New evidence for the development of Homo erectus in Europe first as opposed to Africa first has been published at the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS) web site on June 6, 20111.
Evidence from the Dmanisi indicates Homo erectus was active in Europe as early as 1.85 million years ago. The dating is corroborated by a variety of technical methods and by a comparison of skull size and body size of the numerous human ancestor fossils found at the Dmanisi sites. This date precedes any evidence of Homo erectus in Africa by 2000,000 years.
The evidence correlates with a similar time frame that has been established and verified for the development of Homo erectus in China.
The authors speculate that Homo erectus may have developed in Europe first and migrated south into Africa.
This discovery could rewrite the out of Africa scenario that has been widely accepted for many years.
Dmanisi is located in the southern Georgian Caucasus 55 km southwest of Tbilisi The prehistoric excavations at Dmanisi have been concentrated in the central part of a promontory that stands above the confluence of the Masavera and Pinasauri rivers.
Paper
Earliest human occupations at Dmanisi (Georgian Caucasus) dated to 1.85–1.78 Ma
Authors
Reid Ferring a,1, Oriol Oms b, Jordi Agustí c, Francesco Berna d,2, Medea Nioradze e, Teona Shelia e, Martha Tappen f, Abesalom Vekua e, David Zhvania e, and David Lordkipanidze e,1
aDepartment of Geography, University of North Texas, Denton, TX 76203; bDepartment of Geology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain; cInstitute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution, Catalan Institute for Research and Advanced Studies, 43005 Tarragona, Spain; dDepartment of Earth Sciences "Ardito Desio," Università degli Studi di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy; eGeorgian National Museum, 0105 Tbilisi, Georgia; and fDepartment of Anthropology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455
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