Ainus from Japan.

[Dario Argento]

Just found about this little aboriginal population from Japan. They have a very striking look and are one of the most isolated East Asians. What do you think about their phenotypes? How would you classify them? They're said to descend from Jomon culture.

[Storm]

I was thinking of calling it quits for the time being until I saw this thread and here you have it -

[Storm]

[Dario Argento]

The women seem to be somehow Australoid influenced in certain cases whereas most of the men don't show this.

[Oreka Bailoak]

Aren't they hypothesized to be a proto-Caucasoid population? (ie. they diverged from the rest of the proto-Caucasoids before the creation of Caucasoid). I think teeth and skull morphology support this hypothesis (Think I read this in "Origin of Race" by Coon 1962). Many of the Ainu today probably have Japanese Mongoloid influence- but I'm not sure how great that would be or how long that has gone on for.

From traveling, I was surprised how common Ainu looking influences are in the ordinary Japanese.

I don't know what I'd classify them because the group doesn't seem similar enough. Some have more mongoloid influence than others while a few look strongly influenced by proto-Caucasoid.

[Sikeliot]

They probably are genetically a tightly knit group but phenotypically they seem to vary.. some look Caucasoid in part and almost Central Asian, whereas not only a few have Australoid influences almost like Taiwanese natives and Filipinos, and a few just look standard Japanese. Anyone know how they come out genetically?

[Agrippa]

Agree that they vary phenotypically a lot. Obviously they have Sinoid-Palaemongolid/Japanese admixture and their base shows Europiform, Australiform and Proto-Mongoloid/Palae-Mongoloid tendencies.

The women look more Mongoloid to me - on average, probably also because of the male hairiness and stronger facial traits, so sex type specific.

[Talvi]

Im a fan of the ainu.
I wrote my thesis about them, and will be researching them in MA, too.

Basically there isnt anything super conclusive about them.

The best explanation so far is that they are one of the first group of people out of Africa that have been quite isolated since then.

However the Ainu didnt just live in Japan but also in places like Kurile, Kamchatka etc and have mixed with Siberians. Most Ainu today are mixed.

Ive also read that they share similarities with Austronesians and also Tibetans. However they dont have anything really in common with Caucasians even though some might appear Caucasian. They are Asians, just a very proto kind.

[Osweo]

Journal of Human Genetics (2004) 49, 187–193; doi:10.1007/s10038-004-0131-x

Genetic origins of the Ainu inferred from combined DNA analyses of maternal and paternal lineages

Atsushi Tajima1, Masanori Hayami2, Katsushi Tokunaga3, Takeo Juji4, Masafumi Matsuo5, Sangkot Marzuki6, Keiichi Omoto7 and Satoshi Horai1

Abstract

The Ainu, a minority ethnic group from the northernmost island of Japan, was investigated for DNA polymorphisms both from maternal (mitochondrial DNA) and paternal (Y chromosome) lineages extensively. Other Asian populations inhabiting North, East, and Southeast Asia were also examined for detailed phylogeographic analyses at the mtDNA sequence type as well as Y-haplogroup levels. The maternal and paternal gene pools of the Ainu contained 25 mtDNA sequence types and three Y-haplogroups, respectively.

Eleven of the 25 mtDNA sequence types were unique to the Ainu and accounted for over 50% of the population, whereas 14 were widely distributed among other Asian populations. Of the 14 shared types, the most frequently shared type was found in common among the Ainu, Nivkhi in northern Sakhalin, and Koryaks in the Kamchatka Peninsula. Moreover, analysis of genetic distances calculated from the mtDNA data revealed that the Ainu seemed to be related to both the Nivkhi and other Japanese populations (such as mainland Japanese and Okinawans) at the population level.

On the paternal side, the vast majority (87.5%) of the Ainu exhibited the Asian-specific YAP+ lineages (Y-haplogroups D-M55* and D-M125), which were distributed only in the Japanese Archipelago in this analysis. On the other hand, the Ainu exhibited no other Y-haplogroups (C-M8, O-M175*, and O-M122*) common in mainland Japanese and Okinawans. It is noteworthy that the rest of the Ainu gene pool was occupied by the paternal lineage (Y-haplogroup C-M217*) from North Asia including Sakhalin.

Thus, the present findings suggest that the Ainu retain a certain degree of their own genetic uniqueness, while having higher genetic affinities with other regional populations in Japan and the Nivkhi among Asian populations.

*****

The Nivkhi are also called the Gilyak in older Russian sources. They live around the mouth of the River Amur.

They're well known for their Bear Cult, and speak a language isolate.

Heh, the old artist thought them similar enough to put in the same picture;


See also;
http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook/nivkhs.shtml

Anthropologically the Nivkhs belong to the Sakhalin-Amur subgroup of the Mongoloid racial type. They are of short stature (men approx. 160 cm). They have a broad flat face, a snub nose and thick lips. Unlike other Mongoloid peoples, they have a relatively dark skin, and dark eyes and hair. They have remarkably dense beards, a supposed influence of the Ainu.

The Nivkh language belongs to the Paleo-Asian languages as a separate unit, unconnected to any other group or subgroup. It is connected to the Chukchi-Kamchatkan and Altai languages by typological similarities and, in the opinion of several academics, also to North American Indian languages. The neighbours of the Nivkhs speak widely different Manchu languages (Ulchi, Orochi, Nanai). Three different dialects can be distinguished within the Nivkh language: a) Amur, b) East Sakhalin and c) North Sakhalin.

[Óttar]

I have a friend who is half Ainu. He is a genius and a class act.