Archaeologists have found teeth in Georgia belonging to the initial species of humans who are believed to be 1.8 million years old. This discovery was carried out last week by a research student near the excavation site in Orozmani Village, 100 kilometers southwest of the Capital Tbilisi. Gigi is one of the oldest signs of hominid found outside Africa, according to a report in US Today.
Orozmani Village is close to Dmanisi, where human skulls as time 1.8 million years ago was discovered in the late 1990s and early 2000s, reported The Guardian.
Giorgi Kopaliani, an archaeologist with the Georgian National Museum, quoted by USA Today, “He showed Gigi to the team from the Georgia National Museum who led the excavation. Then we contacted our paleontologist and he confirmed it was Gigi Hominin.”
The excavation in Orozmani was started by Mr. Kopaliai and his team in 2019 but was stopped among them because of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. The team began to dig again last year and has since found prehistoric stone equipment and extinct species such as a sword-toothed cat and ethruscan wolves so far.
According to Mr. Kopaliani, the teeth found last week were one of the oldest evidence of the early human species found outside Africa, the outlet was reported further.
In addition to continuing to explore the Orozmani site for another week, the team, directed by fellow archeologists Giorgi Bidzinashvili, aims to expand the crew and excavation areas in the future.
“Based on this Gigi, the information we get from this site and its proximity to the Dmanisi Site, now we … can talk about the hominin population in this area,” Kopaliiai said. “There is still much to do, there is still much to learn,” he added.
