Dmanisi, one of the most significant archeological sites in the world
On a regional visit of OSCE countries, Ambassador and Mrs. Minikes stopped at the Dmanisi archeological dig in Georgia. Ambassador Minikes, the U.S. Ambassador to the OSCE, toured the site with Georgian State Museum Director, David Lordkipanidze who explained that the human remains found at Dmanisi date back 1.8 million years (to the Pleistocene Age), making the skulls the oldest human remains found outside of Africa, and among the oldest human remains found anywhere in the world. The findings at Dmanisi are forcing scientists to rethink human evolution.
These amazing discoveries were made as scientists were excavating the ruins of the medieval town of Dmanisi. Dmanisi was located on the famous silk road and caravan routes to Bysantium, Armenia and Persia converged at Dmanisi. Beneath the medieval cellars archeologists discovered rhinoceros teeth, sabertooth tiger remains, and early human remains which have been dubbed, “Dmanisi Man”.
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| Two scientists working on exposed bones (seen to right) under the shade of the protective blue tarp |
American graduate students working on the archeological dig under the blue shade of the tarp |
Geologist Reed Ferring |
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| Scientists hard at work - each responsible for a different square |
Ambassador Minikes looks on as a graduate student maps her find |
Graduate students at work |
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