The middle Pliocene site of Kvabebi and the faunal background to early human occupation of southern Caucasus

This article analyzes and discusses the chronological and zoogeographic context of the Pliocene site of Kvabebi in order to shed light into the background of the early human occupation of Eurasia, as evidenced by the early Pleistocene site of Dmanisi. New paleontological and paleomagnetic research has allowed this site to be placed in a reverse interval which can be identified as chron 2An.1r. The age of this site is therefore close to 3.07 Ma, coeval to the Hadar beds of the Afar Depression and slightly older than the last hipparionine faunas in Europe, such as Villarroya in Spain. The fauna of Kvabebi is composed of a number of species common to Europe and Asia, but also includes others with African affinities, such as Kvabebihyrax kachethicus, Protoryx heinrichi, Parastrepsiceros sokolovi and Gazella postmitilinii. However, the presence these species cannot be explained as the result of a Pliocene dispersal from Africa, but rather as the last remnants of the so-called Greek-Iranian province.