Ancient Civilization Found Off the Coast of Okinawa

Heh, it's one reason why Hokkaido is a more accepting of North Americans...It also helps that Otokoyama is made there, good sake tends to make friends :)

http://www.japanupdate.com/?id=4454

Another interesting site, identifying the location in the Ryukyuan Archipelago.

The Ryukyuans are semi-related to the Ainu, the Japanese, and Koreans, as represented by the passage:

"their [the Ainu] mtDNA lineages mainly consist of haplogroup Y (21.6%) and haplogroup M7a (15.7%).[10] Mitochondrial DNA haplogroup Y is otherwise found mainly among Nivkhs, as well as at lower frequency among Koreans, Mongols, Tungusic peoples, Koryaks, Itelmens, and Austronesians; haplogroup M7a, on the other hand, is found elsewhere almost exclusively among Japanese, Ryukyuans, and Koreans."

This tells the precursors to all modern asians of this lineage were possibly blended with the pre-existing group (haplogroup M7a) covering the span of asia from Korea to Okinawa, until each area became colonized by separating sub-cultures.

So, it is possible to hypothesize the builders of the ancient structures were not only of Ainu, Ryukyuan, or Japanese ascent, but some singular representation of that lineage, prior to the influx of other sub-set colonies.

It is also possible to say the representative remnant of that ancient subgroup (haplogroup M7a), may have migrated with the greater lineage that left other remnants from Mongolia to North America.

Very fun stuff!

-=T=-

If memory serves me, there was an aboriginal people still living in the mountains, separate from the ancient chinese colonists who became the japanese in time.

They were called the Ainu, which, again, if I recall properly, even by the Japanese of today.

I don't know much about their physical appearance, other than some myths about them being taller, light-haired, and other myths comcerning their worshipping of cave-bears.

worth reading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ainu_people</p>

peace,

-=T=-