Africa is known as the cradle of humankind, but few people know that 1.8 million years ago, on the territory of present-day Georgia, sabre-toothed tigers, giant wolves and the first representatives of the human lineage, Homo georgicus, lived side by side. These ancient beings left arid Africa and travelled to Georgia, where they settled in the area of modern-day Dmanisi. In this way, they became the first representatives of the genus Homo to live outside Africa. According to one theory, Homo georgicus, or the Dmanisi hominin, later became extinct. According to another, they returned to Africa and, having once been to Georgia, eventually evolved further into Homo sapiens and populated the entire planet.