Recent Anthropological Findings
Jomon and Ainu relationship
orig: 98/06/26
Recent anthropological findings are summarized in below. They support our attempt to find Jomon words by way of Ainu language. For reference books, all in Japanese language, see Japanese page equivalent to this page at Jomon and Ainu.

K. Hanihara ([Origin of Japanese]j
"My (Hanihara's) current hypothesis is that Ainu people are those who has inherited Jomon traditions most densely among modern Japanese."

Y. Dodo ([Way of Mongoloid])
Looking at small deviations in head bones.
He looks at "small deviations" in head bones. Judgement is whether Yes or No, rather than analog values. He states"Jomon people are found closer to Ainu, rather than modern Japanese."

S. Horai ([Way of Mongoloid])
Studies into Mitochondria DNA
"Jomon people and a part of Ainu are found close to a part of modern Japanese and South East Asian people.""Jomon people and modern Ainu are different from modern Japanese.""Jomon people and modern Ainu are close to Group II of modern Japanese."

ATL Virus studies ([Way of Mongoloid])
"Candidly put, present Japanese can be classified into two categories. One is ATL virus carriers, the other non carriers. Carriers are of the older residents, perhaps, paleo-Mongoloid. Non carriers are of later immigrants, perhaps, neo-Mongoloid. Carriers are Jomon type. Non carriers are Yayoi type."

If I summarize these findings, "Japanese" (in its narrower sense, i.e., legal Japanese citizen less {Ainu and recently naturalized persons}) can still be classifiable in two kinds, Jomon decendent and Yayoi decendent, in varied degree from person to person. Comparing to this mix, Ainu would carry much stronger Jomon colors.

These are more than enough for me to wander around for Jomon words with assistances of Ainu language.


To Index Page
To Page 12