La prima culla del vino: 6.000 a.C.

Earliest evidence 

of wine making 

found in Georgia 

Intensive archaeological excavations currently taking place in Georgia could prove the country was the birthplace of vine cultivation. 

Archaeological excavations currently taking place in Georgia's southern region  could prove the country was the birthplace of vine cultivation  [Credit: Agende News] 

Georgia’s Minister of Culture and Monument Protection Mikheil Giorgadze visited Imiri village in Georgia’s Kvemo Kartli region today where excavations are currently taking place. 
The findings of the dig could prove that ancient people from this site first used wild grapes and vines for health, religious and spiritual reasons, with the vine culture later spreading around the globe. 
Since ancient times in Georgia, the grape vine and wine has been closely related to cult and religious rituals. 
This was true for Georgia in both pagan and Christian times. 
Still today, grapes, grape juice and its products occupy an important place in the diet of the Georgian people. 
In 2014 the National Museum and the National Wine Agency implemented a joint international project to research the history of Georgian wine, which involved an archaeological dig. 
The Government-supported project, titled ‘Research of Georgian Vine and Wine Cultures’, revealed some of the artifacts uncovered in the excavations. 

Excavation works at the Imiri village  [Credit: Agende News] 

Today these findings were presented at Imiri village. 
Some of the findings were grape skins and pips inside old Qvevri (clay) vessels, as well as vessels that contained dusty remains of cultivated vines that date back to the 6th millennium BC. 

The diversity of the wild and indigenous grape varieties, the unique wine vessel (the Qvevri) and the oldest technologies of making wine by Qvevri all confirm that Georgia is truly an ancient wine making country,” said director of the National Museum Davit Lortkipanidze. 

According to archaeological studies the earliest traces of viticulture and wine were found in ancient Neolithic settlements in the neighbourhood of Imiri village. 

Specifically, the archaeological excavations on the territory of Kvemo Kartli saw experts uncover grape seeds that dated back 7-6 thousand years BC. 
It has been confirmed that during the early Neolithic period, people in both eastern and western Georgia were familiar with the culture of wine and wine played an important role 
in the economic life of the local population.

As well as grape seeds and skins, archaeologists also unearthed the remains of cultural wheat and legumes, agricultural implements and pottery, proving that in the Neolithic period, the inhabited humans developed agricultural activities including viticulture and wheat growing. 
Archaeological excavations currently taking place in southern region of Georgia could prove the country was the birthplace of vine cultivation. 
Officials noted Georgia was the only country to have preserved archaic methods of making, keeping and consuming wine, which had been lost in other winemaking centres. 

Excavation works at the Imiri village  [Credit: Agende News] 

The ancient Qvevri vessels that date back to the Neolithic era were discovered during different archaeological excavations. 
Over several digs excavators found cultural vine fossil seeds, tartaric acid remains on the fragments of Qvevri jars and resin from the domesticated use of the grapevine. 
Officials noted the discovery of fragments of the Qvevri clay vessels testified to the fact that as early as the Neolithic period there was not a fledgling, but rather an already well-developed stage of agriculture in Georgia, indicating that these people had started the domestication of the vine on the territory of Georgia even earlier than this period. 

Today, wild grape varieties still spread throughout Georgian territory. 
In the 1980s, the forest vine was included on Georgia’s Red List as an object of state protection. 
Along with wild vine, more than 500 domestic grape varieties are found in Georgia. 

Un filmato (in lingua Inglese):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnWN1XLKjrw

Source: Agende News [May 21, 2015]

Due specie umane, in Georgia.

Certamente, dopo il Falso del cosiddetto "Uomo di Piltdown" la prudenza non è mai troppa, visto il numero di ciarlatani che affollano le strade della SCENZA (più che della Scienza)...
Ma non si può negare che l'ipotesi sia affascinante: due specie differenti di uomo sarebbero state presenti nell'antica terra che oggi si chiama Georgia. Una sarebbe più antica  e corrisponderebbe all'Homo Erectus (1.8 milioni d'anni) e l'altro, giunto più tardi (di alcune centinaia di migliaia d'anni più 'giovane') sarebbe già un Homo di origine  africana. Il tema è ancora discusso: vedremo più in là se ulteriori scavi scioglieranno i dubbi.


Human ancestors at West Asian site deemed two 

species 



 A controversial fossil and soil analysis concludes that a key West Asian site hosted not one but two Homo species, one living around 1.8 million years ago and another several hundred thousand years later. 

These ancient lower jaws excavated in West Asia come from two different Homo species, a contested study concludes. 

The assessment conflicts with the proposal by the fossils’ discoverers that they represent a single species 

[Credit: Dmanisi Team/Georgian National Museum]

 A team that excavated partial skeletons at Dmanisi, in the nation of Georgia, categorized the finds as part of one species, Homo erectus, that lived in Africa and West Asia 1.8 million years ago (SN: 11/16/13, p. 6). But disparities in several skeletal features that emerge early in life distinguish a large Dmanisi lower jaw from two smaller ones, signaling the presence of separate species, asserts a team led by paleoanthropologist José María Bermúdez de Castro of the National Research Center on Human Evolution in Burgos, Spain. The small jaws come from a population that was closely related to early African Homo populations, the scientists conclude February 20 in PLOS ONE. 
The team suggests the larger jaw belonged to Homo georgicus, a poorly understood species. Excavation director David Lordkipanidze of the Georgian National Museum in Tbilisi disagrees. Shape similarities among Dmanisi skulls that fit the lower jaws indicate that only one Homo species occupied the site. Geologic studies show that the Dmanisi fossils are no younger than 1.76 million years old, he adds. 

Author: Bruce Bower 

Source: Science News [Febryary 28, 2014]
Read more at: http://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.it/2014/02/human-ancestors-at-west-asian-site.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+TheArchaeologyNewsNetwork+(The+Archaeology+News+Network)#.UxR3QeN5OSp
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Evoluzione più semplice del previsto?

1.8M-year-old skull gives glimpse of our evolution

The discovery of a 1.8-million-year-old skull of a human ancestor buried under a medieval Georgian village provides a vivid picture of early evolution and indicates our family tree may have fewer branches than some believe, scientists say.

In this photo taken Oct. 2, 2013, in Tbilisi, Georgia, David Lordkipanidze, director of the Georgia National Museum, holds a pre-human skull found in 2005 in the ground at the medieval village Dmanisi, Georgia. The discovery of a 1.8 million-year-old human ancestor, the most complete ancient hominid skull found to date, captures early human evolution on the move in a vivid snapshot and indicates our family tree may have fewer branches than originally thought, scientists say [AP/Shakh Aivazov]

The fossil is the most complete pre-human skull uncovered. With other partial remains previously found at the rural site, it gives researchers the earliest evidence of human ancestors moving out of Africa and spreading north to the rest of the world, according to a study published in the journal Science.

The skull and other remains offer a glimpse of a population of pre-humans of various sizes living at the same time — something that scientists had not seen before for such an ancient era. This diversity bolsters one of two competing theories about the way our early ancestors evolved, spreading out more like a tree than a bush.

This photo taken Oct. 2, 2013, in Tbilisi, Georgia, shows a pre-human skull, that was found in 2005 in the ground at the medieval village Dmanisi, Georgia. The discovery of the 1.8 million-year-old human ancestor captures early human evolution on the move in a vivid snapshot and indicates our family tree may have fewer branches than originally thought, scientists say [Credit: AP/Shakh Aivazov]

Nearly all of the previous pre-human discoveries have been fragmented bones, scattered over time and locations — like a smattering of random tweets of our evolutionary history. The findings at Dmanisi are more complete, weaving more of a short story. Before the site was found, the movement from Africa was put at about 1 million years ago.

When examined with the earlier Georgian finds, the skull "shows that this special immigration out of Africa happened much earlier than we thought and a much more primitive group did it," said study lead author David Lordkipanidze, director of the Georgia National Museum. "This is important to understanding human evolution."

In this photo taken Oct. 2, 2013, ancient skulls and jaws of pre-human ancestors are displayed at the Georgia National Museum in Tbilisi, Georgia. The discovery of an estimated 1.8-million-year-old skull of a human ancestor found below Dmanisi, a medieval Georgian village, captures early human evolution on the move in a vivid snapshot and indicates our family tree may have fewer branches than originally thought, scientists say. It is the earliest evidence of human ancestors moving out of Africa and spreading north to the rest of the world [Credit: AP/Shakh Aivazov]

For years, some scientists have said humans evolved from only one or two species, much like a tree branches out from a trunk, while others say the process was more like a bush with several offshoots that went nowhere.

Even bush-favoring scientists say these findings show one single species nearly 2 million years ago at the former Soviet republic site. But they disagree that the same conclusion can be said for bones found elsewhere, such as Africa. However, Lordkipanidze and colleagues point out that the skulls found in Georgia are different sizes but are considered to be the same species. So, they reason, it's likely the various skulls found in different places and times in Africa may not be different species, but variations in one species.

This 2005 photo provided by the journal Science shows a 1.8 million-year-old pre-human skull found in the ground at the medieval village Dmanisi, Georgia. It's the most complete ancient hominid skull found to date, and it is the earliest evidence of human ancestors moving out of Africa and spreading north to the rest of the world, according to a study published Thursday, Oct. 17, 2013, in the journal Science. Next to it is a large rodent tooth for comparison [Credit: AP/Georgia National Museum]

To see how a species can vary, just look in the mirror, they said. "Danny DeVito, Michael Jordan and Shaquille O'Neal are the same species," Lordkipanidze said.
The adult male skull found wasn't from our species, Homo sapiens. It was from an ancestral species — in the same genus or class called Homo — that led to modern humans. Scientists say the Dmanisi population is likely an early part of our long-lived primary ancestral species, Homo erectus.

In this photo taken Oct. 2, 2013, in Tbilisi, Georgia, David Lordkipanidze, director of the Georgia National Museum, holds a 1.8 million-year-old pre-human skull and jaw found in 2005 in the ground at the medieval village Dmanisi, Georgia. The discovery of a 1.8 million-year-old human ancestor, the most complete ancient hominid skull found to date, captures early human evolution on the move in a vivid snapshot and indicates our family tree may have fewer branches than originally thought, scientists say [Credit: AP/Shakh Aivazov]

Tim White of the University of California, Berkeley, wasn't part of the study but praised it as "the first good evidence of what these expanding hominids looked like and what they were doing."

Fred Spoor at the Max Planck Institute in Germany, a competitor and proponent of a busy family tree with many species disagreed with the study's overall conclusion, but he lauded the Georgia skull discovery as critical and even beautiful.

"It really shows the process of evolution in action," he said.

Spoor said it seems to have captured a crucial point in the evolutionary process where our ancestors transitioned from Homo habilis to Homo erectus — although the study authors said that depiction is going a bit too far.

The researchers found the first part of the skull, a large jaw, below a medieval fortress in 2000. Five years later — on Lordkipanidze's 42nd birthday — they unearthed the well-preserved skull, gingerly extracted it, putting it into a cloth-lined case and popped champagne. It matched the jaw perfectly. They were probably separated when our ancestor lost a fight with a hungry carnivore, which pulled apart his skull and jaw bones, Lordkipanidze said.

The skull was from an adult male just shy of 5 feet (1.5 meters) with a massive jaw and big teeth, but a small brain, implying limited thinking capability, said study co-author Marcia Ponce de Leon of the University of Zurich. It also seems to be the point where legs are getting longer, for walking upright, and smaller hips, she said.
"This is a strange combination of features that we didn't know before in early Homo," Ponce de Leon said.

Author: Seth Borenstein | Source: The Associated Press [October 17, 2013]