If there are any Neandertal descendants alive today, they are probably those of us of European/west Asian descent. Red hair, green eyes, certain skeletal and skull features all of which are found today in this ethnotype. In fact, the classic Neandertal skulls that had held place as the type for decades were in recent years, found to be from a 17th century German graveyard, and when cut open, they stank. . .

When considering skull and skeletal morphology we must not forget that these are plastic, influenced by diet, temperatures and lifestyle.

It seems to me that people often assume that “primitive people” had to have been less intelligent or less capable. That just isn’t so. If the standard interp of the Floresian hobbits is correct, then even h. erectus was sea-faring, let alone the melanesians. (eh, I’m not at all sure when I’m supposed to capitalize and not in these things).

It is a complex tale, but the basic, abridged story is that the world was created by a god called Kamui, and this world was originally a vast, uninhabited, watery quagmire of roiling oceans and swamps that rested upon the back of a giant trout. This trout’s breathing created the tides and its movements created earthquakes. In this world, there were six skies above and six worlds below. In the lower heavens, demons lived, and animals and lesser gods lived in the cloud and star bearing skies, with Kamui living at the highest level.

One day, Kamui decided he wanted to make something of this uninhabitable mess. So he sent down a wagtail (a type of bird) to do get to work on it. The wagtail created dry land with its flapping wings and stomping feet, raising islands that became what is referred to as the Floating World. When the devil tried to sabotage the plans by swallowing the sun, Kamui thwarted him by sending a crow down his throat to choke him (one reason why the crow is still seen as a brave and bold animal in Ainu tradition). Kamui, the creator god, let animals live on these islands after they saw how beautiful they were, and he created other animals, as well as the Ainu to live there. The Ainu were said to be made of earth, with hair of chickweed and backs of willow. This is said by the Ainu to be why the back bends in old age.

Each island was said to be ruled by a god, and a divine man, called Aioina, was sent down to tech the Ainu how to hunt and cook, but it is said that the other gods thought he smelled bad when he returned to the skies. Aioina was told to go back to the floating world and cast away his clothes before entering the heavens again. His cast away sandals became the first squirrels.

There is a lot more to the story, this is a very basic version, and like I said there are differences in the tale, but that’s the general gist. So if you are asking about if they had a flood, then I suppose you could say they thought the world began as one big flood.

Jomon actually means “rope pattern” or “cord markings”, which describes the distinctive markings made on their pottery using ropes, which they were also thought to be skilled at making. It is true that Jomon are most well known for their pottery, in fact the oldest earthenware in the world was found at a Jomon site called the Shikazegashira ruins. Earthenware and pottery was definitely one of their strong suits, however, it is not the ONLY thing they are known from. Many artifacts have been found from the Jomon period, including various stone tools, figurines, baskets, as well as arrowheads, hooks, and harpoons carved from bone, among other things.

Yes, I remember the 2000 Jomon hoax. Groan. Luckily, Japanese archeology seems to be still doing well despite it.

Luckily, there has been a resurgence in interest in the Ainu in recent years. Like I mentioned earlier, more and more Ainu are coming forward to share about their culture, and interest in learning the language has gained some following. I think if this trend keeps up, there is a chance for Ainu culture to be preserved and appreciated before is fades away.

In spite of what is presently Politically Correct in anthropology these days, there is but one living human race, and ethnotypes are very superficial, genetically-speaking. I think we will continue to find (and suppress?) the evidence that humans know a good thing when they see it – and feel free to reject what they -don’t- like – and as a result, there has been much more cultural and genetic diffusion over the past several thousands of years than is PC to acknowledge.

Blue eyes, like green eyes, blond and red hair are genetically recessive and thus tend to disappear in a population fairly quickly. They are mutations that arose in isolated populations. There is some benefit in low insolation environments, but the circumpolar peoples seem to show that it isn’t very important. From what I’ve read, red hair and green eyes may have come from the Neandertal, in spite of a positional transposition, and blue eyes and blond hair from an unknown group north of the Caucasus or mountains of Ararat. If the Bell Curve is to be believed, these ar mutations that make pale-faced people exceedingly average, nothing special.

… “For nine counted periods, Alalu was the king in Heaven.
In the ninth period, Anu gave battle against Alalu.
Alalu was defeated, he fled before Anu-”

Hopefully Nationalism and racial politics (trying to create a pure Japanese history not associated with Yayoi and Korea) is disappearing from the ranks of Japanese archaeology and anthropology. It’s ugly, and it was seriously damaging proper research of Ainu, Jomon and ancient Japan.

Remember the hoax scandal of 2000? An amateur archaeologist fooled everyone with his amazing Jomon ‘discoveries’. This scandal, and nationalism, has really messed up Japanese archaeology, but I’m sure it’s recovering. I hope it is. The Ainu are almost gone, their language will definitely disappear soon, and it’s a situation faced by many around the world, from Gaelic Ireland to Native America and aboriginal Australia. Not everything can be learned from digging in the dirt — we learn from the people themselves who are still here today, and we need to protect them and support them.

This is my first post to Cryptomundo, as I’m generally a lurker and read all the various, interesting subjects on this site. I am most fascinated with the Bigfoot phenomena and, of course, anything that relates to cryptic mysteries. Thank you!

One thing that seems certain is that Ainu culture bears some clear differences from Jomon culture and there has also been a lot of very interesting archeological evidence showing the differences between the Ainu and the Jomon. One example is the significant differences in the design of pottery and other items found at Ainu archeological sites from those found in Jomon sites. It is thought that in Hokkaido, there developed a culture called the “Satsumon culture,” and is seen as a sort of transitional culture between Jomon and Ainu cultures. It is thought that Ainu culture developed out of this Satsumon culture with influences from the the culture of Okhotsk. This Satsumon culture evolved over time before becoming the Ainu culture, and is quite different in some ways from the Yayoi and Jomon cultures that proceeded it.

There is probably some connection, but the links between Ainu and the Jomon people are often debated and it has not been conclusively resolved just to what extent the relationship between the two reaches. Some of the anthropological and archeological debates on this are quite interesting.

The link between Ainu and prehistoric Pacific people has been proposed on many occasions. Some think that the Jomon people themselves were perhaps descended from the same Pacific people that developed into the Australian aborigines. During the Yayoi period, when migration from Asia was heavy, perhaps these people were pushed into Hokkaido where the Yayoi did not reach due to the harsh climate, and developed into a unique culture. It seems at least possible that it was the effect of several different influences during these migrations and interactions that led to the Ainu culture.

Anyway, the connection between the Jomon and the Ainu is still not clear cut or completely understood, but there are some interesting studies being done along these lines.