Kvabebi fossil site

The Kvabebi fossil site () is a archaeological locality in eastern Georgia's Iori Plateau area. It contained a 3-million-year-old animal fossil collection which is important for understanding of life before humans reached Eurasia.

Discovered in 1962 near Magharo Village in the Kakheti region, Kvabebi preserves fossils critical for understanding Eurasian mammal evolution. Later fieldwork in the 2000s reanalyzed the site, revealing its role as a refuge for ancient species. The site preserved remains of familiar Eurasian animals such as three-toed horses, sabertooth cats, and early deer as well as rare animals like giant hyraxes and spiral-horned antelopes. Once thought to be African migrants, these rare species are now known as survivors of Eurasia's own lost ecosystems — they clung to survival in this area after their habitats vanished elsewhere 7-8 million years ago. 

This finding is crucial for understanding early human dispersal from Africa into Eurasia. Previous theories suggested humans followed familiar African-like habitats to new locations like Dmanisi — the earliest known human site outside Africa, also in Georgia. However, the complete absence of Kvabebi's animal species at Dmanisi demonstrates two key points: Kvabebi's ecosystem vanished around 1.2 million years before humans arrived at Dmanisi and early humans expanded into Eurasia due to Ice Age climate changes in Africa, not by tracking familiar habitats.

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Category:Archaeological sites in Europe