Dmanisi is the first field museum in Georgia located at the archeological site. With its architecture Dmanisi preserves world famous archeological layers, provides favorable conditions for scientific studies and caters to broad public interests.
While this filed museum creates conditions for archeological excavations, it also welcomes visiotrs, at the same time Dmanisi’s unique archeology fully reflects museology and educational concepts.
The museum is located at the archeological site which reveals well-preserved cultural layers from three periods: Stone, Bronze and Middle.
Dmanisi in the Middle Age
Dmanisi was founded as a Middle Age town in IX-X centuries; later it became a royal fortress and strategically point of the country’s south border protection system. In XII-XIII centuries during the Golden Age of Georgia Dmanisi was the center of commerce, handicraft of glass, bone and ceramics, metallurgy. In 1245 copper coins were mint. In this multiethnic city churches, a mosque, madras, baths, bridges, caravanserai, were built. Custom service was functioning. In this period Dmanisi populations’ cultural, ethnic and religious diversity was reflected on the complex structure of the city. Old city ruins of Dmanisi give a clear picture of medieval age city, with its structural segments of once strong city. 1. City defense system-inner castle, fence and gate, secret tunnel, 2. Inner districts (religious-ethnic, industrial territories, suburbs, 4. graveyards, 5. customs,.6. commercial neighborhood with suburban villages. The city was located at a crossroads of important trade routes branching from the Silk Road connecting East and West. In the end of the XIV century the city was destroyed as a result of Timur the Lame (Tamerlan) invasion, however, it continued to existing as a castle till the end of the XVIII century.
Late Bronze- Early Iron Age old settlement
Late Bronze-Early Iron Age old settlement is preserved only fragmentally as it was damaged during the construction of the medieval town. Old settlement is presented only as small construction ruins and agricultural underground storages - pits. The bottoms of two such pits were used as graves for human remains. One body of approximately 13-15 year-old person is inhumated lying on the right side with bent legs and arms. The other one is lying in lotus position spread on back with the head pointing to the West. The body is of a female aged approximately 35-40. Existing archeological materials date the Late bronze-Early Iron Age old settlement of Dmanisi to the end of Century II BC, beginning of Century I.
Stone Age
1.8-1.7 million years ago
Our excavations have revealed an extraordinary record of the earliest hominid dispersal beyond Africa. This site provides new evidence and opportunities to study questions about which hominids left Africa and when and why they did so. It also raises questions about these first hominids who were intercontinental travellers and who set in motion the migrations that would eventually lead to the human occupation of the planet as a whole.
The remains of several hominid individuals, including four skulls, three of them with maxillas, three mandibles, 15 isolated teeth, and 35 post-cranial remains makes it the richest and most complete collection of indisputable early Homo remains from any one site or comparable stratigraphic context and gives a unique opportunity to study variability within an earlyHomo population.
We know so little about the behaviour of the early hominids that our evidence mainly comes from stone tools. The edentulous skull found at the site, which had lost teeth several years before death, shows not only the earliest case of severe masticatory impairment in the hominid fossil record that has been discovered so far, but also raises questions about subsistence strategies in early Homo. The discovery of a toothless hominid at Dmanisi shows that this individual survived for a long time without consuming solid food that required heavy chewing: it is clear that he or she may not have been able to do so without help from other individuals.
Working hours:
Everyday, from 11.00-17.00Closed on Monday
Entrance fee: 3 GELStudents 1.50 GEL
Kids under 6 years 0.5 GEL
Disabled free of charge Guide 10 GEL for groups up to 15 persons
Address: Dmanisi region, Village of Patara Dmanisi
