Dmanisi

Dmanisi occupies a promontory between two river gorges where a medieval town stood, and excavation of that town in the 1980s found something older beneath it: stone tools, animal bones and then hominin remains, including several well-preserved skulls, dated to around one point eight million years, the earliest securely dated hominins found outside Africa. The finds reshaped arguments about when and how early humans first left the continent. The site is open with a shelter over the main excavation, a small museum and the ruins of the medieval town including a basilica and fortifications on the same promontory, with the gorges dropping away on either side.

History

The area around Dmanisi has been settled since the Early Bronze Age, and in the 6th century the cathedral of Dmanisi Sioni was built here. The town is first recorded in the 9th century as a possession of the Arab emirate of Tbilisi, and on the meeting of trade routes it grew into a major commercial centre of medieval Georgia, taken by the Seljuks in the 1080s and won back by David the Builder and Demetrios I between 1123 and 1125. Timur's armies laid it waste in the 14th century, and after the Turkomans sacked it again in 1486 it never recovered, shrinking to a scarcely inhabited village by the 18th century; its castle was held by the House of Orbeliani (Wikipedia, Dmanisi).

What's there

• The excavation under shelter - the layers where the skulls were found.
• The earliest hominins outside Africa - remains dated to about 1.8 million years.
• The medieval town above - basilica and fortifications on the promontory.
• The gorge setting - rivers on both sides of the site.

When to go

May to October; excavation seasons run in summer and the site is more interesting when work is under way. Half a day including the drive. Check opening days before travelling.

Practical notes

The original skulls are in Tbilisi, not here; the site shows casts and the excavation itself. Opening hours are limited and it closes in winter. Interpretation is basic. Getting there needs a car and the last roads are rough.

Nearby

Bolnisi is east; Tbilisi lies north-east.