Early Pleistocene stratigraphy, sedimentary environments, and formation contexts at Dmanisi in the Georgian Caucasus

Ferring R. Oms O. Nomade S. Humphrey J.D. Tappen M. Coil R. Shelia T. Crislip P. Chagelishvili R. Kiladze G. Guillou H. Lordkipanidze D.
November 2022 Academic Press

Journal of Human Evolution
2022 #172

The Early Pleistocene site of Dmanisi is now well known for its large number of fossils of early Homo erectus as well as associated artifacts and faunal remains, recovered mainly in pipe-related geologic features. Testing in the M5 unit 100 m to the west of the main excavations revealed a thick stratigraphy with no evidence of pipes or gullies, indicating that the geologic record at Dmanisi included spatially distinct sedimentary environments that needed further investigation. Here we report the results of a geoarchaeological program to collect data bearing on contexts and formation processes over a large area of the promontory. That work has defined over 40,000 m² of in situ deposits with artifacts and faunas. Stratum A ashes bury the uppermost Mashavera Basalt, which we have dated to 1.8 Ma in the M5 block. The Stratum A deposits contain stratified occupations that accumulated quickly and offer good potential for recovery of in situ materials. Stratum B1 deposits above the A/B unconformity include all of the pipe and gully facies at Dmanisi, reflecting a brief but very intense phase of geomorphic change. Those deposits contain the majority of faunas and all of the hominin fossils. B1 slope facies offer excellent formation contexts away from the piped area, and all B1 deposits are sealed by Stratum B2 over the whole promontory. Strata B2 to B5 register a return to slope facies, with no further evidence of pipes or gullies. Those deposits also present excellent contexts for recovery of in situ occupations. Overall, Dmanisis geologic history preserves an exceptional record of the activities and environmental context of occupations during the first colonization of Eurasia.

Caucasus , Dmanisi , Early Pleistocene , Eurasian Lower Paleolithic , Geoarchaeology , Site formation

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Department of Geography and the Environment, University of North Texas, 1155 Union Circle, Denton, 76208, TX, United States
Department of Geology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, 08193, Spain
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de lEnvironment LSCE/IPSL, UMR CEA-CNRS-UVSQ 8212 et Université Paris-Saclay, CEA Saclay, Bat 714, Orme des Merisiers, Gif sur Yvette, 91191, France
Department of Geosciences, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, 31261, Saudi Arabia
Department of Anthropology, University of Minnesota, 395 Humphrey Center, 301 19th Ave. South, Minneapolis, 55755, MN, United States
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Nazarbayev University, 53 Kabanbay Batyr Ave, Nur-Sultan, 010000, Kazakhstan
Georgian National Museum, 3/10 Shota Rustaveli Avenue, Tbilisi, 0105, Georgia

Department of Geography and the Environment
Department of Geology
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de lEnvironment LSCE/IPSL
Department of Geosciences
Department of Anthropology
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Georgian National Museum

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