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Anthropology

The earliest toothless hominin skull

Nature volume 434, pages 717–718 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

The site of Dmanisi in the Eurasian republic of Georgia has yielded striking hominin, faunal and archaeological material as evidence for the presence of early Homo outside Africa 1.77 million years ago, documenting an important episode in human evolution. Here we describe a beautifully preserved skull and jawbone from a Dmanisi hominin of this period who had lost all but one tooth several years before death. This specimen not only represents the earliest case of severe masticatory impairment in the hominin fossil record to be discovered so far, but also raises questions about alternative subsistence strategies in early Homo.

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Figure 1: Edentulous hominin skull from Dmanisi, Georgia.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Georgian State Museum, Tbilisi, 0105, Georgia

    David Lordkipanidze, Abesalom Vekua, Gocha Kiladze & Alexander Mouskhelishvili

  2. Institute of Palaeobiology, Tbilisi, 0104, Georgia

    Abesalom Vekua

  3. Department of Geography, University of North Texas, Denton, 76203, Texas, USA

    Reid Ferring

  4. Binghamton University, Binghamton, 13902, New York, USA

    G. Philip Rightmire

  5. Institut de Paleontologia M. Crussafont, Sabadell, 08201, Spain

    Jordi Agusti

  6. Georgian Archaeological Centre, Tbilisi, 0102, Georgia

    Medea Nioradze

  7. Anthropologisches Institut, Universität Zürich, Zürich, 8057, Switzerland

    Marcia S. Ponce de León & Christoph P. E. Zollikofer

  8. Department of Anthropology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, 55455, Minnesota, USA

    Martha Tappen

Authors
  1. David Lordkipanidze
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  2. Abesalom Vekua
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  3. Reid Ferring
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  4. G. Philip Rightmire
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  5. Jordi Agusti
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  6. Gocha Kiladze
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  7. Alexander Mouskhelishvili
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  8. Medea Nioradze
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  9. Marcia S. Ponce de León
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  10. Martha Tappen
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  11. Christoph P. E. Zollikofer
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to David Lordkipanidze.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Lordkipanidze, D., Vekua, A., Ferring, R. et al. The earliest toothless hominin skull. Nature 434, 717–718 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/434717b

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