This is the latter part of Dr. Schoch's thesis. I find it highly objective and honest evaluation of Iseki Point imo, and therefore reproduced it. The ideas presented are gems to digest and will serve as milestones for future studies.Copyright 1999 by Robert M. Schoch; all rights reserved. said:I cannot agree with Dr. Kimura's conclusion that the Yonaguni Monument is primarily a man-made structure.
My current working hypothesis is that the Yonaguni Monument is primarily of natural origin; that is, it's overall structure is the result of natural geological and geomorphological processes. I think it should be considered a primarily natural structure until more evidence is found to the contrary. However, by no means do I feel that this is an absolutely closed case. The question of its genesis - - artificial versus natural - - may not be an all or nothing question.
We should also consider the possibility that the Yonaguni Monument is fundamentally a natural structure that was utilized, enhanced, and modified by humans in ancient times. The Yonaguni Monument may even have been a quarry from which blocks were cut, utilizing natural bedding, joint, and fracture planes of the rock, and thence removed for the purpose of constructing other structures which are long since gone.
On Yonaguni Island and elsewhere in the Okinawa area there appears to be an ancient tradition of modifying, enhancing, and improving on nature. On Yonaguni there are very old tombs (age unknown, but possibly on the order of thousands of years old) that stylistically appear to be comparable to the "architecture" of the Yonaguni Monument.
There is still other evidence of some kind of human working of the local stone on Yonaguni. Scattered over the island are apparently very ancient (age unknown), obviously human-carved, stone "vessels." These are composed of local rock, and clearly were neither made nor transported to the island in modern (that is, in the last 500 years or so) times. These stone vessels remain somewhat of a mystery, as does the Yonaguni Monument and other underwater structures reported in the Okinawa area.
On Yonaguni beautifully crafted ancient stone tools have been found that could have been used to both shape some of the stone vessels and other objects, as well as to modify the Yonaguni Monument that is now found underwater. Even if it is a primarily natural structure, it may have been reshaped to serve as foundation for stone, timber, or mud buildings that have since been destroyed. Or it may have even served as some form of boat dock for an early seafaring people.
I believe that the art and architecture of the area may have been influenced by the natural geomorphology of the Yonaguni Monument and similar structures. There may have been a complex interplay between nature and artificiality, natural forms and man-made structures, in very ancient times. Perhaps rather than being the work of humans per se, the Yonaguni Monument directly influenced the art and architecture of humans some 8,000 to 10,000 years ago, thus helping to initiate a stylistic tradition that continues to this day.
Over the last few years, Professor Kimura has perhaps softened his position somewhat regarding how much of the Yonaguni Monument is "man-made" or "artificial" and how much is "natural." Most recently Dr. Kimura has been referring to the Yonaguni Monument and related structures as being "terraformed," that is natural geological features that have been manipulated or modified by human hands. This is essentially the position that I have come to, so perhaps Dr. Kimura and I are converging in our opinions of the Yonaguni Monument.
If there is evidence of some human modification of a natural structure off the coast of Yonaguni Island, why were the people of ancient times so interested in this particular spot? One suggestion is that 10,000 years ago Yonaguni was located very close to the Tropic of Cancer. Today the Tropic of Cancer is located at approximately 23 degrees 27 minutes north latitude while Yonaguni Island is located a full degree further north. However, the position of the Tropic of Cancer varies over the millennia, from under 22 degrees to over 24 degrees, according to a 41,000 year cycle. In about 8000 B.C. the Yonaguni Monument was located very close to the Tropic of Cancer. Perhaps it was the site of an astronomically-aligned shrine.
In conclusion, based on my preliminary reconnaissance of the Yonaguni Monument, I am not yet absolutely convinced that it is an artificial structure - - but in my opinion, even if it is primarily natural, it may have been modified by human actions in ancient times. This enigmatic structure merits more detailed examination.
lexico said:If Japanese mythology is grounded in the myth-memories of the Jomon, it is not surprising that Japan has no indigenous flood myth. Underworld presents the idea that the Jomon lost their "beachfront" properties only, including coastal temples and other sacred and functional sites that now lie 30 meters under water.
The lunar landscape of the Giant's Causeway, lurking below the gaunt sea wall where the land ends, must have struck wonder into the hearts of the ancient Irish.
* 'When the world was moulded and fashioned out of formless chaos, this must have been the bit over - a remnant of chaos.' - Thackeray
Like the early people of North Antrim, Thackeray was very impressed by the strangeness of this place. Like other sophisticated visitors he had read that the Causeway is a geological freak, caused by volcanic eruptions, and cooling lava.
The ancients knew differently: clearly this was giants' work and, more particularly, the work of the giant Finn McCool, the Ulster warrior and commander of the king of Ireland's armies.
Finn could pick thorns out of his heels while running and was capable of amazing feats of strength. Once, during a fight with a Scottish giant, he scooped up a huge clod of earth and flung it at his fleeing rival. The clod fell into the sea and turned into the Isle of Man. The hole it left filled up with water and became Lough Neagh.
Finn was said to inhabit a draughty Antrim headland:
* 'He lived most happy and content, Obeyed no law and paid no rent.'
When he fell in love with a lady giant on Staffa, an island in the Hebrides, he built this wide commodious highway to bring her across to Ulster.
The first historical accounts of the Causeway started appearing in the late 17th century. The Bishop of Derry made one of the first recorded visits in 1692 and the Chevalier De La Tocnaye, who had the good sense to take his umbrella, galloped up to the cliff edge in 1797 when both he and his horse were enraptured by the view.
Before the famous coast road was built in the 1830s visitors complained about the ruggedness of the trip. But there was one shining compensation on the journey: the town where tourists made their last stop before the final push to the Causeway was Bushmills. Ever since 1608 saddle-sore travellers had been revived with magnums of the King's whiskey at the world's oldest (legal) distillery, which is still in business.
The Causeway proper is a mass of basalt columns packed tightly together. The tops of the columns form stepping stones that lead from the cliff foot and disappear under the sea. Altogether there are 40,000 of these stone columns, mostly hexagonal but some with four, five, seven and eight sides. The tallest are about 40 feet high, and the solidified lava in the cliffs is 90 feet thick in places.
A fine circular walk will take you down to the Grand Causeway, past amphitheatres of stone columns and formations with fanciful names like the Honeycomb, the Wishing Well, the Giant's Granny and the King and his Nobles, past Port na Spaniagh where the Spanish Armada ship Girona foundered, past wooden staircase to Benbane Head and back along the cliff top.
Further down the coast, the stunning Carrick-a-rede rope bridge spans a gaping chasm between the coast and a small island used by fishermen. The terrifying eighty foot drop can be crossed via the swinging bridge - not for the faint hearted!
種子島は鉄砲伝来と島の南端茎永の宇宙センターで有名だが、最近は島内の「立切遺跡」から三万年以上 まえの旧石器時代の生活跡と9000年前の縄文土器などが 発掘され、考古学上一躍脚光を浴びている
http://www.trussel.com/prehist/news43.htmKAGOSHIMA (Kyodo) The remains of a settlement believed to be the oldest in Japan have been found on Tanegashima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, undermining the established theory that Paleolithic age dwellers were migrant hunters, according to the local education board.
The settlement, found in the Tachikiri Ruins in Nakatani, is believed to date back 30,900 years. Up until about 15,000 years ago, Tanegashima Island was connected with Kyushu.
Since last month, the board has been surveying the ruins, which extend over more than 930 sq. meters.
Officials have found the remains of about 50 stone implements believed to have been used for crushing nuts, the board said.
They also discovered two collections of stones believed to have been used for kitchen ranges, six holes filled with ash, apparently once furnaces, and other holes believed to have been used for storage or to hold pillars, it said.
The ash was about 15 cm deep, suggesting prolonged habitation at the site, experts said.
"This is Japan's oldest ruins with processing tools cooking facilities and other remains," said Michio Okamura, an expert on the Paleolithic era at the Agency for Cultural Affairs.
"This is a major discovery that can alter our views about the Paleolithic age, which has so far been believed to have been characterized by hunting-oriented migration," he said.
Tsuyoshi Fujimoto, a professor at Niigata University, said Kagoshima is an area where the habit of eating plants started at a very early date, even on a global time scale.
The new find could help support the theory that Paleolithic people in East Asia led a life that relied more on plants for sustenance than in other parts of the world, he said.
Only a few sites dating from the Paleolithic age have been unearthed in Japan, and the Tachikiri Ruins is the oldest by more than 10,000 years.