The morphological affinities of the plio-pleistocene mandible from Dmanisi, Georgia

The human mandible from Dmanisi, discovered in 1991, dates, according to current results, to probably the final Pliocene or early Pleistocene. It is thus of great importance for the understanding of early humans outside of Africa, especially because it, together with the remains from the nearby Ubeidiya site in Israel, is one of the few early finds from this region. The aim of the present study was to assess Dmanisi's affinities by comparing its major descriptive and metrical characteristics with those of a wide range of Homo fossils dated from ca. 1.9 to 0.25 Ma B.P. Original fossils from Africa and Asia, as well as a cast collection of the Zhoukoudian specimens, were used in this comparison. The analyses focus on features of the mandibular body and dimensions of the teeth. The metrical variables were also analysed with multivariate statistics. As the results show, many features and analyses reveal great overlap between early Homo/Homo habilis and chronologically defined subgroups of Homo erectus. Nevertheless, Dmanisi exhibits clear affinities to the H. erectus range. Despite its early date, this hominid possesses a number of progressive features (e.g. in the chin region, symphyseal cross-section, and teeth dimensions) which otherwise are more likely to occur in considerably later H. erectus specimens. (C) 1996 Academic Press Limited