1.8M-year-old human tooth found by archaeologists

A human tooth estimated to be 1.8 million years old was recently found by archaeologists in the country of Georgia.

The tooth was found near the village of Orozmani, near Dmanisi, where human skulls dated to around the same time were found in the 1990s and 2000s, Reuters reported.

When the skulls were found in Dmanisi, they were the oldest discovery of that kind outside of Africa, according to Reuters.

The recent discovery of the human tooth near Orozmani offers more evidence that early humans may have gone to the south Caucasus area first after leaving Africa, Reuters reported.

Georgian archaeologists found a 1.8-million-year-old tooth belonging to an early species of human https://t.co/lWfrNdtPQS pic.twitter.com/ocr7EucEda

— Reuters (@Reuters) September 9, 2022

The National Research Center of Archaeology and Prehistory of Georgia announced the discovery of the tooth on Thursday, Reuters reported.

Archeologists work at a dig site following the discovery of a tooth belonging to an early species of human near an excavation site in Dmanisi outside the village of Orozmani, Georgia, (REUTERS/David Chkhikvishvili)

In its announcement, the center explained: “Orozmani, together with Dmanisi, represents the center of the oldest distribution of old humans – or early Homo – in the world outside Africa.”

Jack Peart, the British archaeology student who found the tooth near Orozmani said the implications for the find are “enormous.”

Giorgi Bidzinashvili, an archaeologist and the dig team’s scientific leader, shows the tooth belonging to an early species of human, which was recovered from rock layers presumably dated to 1.8 million years old. (REUTERS/David Chkhikvishvili)

“It solidifies Georgia as a really important place for paleoanthropology and the human story in general,” he told Reuters.

Scientists believe that early humans started migrating out of Africa about 2 million years ago, Reuters reported.

The oldest early human fossils in the world – a partial jaw – were found in modern-day Ethiopia and are dated to about 2.8 million years ago.