David Otaris dze Lordkipanidze (
Georgian: დავით ლორთქიფანიძე) (born 5 August 1964, in
Tbilisi
Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million p ...
) is a
Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
anthropologist and archaeologist, Professor (2004), Dr.Sc. (2002), Corresponding Member of the
Georgian National Academy of Sciences
The Georgian National Academy of Sciences (GNAS) ( ka, საქართველოს მეცნიერებათა ეროვნული აკადემია, tr) is a main learned society of the Georgia. It was named Georgian S ...
(2009), since 2004 General Director of the
Georgian National Museum
The Georgian National Museum ( ka, საქართველოს ეროვნული მუზეუმი, tr) unifies several leading museums in Georgia.
The museum was established within the framework of structural, institutional, and ...
(GNM). He is a son of the archaeologist
Otar Lordkipanidze.
David Lordkipanidze is best known for his discovery of the
hominin
The Hominini form a taxonomic tribe of the subfamily Homininae ("hominines"). Hominini includes the extant genera ''Homo'' (humans) and '' Pan'' (chimpanzees and bonobos) and in standard usage excludes the genus ''Gorilla'' (gorillas).
The ...
fossil, first named ''
Homo georgicus
The Dmanisi hominins, Dmanisi people, or Dmanisi man were a population of Early Pleistocene hominins whose fossils have been recovered at Dmanisi, Georgia. The fossils and stone tools recovered at Dmanisi range in age from 1.85–1.77 million y ...
'', but later reclassified as ''
Homo erectus''. Conducting excavation at
Dmanisi
Dmanisi ( ka, დმანისი, tr, , az, Başkeçid) is a town and archaeological site in the Kvemo Kartli region of Georgia approximately 93 km southwest of the nation’s capital Tbilisi in the river valley of Mashavera. The hominin ...
in Georgia, he found skulls of an early hominin thought to be a precursor of
Homo erectus. Subsequently, four fossil skeletons were found, showing a species still with primitive features in its skull and upper body but with relatively advanced spines and lower limbs, providing greater mobility. They represent a stage soon after the transition from
Homo habilis to
Homo erectus, and have been dated at 1.8 million years before the present.
Lordkipanidze has received many awards, including the Georgia's Order of Honour (2000), Award of the Prince of
Monaco
Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...
(2001), the French Order of "Palmes Academiques" (2002), the
Rolex Award for Enterprise (2004), the French Order of Honour (2006) and the
Goethe Medal
The Goethe Medal, also known as the Goethe-Medaille, is a yearly prize given by the Goethe-Institut honoring non-Germans "who have performed outstanding service for the German language and for international cultural relations". It is an offici ...
(2016).
He was appointed Director General of the
Georgian National Museum
The Georgian National Museum ( ka, საქართველოს ეროვნული მუზეუმი, tr) unifies several leading museums in Georgia.
The museum was established within the framework of structural, institutional, and ...
(GNM) in 2004. In 2007 he became both a Foreign Member of the United States
National Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of the
World Academy of Art and Science
The World Academy of Art and Science (WAAS), founded in 1960, is an international non-governmental scientific organization and global network of more than 800 scientists, artists, and scholars in more than 90 countries.
It serves as a forum for s ...
(U.S.).
References
External links
Georgian National Museum (GNM)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lordkipanidze, David
Anthropologists from Georgia (country)
1963 births
Living people
Archaeologists from Tbilisi
Tbilisi State University faculty
Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences