By KUNIHIKO IMAI/ Staff Writer
November 9, 2021 at 17:45 JST
Where the fragments found at the Yabuchi cave in Uruma, Okinawa Prefecture, would have fitted in a human skull. (Provided by the Uruma City Board of Education)
URUMA, Okinawa Prefecture--Human remains dating to as far back as 10,000 years ago that were unearthed in a cave here could prove to be the missing link between early Paleolithic people and later inhabitants of this island chain, researchers said.
Announcing the discovery Nov. 8, the Uruma City Board of Education said the fragments excavated at the Yabuchi cave had been confirmed to be those from a human skull rather than stone.
An analysis of radiocarbon dating of layers of earth above and beneath where the fragments were found put their age at between 10,000 and 9,000 years old.
Previous excavations have shown that the southernmost prefecture was inhabited by the Minatogawa people and other Paleolithic humans from around 14,000 years ago or earlier and by the Kaizuka people from around 7,000 years ago.
The 20,000-year-old remains of Minatogawa people were found in the Minatogawa Fisher site in the town of Yaese.
The Kaizuka people are Okinawa’s equivalent of the Jomon (c. 14500 B.C.-1000 B.C.) people who occupied Japan’s main islands and are known for their distinctive pottery culture.
Remains of Kaizuka people dating to about 7,000 years ago were found in the Ufudobaru ruins in Nago.
But no remains had been found to help fill in the gap between ancient humans and later inhabitants until the latest discovery.
“A skull contains many pieces of information that point to ancestral ties between groups of humans,” noted Naomi Doi, a former associate professor of physical anthropology at the University of the Ryukyus. “The fragments could provide a major clue about possible links between the Minatogawa people, the Kaizuka people and the Jomon people on the main islands of Japan.”
The remains found in the Yabuchi cave ruins are believed to belong to early part of the Kaizuka period in terms of Okinawa’s human development. For other parts of Japan, this would correspond to the early part of the Jomon Period.
The gap in the history of human occupation in Okinawa led to various theories about whether Paleolithic humans were ancestors of the Kaizuka people and whether the Paleolithic people on Okinawa were somehow linked to Jomon people elsewhere in Japan.
Prior to the discovery of the human remains, numerous earthenware artifacts as well as stone tools had been found at the Yabuchi cave site.
In a study from 2014 to 2016, researchers with the local education board unearthed fragments of clay pottery dating to about 10,000 years ago, the oldest so far in Okinawa Prefecture.
The human remains will be on display at the Amawari Park history and culture facility until Nov. 21.
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