Dmanisi

Dmanisi (Georgian: დმანისი, translit.: dmanisi; Georgian pronunciation: [dmɑnisi]) is a townlet and archaeological site in the Kvemo Kartli region of Georgia approximately 93 km southwest of the nation’s capital Tbilisi in the river valley of Mashavera. The hominin site is the earliest of its kind outside of Africa, dating back to 1.81 Ma.

A series of skulls from Dmanisi, discovered in the early 2010s, led to the hypothesis that many separate species in the Homo genus were in fact a single lineage. Also known as Skull 5, D4500 is the fifth skull to be discovered in Dmanisi.

The town of Dmanisi is first mentioned in the 9th century as a possession of the Arab emirate of Tbilisi, though the area had been settled since the Early Bronze Age. An Orthodox Christian cathedral – “Dmansis Sioni” – was built there in the 6th century. Located on the confluence of trading routes and cultural influences, Dmanisi was of particular importance, growing into a major commercial center of medieval Georgia. The town was conquered by the Seljuk Turks in the 1080s, but was later liberated by the Georgian kings David the Builder and Demetrios I between 1123 and 1125. The Turco-Mongol armies under Timur laid waste to the town in the 14th century. Sacked again by the Turkomans in 1486, Dmanisi never recovered and declined to a scarcely inhabited village by the 18th century. The castle was controlled by the House of Orbeliani.

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