Dmanisi and dispersal

Evidence of early Pleistocene hominid dispersal outside of Africa is scant and controversial. (1-4) Most of the early evidence appeared to support a r elatively late initial migration (after 1.0 Ma), suggesting that, for homin ids, Acheulean technological innovation was one of the prerequisites of dis persal.(5,6) The past decade, however, has seen increasing evidence that su ggests a substantially earlier dispersal, starting around 1.8 Ma. If that e vidence is correct, such an early dispersal may be better envisioned as dri ven more strongly by biological and ecological factors than by technologica l breakthroughs.(7-10) The context and morphology of the first hominids to disperse from Africa is critical information for testing these two scenario s. Here we discuss recent discoveries from the early Pleistocene site of Dm anisi, Republic of Georgia, and their implications for models of early homi nid dispersal.