山下町第一洞穴遺跡

Yamashita First Cave

Useful Information

Location:	900-0027 Okinawa Prefecture, Naha City, Yamashita-cho 167. Yamashita Daiichi Cave Ruins Park. (26.2007, 127.6733)
Open:	no restrictions. [2024]
Fee:	free. [2024]
Classification:	Karst Cave
Light:	n/a
Dimension:	L=5 m, W=1.2 m, H=3 m.
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:	Fuyuji Takal (1975): Fossil Deer from the Yamashita-cho Cave No. 1. The Journal of Anthropological Society of Nippon. 83. 280-293. DOI pdf Hiroe Takamiya, Morikatsu Tamaki, Masanori Kin (1975): Artifacts of the Yamashita-cho Cave Site The Journal of Anthropological Society of Nippon. 83. 137-150. DOI pdf Ryuichi Tsuchi (1975): Geology of Southern Okinawa Island, with Reference to the Formation of the Yamashita-cho Cave The Journal of Anthropological Society of Nippon. 83. 131-136. DOI pdf
Address:	Urban Development Department, Park Construction Division, 9th floor, City Hall, 1-1-1 Izumizaki, Naha City, Okinawa Prefecture, 900-8585, Tel: +81-98-951-3225. Municipal cultural property division of Naha city, Tel: +81-98-917-3501.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1962	cave discovered by a local woman.
1962	first archaeological excavation.
1968	second archaeological excavation.
26-AUG-1969	declared a National Historic Monument.
DEC-2015	Yamashita Daiichi Cave Ruins Park opened.

Description

山下町第一洞穴遺跡 (Yamashita First Cave) is either abstruse Japanese or a misnomer, the name is generally translated First Cave of the town Yamashita. Also, it is called Yamashita First Cave. However, this is not the first cave in any way, the first is derived from the fact that the oldest human bones in Japan were excavated in this tiny cave. It is therefore the site of the "first Japanese". So this is an archaeological site, and like all over the world, prehistoric remains are mostly destroyed, but caves preserved them rather well. And another misnomer, the 32,000-year-old bones of girls are called Yamashita Doujin (Yamashita Cave Man).

Despite its archaeological importance, this site is actually quite unimpressive. The cave is tiny, and it’s not allowed to enter, but actually the whole cave can be seen from the wooden gate. We were not sure if we actually should list it, as it is not of touristic interest, however, the site is of archaeological importance, and the pages we found are so confusing that we felt some explanations are necessary.

The residential area of 1-chome, Yamashita-cho, is a part of Naha city, on the southern side of the river. There is a hill on the southwestern side of Onoyama Park. In this hill a small cave, 5 m long, 1.2 m wide, and 3 m high, was discovered in 1962 by a local woman. There were two excavations and from the deepest layer of the cave bone tools, deer horns and the bones of a 7-year-old girl were unearthed. They used some charcoal for a C14 dating, which gave an age of 32,000 years. The main conclusion is that Japan was obviously settled quite early, which required boats to reach the island, which is 600 km from the Chinese coast.

The site was transformed into a small park in 2015, there are trails and educational signs (only in Japanese). Quite interesting are copies of the found bones which were mounted on the educational signs. Cartoon anime characters depicted on the signs are a little silly. There is also a section with fitness equipment which may be used by visitors for free. There is a children’s playground, toilets, and a car park for two cars.