On finishing his doctorate in Russia in 1991, David Lordkipanidze opted to return home to Georgia, a country facing political and economic uncertainty in the wake of declaring independence from the dissolved Soviet Union. There, the palaeoanthropologist, who is now director of the Georgian National Museum in Tbilisi, started work at an archaeological site beneath the medieval city of Dmanisi in southeastern Georgia, where crude stone tools and bones from prehistoric animals such as sabre-toothed tigers had been found.

Later that year, his homeland loyalty paid off when a well-preserved, clearly human jaw bone was found in the prehistoric layers. Although the find's significance took years to become apparent, it began Lordkipanidze's 16-year devotion to the site of humanity's first known forays outside Africa.

With Lordkipanidze's persistence and recruitment of international scholars, the site has yielded skulls and partial skeletons from at least five individuals, including one adolescent. These have been dated to 1.77 million years ago — the oldest indisputably human remains ever found in Eurasia. “Dmanisi is not only the oldest site outside Africa, but also the most prolific — a treasure trove of prehistoric archaeology,” says Lordkipanidze.

The Dmanisi finds changed prevailing views about when humans left Africa and who they were. The Dmanisi people were not the tall, big-brained, sophisticated tool-makers Homo erectus, who were originally thought to have been the first species to migrate from Africa to Europe. But neither, show Lordkipanidze and his colleagues on page 305 of this issue, should they be classified strictly as Homo habilis — the oldest species with modern human attributes found in Africa.

The brains of Dmanisi people are intermediate in size between those of H. habilis and H. erectus. Their skeletons show that they had legs and feet adapted for long-distance walking and running similar to those of modern humans, but hands and arms reminiscent of those of our tree-dwelling ancestors.

Only 5% of the 13,000 square-metre site has been excavated so far, and for many years it was poorly protected from the elements and looting, covered by just a simple plastic tarpaulin roof. Through fundraising and outreach, Lordkipanidze has ensured the site's integrity. A permanent dome has been built over the site, and includes laboratory space and an open-air museum. This is scheduled to open to the public in October.

“Archaeology should be a source of national pride and part of the economy,” says Lordkipanidze. “If Georgia is to be a successful country, science needs to be part of the culture and not just for a small club of scientists.” He hopes that Dmanisi's updated protection will qualify it for classification as a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Heritage Site. At Dmanisi, he adds, “you can travel back through time, first through a medieval city, then the Bronze Age, and finally prehistory.”

Lordkipanidze's dedication to his country's scientific progress is inborn — his father founded the country's Center for Archaeological Research, which is based in Tbilisi. But Lordkipanidze chose not to follow his father's footsteps into classical archaeology, being drawn instead to probe man's origins.