HUMAN EVOLUTION: Homo Erectus Saber

Homo Erectus vs. Saber Tooth: A Eurasia Archaeology Site Reveals What Early Humans Faced

Orozmani, a significant new archaeological site in the Caucasus near Dmanisi, depicts the dispersal of Homo erectus out of Africa and the people it encountered along the way. 

In the summer of 2021, development on a new "early human" site continued apace in a lush river valley in the Caucasus. The findings from Orozmani, Georgia, first discovered two years ago, confirm the theory that Homo erectus was the first hominin to reach Eurasia — and that it was not the only hominin in town.

The early Pleistocene site of Orozmani, located on the banks of a tributary of the Mashavera River, is 120 kilometers from Tbilisi, Georgia's capital, and 20 kilometers from Dmanisi, home of the earliest known hominins from Africa, Homo erectus, who arrived there around 1.8 million years ago.

The saga of Orozmani began in 2019 when the first survey test pit yielded early Pleistocene saber tooth tiger Homotherium fossils as well as stone artifacts.

 Puddy Homotherium

The tools were identified as belonging to the Olduwan industry, according to Georgian National Museum archaeologist Giorgi Bidzinashvili. From around 2.6 million years ago until gradually being displaced by more advanced skills, the Olduwan Industry was the main stone tool technique.

The techniques identified are belong to the Olduwan industry, according to Georgian National Museum archaeologist Giorgi Bidzinashvili. From around 2.6 million years ago until gradually being displaced by more advanced skills, the Olduwan Industry was the main stone tool technique.

Two Olduwan-style flakes and one hammer stone were discovered during the initial survey at Orozmani. More excavation was required as a result of the finds, and the first archaeological field season at the site took place in the hot summer days of 2021.

The excavation was mostly carried out by the Orozmani field school, with the assistance of eager local and international volunteers armed with brushes, picks, and a desire to learn more. Bidzinashvili told Haaretz that they discovered other relics of extinct creatures from the Early Pleistocene period, as well as stone tools knapped by early hominins, Homo erectus.

  Elephant pes bone and cervid mandible, Orozmani

They discovered elephant, deer, horse, bovid, antelope, wolf, and coprolites (fossil feces) of hyenas, as well as numerous saber tooth cat fossils, to help us draw and better comprehend the ecosystem that Homo erectus faced as they roamed the Caucasus.

More stone tools were discovered, including flakes, cores, and hammer stones, all of which of Olduwan type.

In Africa, stone toolmaking dates back over 3.3 million years. The early attempts produced enormous and primitive stone artifacts, some weighing a few kilos, predating the considerably more complex Olduwan Industry, which was first reported by Mary and Louis Leakey in the 1930's near the Olduwai Gorge in Tanzania, hence the name. More tools were discovered in later decades until the 1970s, and they were eventually divided into three categories: Modes I, II, and III.

The Style I tools were "pebble tool" businesses, which included pounders, scrapers, choppers, and cores with one side left undisturbed while the other was knapped. This is the kind of tool that can be found in Orozmani.

The New predator in town

The tools were discovered with the remains of extinct animals, including the predator Homeotherium, a saber-toothed tiger that inhabited Eurasia, Africa, and North and South America from around 5 million to 28,000 years ago.

This beast weighed around 190 kilograms (420 lb) and stood at a shoulder height of 1.1 meters (3 feet 7 inches).

Serrated fang of saber tooth tiger, Homotherium, found at Orozmani, the better to eat elephants

His upper canines were shorter than those of its saber toothed pals Smilodon and Megantereon, but they were no less dangerous.

The daybreak is greeted by a Smilodon: Homotherium was identical to           Homotherium, but had smaller fangs.

Scholars believe Homeotherium was a social predator. Separate research reveals that Homo erectus was a committed carnivore who became a new participant in town, fighting for meat resources with the cat in its domain.

Were the animal remains recovered as a result of early hunting, scavenged and transported to the site, or processed on the spot? More studies could shed light on the subject.

  Excavation the remains of an antelope at Orozmani

While no hominin fossils have been discovered at Orozmani (at least not yet), they have been found nearby in Dmanisi. Five skulls and a slew of post-cranial bones discovered in the early 1990s were called Homo erectus georgicus: a hominin with some archaic features on the one hand and more modern features that resembled those of Homo erectus on the other.

The fossils, which date back to around 1.8 million years ago, are the earliest evidence of hominins discovered outside of Africa.

The Dmanisi hominins included people of various ages and even one toothless adult, which archaeologists interpret as an early sign of social behavior: he would most likely require the assistance of his peers in chewing food for him. Also archaeologists in Iraq uncovered the remains of Neanderthals in terrible condition who would have needed assistance as well. 

 Nevertheless, there are no hominin remains in Orozmani, there is clear evidence of hominin activity, which has helped researchers better date the arrival of early humans in Eurasia.

Orozmani's key contributions include date and information that can help us reconstruct the paleo-environment in which Homo erectus lived when it arrived in the Caucasus.

The scientists were able to fine-tune the dating and the paleo-environmental reconstruction in a paper published in 2011 by a collaboration of French and Georgian scholars, Erwan Messager, S. Nomade, Pierre Voinchet, R. Ferring, Ana Mgeladze, Herve Guillou, and David Lordkipanidze on the Kveno Orozmani geological sequence.

Kvemo Orozmani and Dmanisi are both located on the same Mashavara lava flow basalts, which are 1.83 million years old. However, Orozmani is significant since it was also covered by Orozmani basalts that did not reach Dmanisi, allowing us to date the two sites and their habitation to between 1.83 and 1.77 million years ago.

The team was able to reconstruct the climate and environment these pioneers endured by using phytoliths, which are siliceous plant remnants found in sediments. The temperature in the lower Caucasus was hot and humid when the Erectuses first arrived. However, as previously predicted based on the Dmanisi discoveries, it got drier and colder through time.

As the climate became less hospitable around 1.77 million years ago, Homo georgicus found itself vying for resources with other predators like Homotherium and hyenas. True, their forefathers had to contend with such massive and vicious predators in Africa, but at least in Pleistocene-era Georgia, they didn't have to contend with competition from other early humans.