HOMO GEORGICUS THE HISTORY OF HUMAN EVOLUTION

COLCHIS, LAND OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE
Myths in places with real treasures
THE EARLIEST HUMAN
STORY
Batumi Archaeological Museum
ZEZVA AND MZIA: THE FIRST “EUROPEANS”
Hello, we are Zezva and Mzia, most elderly spouses from Georgia. These are typical old-fashioned Georgian names. They are given to us by
the international team of archaeologists working in Dmanisi. It is the small Georgian town close to the Armenian border, where we were
unearthed. We really do not know how this place was called 1,8 million years ago -when we came there from Africa,- probably it was
called simply the Earth.
HOMO GEORGICUS
Early human fossils, dubbed Homo georgicus, were found at Dmanisi between 1991 and 2001. Their copies were exhibited in the Batumi
Archaeological Museum since 2014. At 1,8 million years old, Homo georgicus represents a stage soon after the transition between
Australopithecus* and Homo erectus**, and represent the earliest stage of human presence in the Eurasia.
* Australopithecus is an extinct genus of hominids apparently evolved in eastern Africa around 4 million years ago.
** Homo erectus, meaning the “upright man” is an extinct species of hominid that lived 1.9 million years ago.
THE HISTORY OF HUMAN EVOLUTION NEEDS TO BE REWRITTEN
David Lordkipanidze, director of the Georgian National Museum and principal initiator of donations for the Batumi Archaeological
Museum, claims that his discovery of the bones of a couple known as Zezva and Mzia, puts Georgia at the center of the archaeological
world. The discovery questions the theory that the first hominids dispersed from Africa were Homo erectus, a species with large brains
and bodies approaching the size of humans. Both the National Geographic and the Science magazines have put Zezva and Mzia on their
covers, noting that they hold the key to human evolution. “Perhaps early humans took a detour into Eurasia before an epic journey out of
Africa. The world should know that we are preserving a world heritage.” Lordkipanidze says.