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Minatogawa man is the name given to a series of fossilized human skeletons discovered by [[Oyama Seiho|Ôyama Seiho]] in Gushikawa, [[Okinawa Island|Okinawa]] in the late 1960s. At roughly 18,000 years old, Minatogawa man is the oldest set of human remains ever found anywhere in the Japanese archipelago.  

Minatogawa man is the name given to a series of fossilized human skeletons discovered by [[Oyama Seiho|Ôyama Seiho]] in Gushikawa, [[Okinawa Island|Okinawa]] in the late 1960s. At roughly 18,000 years old, Minatogawa man was long the oldest set of human remains ever found anywhere in the Japanese archipelago. In more recent years, a number of additional finds of human remains ranging in date from 20,000 years ago to as old as 32-33,000 years ago have been found elsewhere on Okinawa Island.<ref>Gregory Smits, ''Early Ryukyuan History: A New Model'', Univ. of Hawaii Press (2024), 67.</ref>

Some four to nine well-preserved bodies were found at the site. While the volcanic soil of mainland Japan is rather acidic, making it rather difficult for certain kinds of remains to survive, such remains were able to survive much more easily in the limestone geology of Okinawa.

Some four to nine well-preserved bodies were found at the site. While the volcanic soil of mainland Japan is rather acidic, making it rather difficult for certain kinds of remains to survive, such remains were able to survive much more easily in the limestone geology of Okinawa.

==References==

==References==

*Plaques at Ôyama Seiho's birthplace, Nakagusuku Village, Okinawa.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/30537458005/sizes/l]

*Plaques at Ôyama Seiho's birthplace, Nakagusuku Village, Okinawa.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/30537458005/sizes/l]

[[Category:Ryukyu]]

[[Category:Ryukyu]]