A new discovery casts doubt on current theories about the arrival of Japan’s first settlers in America
To this day, there is still controversy among scientists about how the American continent was colonized by humans. The most widespread theory is that the first natives emigrated to America from what is now Japan some 15,000 years ago. This hypothesis is based on similarities with the culture of the Jomon people across the Pacific, especially stone tools.
A new study published a few days ago in the journal PaleoAmerica, from the Center for the Study of First Americans at Texas A&M University, questions what we think so far about the arrival of the first settlers in America. Researchers have found that Native American Indian origins are inconsistent with the genetic studies and skeletal biology of ancient Japan.
Experts think that the Japanese at the time moved along the northern edge of the Pacific Ocean, which included the Bering Land Bridge, which connected the American continent to Eurasia, to the northwest coast of North America. From there, the First Peoples spread throughout the interior of the continent and further south, reaching the tip of South America in less than two thousand years.
The Jomon culture: exogamy and various discoveries
Imon It means rope drawing in Japanese for the designs of found pottery objects, and its period marked the beginning of stable human settlements. It all started in Japan around 14,500 BCE and lasted until AD 300, although these dates are in continual debate.
This stage occurred from the end of the Pleistocene to the beginning of the Holocene in the Japanese archipelago and in world history it corresponds to the passage from the Mesolithic, or late Paleolithic, to the Neolithic, during the Stone Age.
During this period, it is worth highlighting the discovery of pottery and the development of the so-called “ditch dwellings”, that is, dwellings with plants excavated in depth, among other cultural phenomena.
According to some archaeological evidence, the Jomon people created the oldest pottery vessels in history. However, they are not the oldest ceramic objects, as there are statuettes such as the Venus of Dolní Věstonice, discovered in the Czech Republic, which are much earlier, between 29,000 and 25,000 BC.
The inhabitants of the Jomon people were hunters and gatherers who lived in a complex society. This society was supported by a communication network between the villages, and for its maintenance they used certain social institutions such as exogamous marriage, that is, outside the tribe.
Ceramic vase from the Jomon period
Siberia, the cradle of the Native American population
This new research was conducted by one of the world’s leading experts in the study of human teeth and a team of Ice Age professionals in human genetics. The article analyzed the biology and genetic code of tooth samples from several continents and focused its observation on the Jomon people.
The author of the study, Richard Scott, explained that it is highly unlikely that these people who lived in Japan 15,000 years ago are ancestors of Native Americans. Neither skeletal biology nor genetics indicate a connection between Japan and America. The most likely birthplace of the Native American population appears to be Siberia.
Percentages of 12 areas across Asia, Pacific and America with 5 main groups. Source: Richard Scott
The expert showed the results of statistical calculations taken from a large sample of teeth from America, Asia and the Pacific. This revealed little relationship between the Jomon people and the early Americans. Genetics corroborates the results because it is clear in the distribution of maternal and paternal lineages, which do not overlap between the first Jomon populations and the American ones, according to the professor. Dennis O’Rourke, co-author of the report.
Professor Scott insisted that the young population of Jomon represents one of the least likely sources of Native American peoples. However, the researchers explained that they are “valid replacements” for early Jomon individuals or for people who settled in Japan 16,000 to 15,000 years ago.
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