First human settlement of the Caucasus: Technical behavior and raw material acquisition at Dmanisi, Georgia (1.77Ma)
Résumé
The discovery of the Dmanisi site in southern Caucasus dated to1.77 Ma has questioned the existing theories concerning the firstmigrations of hominids out of Africa and the age of their firstsettlement of Eurasia (Gabunia et al., 2000a, 2002; Bar-Yosef andBelfer-Cohen, 2001). Sites with Plio-Pleistocene lithic assemblageshave been recognized mainly on the African continent (Leakey,1971; Roche and Tiercelin, 1977; Kibunjia et al., 1992; Roche andKibunjia, 1994; Semaw, 2000; Sahnouni et al., 2002; Roche et al.,2003; Semaw et al., 2003; Lumley and de Beyene, 2004). There arefew such sites in Eurasia, and these seem to be younger as well(Gaillard, 2006; Despriee et al., 2006; Lumley et al., 2002; Arzarelloet al., 2007; Turq et al., 1996; Shchenlinsky et al., 2008). There arenumerous unanswered questions regarding the chronology ofthese ancient archeological sites. The first stages of the colonizationof Eurasia are based on human fossils as well as knapped stone-tools used as markers of technical traditions. The Dmanisi site isexceptionally rich in human fossil remains and artifacts. This makesit a reference site for deciphering technical behavior and environ-mental adaptations of hominids in the early Pleistocene in this partof the world. The results presented in this paper indicate thegeneral framework of tool knapping activities of hominids in theEarly Pleistocene of the southern Caucasus.