World-famous Dmanisi skull in Leiden
The Dmanisi skull is the oldest example of a hominin skull to be found outside Africa. It therefore plays a crucial role in the debate on the migrations of our ancestors. The skull was into Schiphol airport on Friday 27 November to be exhibited in Naturalis. The exhibition opened with a symposium led by Spinoza prize winner Wil Roebroeks.
The skill was transported under strict security from Tblisi, Georgia, to the Netherlands on Friday 27 November to be exhibited in the auditorium of Naturalis in Leiden. This was the first time that the skull left its safe in the National Historic Museum of Tblisi to be put on public display. At 1.8 million years old, it is the oldest example of a hominin skull to be found outside Africa. The find was made in 1983 in the medieval city of Dmanisi, in Georgia.
The Dmanisi skull
The Dmanisi skull is exhibited from 28 November to 28 February in the Naturalis Museum. The exibition was opened with a symposium on the finds in Dmanisi and the evolution of man. The symposium was organised by archaeologist Wil Roebroeks, winner of the Spinoza prize in 2007, as part of the Spinoza project.
The medieva walled city of Dmanisi, Georgia, where the skull was discovered.
Together with his colleague Robin Dennell from Sheffield, Roebroeks questioned the theory that hominins were found up to 1.8 million years ago only in Africa. The first hominins were thought to have migrated from Africa to colonise Asia. According to the assumptions held until recently, early hominins began to spread from 1.8 million years ago from Africa to Asia. Roebroeks and Dennell believe that these hominins left Africa much earlier and continued an independent branch of development in Asia. Africa was then populated 1.8 million years ago by these hominins from Asia.
More about the symposium and exhibition
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