白保竿根田原洞穴遺跡 | |
Location | Ishigaki Island of the Yaeyama Islands |
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Region | Japan |
Coordinates | 24°22′57″N 124°12′21″E / 24.38250°N 124.20583°E |
Shiraho Saonetabaru Cave Ruins (白保竿根田原洞穴遺跡, Shiraho Saonetabaru Dōketsu Iseki) is a paleoanthropological site located on Ishigaki Island of the Yaeyama Islands in Japan. Shiraho Saonetabaru is a limestone cave. [1]
It was discovered in 2007 when plans for the New Ishigaki Airport were being developed. [1] Remains of human heads, feet and arms were found, in all 9 bone fossils, by the Okinawa Limestone Cave Association between 2007 and 2009, [2] and three human samples were dated to between 20,000-16,000 years before present. [3] In the ruins were also found bones from wild boar and birds (one animal bone calibrated at 12,000 BP [3]), while during the three months in 2011 were discovered approximately 300 human bones from the stratum between 24,000-20,000 years old. [4]
In 2015, researchers from the University of the Ryukyus and University of Tokyo succeeded in radiocarbon dating three out of five of the bones tested. The three bones yielded the following dates: (20,030 to 18,100 years BP), (22,890 to 22,400 years BP) and (24,990 to 24,210 years BP). [1]
The investigation held between 2012 and 2016 found more than 1,000 human fragments from at least 19 human skeletons. The "No. 4" almost full skeleton was dated about 27,000 BP, [5] being the oldest full skeleton discovered in East Asia and several thousand years older than the skeletons of the Minatogawa people. [6] Due to the skeletons' postures, the site has been confirmed as the first graveyard in the Paleolithic age in Japan. [5]