THE ORIGIN OF THE INHABITANTS OF THE RYUKYU ARCHPELAGO. PALEOANTHROPOLOGICAL DATA (Pochodzenie mieszkanców Archipelagu Ryukyu. Dane paleoantropologiczne)

This paper opens with the reference to the prehistoric osteological human remains discovered in some Ryukyn islands and found to be the oldest within the whole archipelago. These findings are set against the comparative, mainly Southeast Asian, background. Then, most important hypotheses concerning the alleged, changing in time, distributions and interrelations of the anthropological races on the considered areas are reviewed. In the closing part of the article, its authoress puts forward inferences drawn from the presented data as well as concluding remarks.