Georgia is a land of widely varying natural scenery, with climatic zones ranging from maritime to mountainous. Its favourable environment and natural resources have facilitated human settlement since remote antiquity. The exceptionally important human remains found at Dmanisi, dating from 1.8 million years ago, indicate eastern Georgia as the most ancient part of Europe to be inhabited by man. Although the origins of wine production are still debatable, the very ancient traces of grape-growing, dating from the 8th millennium B.C., show Georgia to be the land where the grapevine was first domesticated.