1. Georgian National Museum, 0105 Tbilisi, Georgia
2. Anthropologisches Institut, Universität Zürich, 8057 Zürich, Switzerland
3. Department of Anthropology, Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
4. Department of Anthropology, Washington University, St Louis, Missouri 63130, USA
5. Department of Geography, University of North Texas, Denton, Texas 76203, USA
6. Departament de Geologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain
7. Department of Anthropology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
8. ICREA, Institute of Human Paleoecology, University Rovira i Virgili, 43005 Tarragona, Spain
9. Senckenberg Research Institute, 99423 Weimar, Germany
10. Othar Lordkipanidze Center for Archaeological Research, 0102 Tbilisi, Georgia
11. Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Firenze, 50121 Firenze, Italy

Correspondence to: David Lordkipanidze¹ Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to D.L. (Email: dlordkipanidze@museum.ge).

Abstract

The Plio-Pleistocene site of Dmanisi, Georgia, has yielded a rich fossil and archaeological record documenting an early presence of the genus Homo outside Africa. Although the craniomandibular morphology of early Homo is well known as a result of finds from Dmanisi and African localities, data about its postcranial morphology are still relatively scarce. Here we describe newly excavated postcranial material from Dmanisi comprising a partial skeleton of an adolescent individual, associated with skull D2700/D2735, and the remains from three adult individuals. This material shows that the postcranial anatomy of the Dmanisi hominins has a surprising mosaic of primitive and derived features. The primitive features include a small body size, a low encephalization quotient and absence of humeral torsion; the derived features include modern-human-like body proportions and lower limb morphology indicative of the capability for long-distance travel. Thus, the earliest known hominins to have lived outside of Africa in the temperate zones of Eurasia did not yet display the full set of derived skeletal features.

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