Archaeological site · Patara Dmanisi, Dmanisi Municipality, Kvemo Kartli
Dmanisi Archaeological Site
დმანისის ნაქალაქარი · Dmanisi Hominid Archaeological Site · Dmanisi Museum-Reserve · Dmanisi historic site
A promontory above the Mashavera and Pinezauri rivers where the ruins of medieval Dmanisi stand on deposits that yielded hominin fossils about 1.8 million years old.
Where it is
41.3373, 44.3457
Why go
Two sites share one hill. Above ground is the medieval town of Dmanisi, a royal city by the 12th century that had become a ruin by the 18th: its walls and citadel, the Dmanisi Sioni church, further churches, bathhouses and cemeteries spread across about 25 hectares of town and suburb. Beneath them, excavations recovered several early human individuals, including the skulls nicknamed Zezva and Mzia, which UNESCO's tentative-list entry treats as evidence of the earliest known hominin dispersal beyond Africa. The site is a museum-reserve of the Georgian National Museum and a cultural monument of national importance. Finds from the excavations are also shown at the Georgian National Museum in Tbilisi.
Near Dmanisi Archaeological Site
Church
Bolnisi Sioni
A three-nave basilica built in 478–493 in the village of Bolnisi in Kvemo Kartli, whose wall inscriptions are among the oldest known examples of Georgian writing.
15 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Church
Tsughrughasheni Church
A compact domed church of the early 13th century on the right bank of the Bolnisistskali, built of gold, purple and blue stone and crowned by an unusually tall drum pierced by ten carved windows.
16 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Archaeological site
Samshvilde
A ruined city on a promontory at the confluence of the Khrami and Chivchavi rivers in Tetritskaro municipality, with the shell of the eighth-century Sioni cathedral among its remains.
23 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Canyon
Dashbashi (Tsalka) Canyon
An eight-kilometre gorge of the Ktsia–Khrami river through volcanic rock beside Dashbashi village in Tsalka Municipality, protected as a natural monument, with waterfalls running down its walls.
33 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
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