Shiraho-Saonetabaru Cave Ruins, where 27-thousand-year-old human remains were found, to be designated a national Historic Site
Shiraho-Saonetabaru Cave Ruins, which is to be newly designated a national Historic Site (photograph provided by the Prefectural Board of Education)
November 15, 2019 Ryukyu Shimpo Digital Edition
On November 15, the national government’s Council for Cultural Affairs issued a report to Education Minister Koichi Hagiuda indicating that the Shiraho-Saonetabaru Cave Ruins, located in Ishigaki City, is to be newly designated as a National Historic Site.
The oldest human remains to be discovered in Japan, around 27 thousand years old, have been found there, and the site was lauded for its high academic value. The official designation will be made soon by announcement by official gazette.
A large number of well-preserved human remains have been found at the cave site.
The discovery there of tombs and gravesites housing Pleistocene human remains from the Paleolithic era was the first such discovery in Japan.
The Council for Cultural Affairs stated that the site enables confirmation of a long history of funeral practices using limestone caves and spaces in the shade of rocks, and said that the site “has epochal significance leading to critical insights in physical anthropology.”
“I am very happy. The Shiraho-Saonetabaru Cave Ruins are indispensable for an accurate historical understanding of this country, and the site is academically valuable in terms of its scale and the remains and unearthed relics there,” said prefectural superintendent of education Shojin Heshiki regarding the Council’s report.
The cave is inside the Ishigaki Airport grounds, and the site is being preserved.
The Council also reported that one Special Historical Site and 18 Historic Sites/Places of Scenic Beauty/Natural Monuments are to be newly designated, as well as 29 additional designations etc. and five new registrations of Registered Monuments.
(English translation by T&CT and Sandi Aritza)
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