, 2000), pp. 628-648.
10. S. C. Antón, F. Aziz, Y. Zaim, in Conference Proceedings of International Association for Study of Human Paleontology and International Association of Human Biologists, "Humanity from African Naissance to Coming Millennia" (Edizioni Cadmo/Casalini Libri, Fiesole, Itàly, 2000), pp. 97-108. W. R. Leonard and M. L. Robertson in On the Move: How and Why Animals Travel in Groups, S. Boinski and P. A. Garber, Eds. (Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL, 2000), pp. 628-648.
11. V. Dzaparidze et al., Jahrb. RGZM 36, 67 (1989).
12. G. Bräuer, W. Henke, M. Schultz, Jahrb. RGZM 42, 183 (1996); G. Bräuer and M. Schultz, J. Hum. Evol. 30, 445 (1996).
13. G. Bräuer, W. Henke, M. Schultz, Jahrb. RGZM 42, 183 (1996); G. Bräuer and M. Schultz, J. Hum. Evol. 30, 445 (1996).
14. A. Rosas and J. M. Bermudez de Castro, Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 107, 145 (1998).
15. I. Tattersall, Doss. Sci. I, 70 (1999).
16. D. Dean and E. Delson, Nature 373, 472 (1995).
17. G. Majsuradze, Jahrb. RGZM 42, 25 (1996).
18. L. Gabunia, A. Justus, A. Vekua, D. Lordkipanidze, Archaeol. Korrespond. 29, 299 (1999).
19. L. Gabunia, A. Vekua, T. Bugianishvili, Newsl. Georgian Acad. Sci. Biol. Ser. 14, 344 (1988); L. Gabunia and A. Vekua, L'Anthropologie 99, 29 (1992).
20. L. Gabunia, A. Vekua, T. Bugianishvili, Newsl. Georgian Acad. Sci. Biol. Ser. 14, 344 (1988); L. Gabunia and A. Vekua, L'Anthropologie 99, 29 (1992).
21. G. Bosinski, in The Earliest Occupation of Europe, W. Roebroeks and T. van Kolfschoten, Eds. (Univ. of Leiden Press, Leiden, Netherlands, 1995), pp. 263-268.
22. H. U. Schmincke and P. van den Bogaard, Jahrb. RGZM 42, 75 (1995).
23. D. Z. Sologasvili, E. S. Pavlenichvili, A. T. Goguitchaichvili, Jahrb. RGZM 42, 51 (1995).
24. A. Vekua, Jahrb. RGZM 42, 77 (1995).
25. A. Justus and M. Nioradze, in Dmanisi I, J. Kopaliani, Ed. (Georgian Academy of Sciences, Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia, 1998), pp. 140-159.
26. M. M. Rubinstejn et al., in Mezdunarodnoj kolokvium po prob. Grania mezdu neogenom I cetverticnoj sistemoj [Papers International Colloquium: The Boundary Between the Neogene and Quaternary] (Moscow, Russia, 1972), pp. 162-167.
27. W. A. Berggren, D. V. Kent, C. C. Swisher III, M.-P. Aubry, in Geochronology, Time Scales and Global Stratigraphic Correlation, W. A. Berggren, D. V. Kent, M.-P. Aubry, J. Hardenbol, Eds. (Spec. Publ. No. 54, Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, Tulsa, OK, 1995), pp. 129-212.
28. This description is taken from the Stage IV carbonate horizon development of L. H. Gile, F. F. Peterson, and R. B. Grossman [Soil Sci. 101, 347 (1966)].
29. Isotopic analyses are by J. Humphrey, Colorado School of Mines.
30. J. J. Saunders and B. K. Dawson, in Advances in Vertebrate Paleontology and Geochronology, Y. Tomida, L. Flynn, L. L. Jacobs, Eds. (National Science Museum Monographs no. 14, National Science Museum, Tokyo), pp. 215-242. Concentrations of fossil vertebrates within discrete podlike structures were interpreted as infills within excavated zones hollowed out by groundwater piping adjacent to a nearby river system.
31. E. Aguirre et al., in The Pleistocene Boundary and the Beginning of the Quaternary, J. A. Van Couvering, Ed. (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1997), pp. 114-128.
32. S. Semaw et al., Nature 385, 333 (1997).
33. B. Asfaw et al., Nature 360, 732 (1992).
34. L. Gabunia, A. Vekua, O. Lordkipanidzc, J. Hum. Evol. 38, 785 (2000).
35. C. C. Swisher III et al., Science 263, 118 (1994); C. C. Swisher III, paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Paleoanthropological Society, New Orleans, LA, 1996. L. Gabunia, A. Vekua, D. Lordkipanidze, J. Hum. Evol. 38, 785 (2000).
36. C. C. Swisher III et al., Science 263, 118 (1994); C. C. Swisher III, paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Paleoanthropological Society, New Orleans, LA, 1996. L. Gabunia, A. Vekua, D. Lordkipanidze, J. Hum. Evol. 38, 785 (2000).
37. C. C. Swisher III et al., Science 263, 118 (1994); C. C. Swisher III, paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Paleoanthropological Society, New Orleans, LA, 1996. L. Gabunia, A. Vekua, D. Lordkipanidze, J. Hum. Evol. 38, 785 (2000).
38. G.-J. Bartstra, Mod. Quat. Res. Southeast Asia 9, 99 (1985); F. Semah, A.-M. Semah, T. Dubiantantono, H. T. Simanjuntak, J. Hum. Evol. 23, 439 (1992); K. Schick and Z. Dong, Evol. Anthropol. 2, 22 (1993). H. L. Movius Jr., Trans. Am. Philos. Soc. Ser. 38, 329 (1948).
39. G.-J. Bartstra, Mod. Quat. Res. Southeast Asia 9, 99 (1985); F. Semah, A.-M. Semah, T. Dubiantantono, H. T. Simanjuntak, J. Hum. Evol. 23, 439 (1992); K. Schick and Z. Dong, Evol. Anthropol. 2, 22 (1993). H. L. Movius Jr., Trans. Am. Philos. Soc. Ser. 38, 329 (1948).
40. G.-J. Bartstra, Mod. Quat. Res. Southeast Asia 9, 99 (1985); F. Semah, A.-M. Semah, T. Dubiantantono, H. T. Simanjuntak, J. Hum. Evol. 23, 439 (1992); K. Schick and Z. Dong, Evol. Anthropol. 2, 22 (1993). H. L. Movius Jr., Trans. Am. Philos. Soc. Ser. 38, 329 (1948).
41. G.-J. Bartstra, Mod. Quat. Res. Southeast Asia 9, 99 (1985); F. Semah, A.-M. Semah, T. Dubiantantono, H. T. Simanjuntak, J. Hum. Evol. 23, 439 (1992); K. Schick and Z. Dong, Evol. Anthropol. 2, 22 (1993). H. L. Movius Jr., Trans. Am. Philos. Soc. Ser. 38, 329 (1948).
42. W. R. Leonard, S. C. Antón, M. R. Robertson, Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. Suppl. 28, 182 (1999); O. Bar-Yosef and A. Belfer-Cohen, in The Dmanisi Conference Volume, D. Lordkipanidze, D. M. Otte, O. Bar-Yosef, Eds. (Liège, Belgium, in press).
43. W. R. Leonard, S. C. Antón, M. R. Robertson, Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. Suppl. 28, 182 (1999); O. Bar-Yosef and A. Belfer-Cohen, in The Dmanisi Conference Volume, D. Lordkipanidze, D. M. Otte, O. Bar-Yosef, Eds. (Liège, Belgium, in press).
44. B. A. Wood, Koobi Fora Research Project, Volume 4, Hominid Cranial Remains From Koobi Fora (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1991).
45. A. Walker and R. Leakey, in The Nariokotome Homo erectus Skeleton, A. Walker and R. Leakey, Eds. (Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, MA), pp. 63-94.
46. F. Weidenreich, Paleontol. Sinica Ser. D 10, 1 (1943).
47. D. E. Lieberman, B. A. Wood, D. R. Pilbeam, J. Hum. Evol. 30, 97 (1996).
48. P. R. Renne et al., Chem. Geol. 145, 117 (1998).
49. Research at Dmanisi was funded by the Georgian Academy of Sciences (grant N1318). Excavations from 1992 through 1999 were funded by the Romisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum Forschungsinstitut für Vor-und Frühgeschichte (K. Weidemann, director). Geological, geochronological, and paleoanthropological aspects of this study were funded by the L.S.B. Leakey Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and NSF (grants SBR-9512684 and SBR-9601268 to R.F. and C.S. and SBR-9804861 to S.C.A.). Other aspects of the study were funded by The American School of Prehistoric Research, Peabody Museum, and by the Forschungsinstitut für Vor-und Frühgeschichte. We thank the head of the Dmanisi Department of the Georgian Archeological Centre, J. Kopaliani, and graduate students G. Kiladze and G. Nioradze (the students who first saw the new fossils) for their help during excavations; and Z. Kikodze for discussions and assistance. The final draft of this manuscript benefited from discussion with O. Bar-Yosef, A. Belfer-Cohen, and D. Pilbeam.