Ancient human with one tooth: how he survived 1.8 million years ago

Archaeologists discovered a 1.8-million-year-old hominin skull in Dmanisi, Georgia, with only one tooth remaining. For a long time, it was believed that the individual's survival was possible due to the altruism of relatives who shared soft food. However, observations of wild bonobos in 2020 showed that great apes can adapt and survive without teeth on their own, prompting a revision of the theory.

Archaeologists discovered a skull of an ancient hominin about 1.8 million years old in Dmanisi, Georgia, with only one tooth remaining. The find is classified as Homo erectus or Homo georgicus. The loss of teeth, likely due to old age or disease, made chewing impossible. For a long time, the dominant hypothesis was primitive altruism: relatives supposedly shared high-calorie soft tissues—brain and bone marrow—with the toothless individual and protected him. However, in 2020, observations of a wild bonobo completely lacking teeth showed that great apes can survive without help from relatives by changing their feeding strategies. This forced anthropologists to reconsider their conclusions: perhaps the ancient inhabitant of Dmanisi adapted to extreme conditions much more effectively than assumed and did not need constant care.