Abstract
The aim of this study is to clarify the odontometric features of the people in the medieval period in Japan. We investigated the human skeletal remains of the Yuigahama-minami, Chusei Shudan Bochi, Seiyokan, and Gokurakuji sites; this is the first study to address the odontometry of multiple medieval skeletal populations of Kamakura city. Dental crown measurements were statistically compared with those of the other population samples dating from prehistoric to modern times. The results of our multivariate odontometric study allow some tentative perspectives regarding the relationship between the medieval and other prehistoric and historic Japanese series. First, the medieval series were found to have an odontometric pattern close to the Yayoi, Kofun, Edo, and modern series, and well differentiated from that of the Jomon and Ainu series. Second, the majority of the medieval series tended to have smaller tooth size than the post-Jomon series of the Yayoi, Kofun, Edo, and modern periods. We suggest that the small tooth size of the Kamakura medieval series may be related to non-lineage factors, and would not contradict their similarity in odontometric pattern with the Yayoi, Kofun, Edo, and modern series.
