Georgia the Homo Erectus Georgicus
Description
Meet Georgia, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmanisi_skull_3">Homo erectus georgicus.</a> "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_erectus">Homo erectus</a>" is a bit of a controversial species among scientists because of its age and wide geographic dispersal, from Korea to Indonesia, from southern England to South Africa. Were there many distinct hominin species wandering around 1+ million years ago, or were they all members of one very big, highly varied species? Georgia is based on Dmanisi Skull 3, found in 2001 in Dmanisi, Georgia (the country, not the state.) She was about 13-15 years old when she died, 1.8 million years ago. She was accompanied by 4 other skulls found nearby. Georgia's skull was fairly small--she only had a cranial capacity of 600 cm, significantly smaller than even other Homo erectuses, who normally measure more around 850 and some of whom surpass 1,000. But this is perhaps not fair to someone who died before she finished growing, and besides, humans are dimorphic and so female skulls tend to measure a little smaller than male ones. By contrast, chimps have a maxiumum cranial capacity around 480 cm and humans around 1,400. (Neanderthals often had bigger skulls than us.) So Homo Georgicus probably wasn't the smartest hominin in the family tree, but it could make and control fire, knapped stone tools, walked upright, and probably lived in tighter-knit family groups than chimps or australopithecines. Later Homo erectuses apparently mastered water travel, necessary for reaching the Island of Flores in Indonesia, though this was probably irrelevant to mountain-dwelling Georgia. I have tried to make this sculpture as true as possible to the Dmanisi Skull 3; please let me know if you have any criticisms or see any ways to improve it. I haven't had a chance to actually 3D print it yet because I haven't received my printer yet (I am just getting ready for when it arrives.) Enjoy!
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