An ancient human tooth discovered by archaeologists in Georgia dates back 1.8 million years, firmly establishing the area as the site of one of the first prehistoric human settlements in Europe and potentially the world outside of Africa.
The teeth was found close to Orozmani, a settlement some 100 kilometres (62 miles) southwest of Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, and close to Dmanisi, where in the late 1990s and early 2000s, 1.8 million-year-old human skulls were unearthed.
The Dmanisi findings revolutionised scientists’ perceptions of early human evolution and migration patterns because they were the oldest discovery of its kind made outside of Africa.The most recent find at a location 20 km away adds to the growing body of evidence showing that the hilly south Caucasus region was probably one of the first places early people inhabited after leaving Africa, according to experts.
According to Georgia’s National Research Centre for Archaeology and Prehistory, the teeth was found on Thursday. The oldest dispersal of ancient humans—or early Homo—found outside of Africa is located in Orozmani, along with Dmanisi.
The teeth, according to the research team’s leader Giorgi Bidzinashvili, belongs to a “relative” of Zezva and Mzia, two nearly entire 1.8-million-year-old fossilised skulls discovered at Dmanisi.