Travel Guide Dmanissi

93 km southwest of Tbilisi, the archaeological site of Dmanissi is famous: paleontologists have unearthed a human skull dating back 1.8 million years. It is the oldest human remains found outside the African continent. Since this discovery, Georgians like to claim that the first European man came from their country. If the city of Dmanissi is not of interest (neither is the excavation field, so go and see the room dedicated to the Dmanissi Man in the National Museum of Tbilisi), the place is nevertheless worth a trip to visit a superb church complex, dominated by the remains of a medieval city. The whole is part of a grandiose complex: that of the foothills of the Lesser Caucasus.Be careful not to confuse the names of the sites. The archaeological site is called Nakalakori Dmanissi, while Dmanissi is simply the name of the village. In the Middle Ages it was a very important trading centre and reached its peak in the 12th century. It derived its prosperity and wealth from its border location. Under Mongolian rule, the village became even richer, benefiting from the trade that flourished over an immense territory. Ruptured by the Turcomans in 1485, Dmanissi never recovered and began a long decline to become a simple village without scale again.