DNA sheds light on mysterious Okhotsk people

[Adsos Letter]

Source: THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
NOBUYUKI WATANABE

Scholars using DNA testing hope to unravel age-old mysteries surrounding the Okhotsk people, who suddenly disappeared around the 10th century in northern parts of Hokkaido.

And their research could shatter theories on the evolution of the indigenous Ainu people.

The Okhotsk culture is believed to have originated on Sakhalin and spread south to northern Hokkaido around the fifth century, when Japan was in the kofun period of tumulus mounds.

The culture eventually spread to eastern Hokkaido and reached the Chishima archipelago, before disappearing in the 10th century.

Researchers in such various fields as archaeology, history and ethnology have tried to figure out just who the Okhotsk people were.

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200902240047.html