IPHES-CERCA researchers participate in the international conference “100+35 Years of Homo erectus: Dmanisi and Beyond” in Tbilisi
The meeting brought together international specialists to review the latest evidence on the evolution, behaviour, dispersal and environmental contexts of Homo erectus
IPHES-CERCA researchers have participated in the international conference “100+35 Years of Homo erectus: Dmanisi and Beyond”, held in Tbilisi (Georgia) from 10 to 13 September 2026. The meeting brought together international specialists in human evolution to discuss the latest advances in the study of Homo erectus, a key species for understanding the earliest human dispersals out of Africa.
The conference held particular significance in the history of palaeoanthropology. In 1991, exactly one hundred years after the discovery of Pithecanthropus erectus in Java, the first hominin remains from Dmanisi were presented to the international scientific community. Over the following 35 years, excavations at this site in the southern Caucasus yielded, among other discoveries, five exceptionally well-preserved skulls and played a decisive role in reshaping our understanding of the evolution of early representatives of the genus Homo and their expansion across Eurasia.
The scientific programme was structured around three main sessions devoted to the reassessment and evolutionary history of Homo erectus, life history and behavioural aspects, and migrational diversity and environmental contexts.
Four contributions from IPHES-CERCA
IPHES-CERCA’s participation included four oral presentations, focusing on some of the key regions for studying early human populations in Europe and Africa:
- Deborah Barsky: Barranco León and Fuente Nueva 3 (Orce, Andalusia, Spain): Behavior and Adaptation of the First Hominins in Western Europe. The presentation addressed the behaviour and adaptive strategies of the earliest human populations in Western Europe based on evidence from the Barranco León and Fuente Nueva 3 sites in Orce.
- Bienvenido Martínez-Navarro: The Engel Ela Basin (Danakil Depression, Eritrea): An Early Pleistocene Acheulian Site on the Way to Eurasia. The contribution presented research carried out in the Engel Ela Basin, in the Danakil Depression (Eritrea), an Early Pleistocene Acheulean site located in a strategic region for investigating human dispersals between Africa and Eurasia. Research within this project is supported by the Fundación Palarq.
- Robert Sala-Ramos: Plio-Pleistocene stone tools from Eastern Morocco and the hominin settlement of Maghreb. His presentation focused on Plio-Pleistocene stone tool assemblages from eastern Morocco and evidence related to the human settlement of the Maghreb.
- Joan Madurell-Malapeira: One Among Many: The Carnivore Guild of Dmanisi and the Place of Homo. The presentation explored the carnivore communities documented at Dmanisi and the place occupied by early populations of the genus Homo within them, contributing to the reconstruction of Early Pleistocene ecosystems.
The conference was organised with the participation of the Georgian National Museum, Academia Europaea Tbilisi, The Stone Age Institute, the University of Florence and the ROCEEH Research Centre, and also included a visit to the prehistoric sites of Dmanisi and Orozmani and the Bolnisi Museum.
