A few years ago, Atlas Obscura's senior editor, Gemma Tarlick, came across a scientific

study that blew her mind.

Five 1.8 million year old skulls that had been found at this site were the largest concentration

of human skull fossils from this period ever found in the world.

They were the oldest human skull fossils found outside of Africa.

I had never heard of them, I had never heard of this site, and I just, I did kind of get

obsessed with it, and I had to go there.

This place is called Diminacy.

It's an archaeological site in the country of Georgia, which is nestled between Russia,

Turkey, Armenia, and Azir Fushan.

So when I was there a few years ago, there was no public transportation because it's really

kind of in the south central part of Georgia, in a very rural area, and so you lead to

Blesi, which is a major city, lots of traffic, lots of trucks, and as you're driving south

and west of the capital, the roads are getting more and more narrow, and there are fewer

trucks and more sheep, and you really feel like you're going back in time, and then you

kind of dip down into the road hugs the side of this rocky ravine, and it's not paved

in a lot of places, and you are alone.

The only living things I saw on that final stretch of road were feral dogs.

So it really felt like you were going back in time to this place that was still very

wild and untamed.

I'm Johanna Mayer, and this is Atlas Obscura, a celebration of the world's strange, incredible,

and wondrous places.

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