Mitochondrial DNA analysis of the human skeleton of the initial Jomon phase excavated at the Yugura cave site, Nagano, Japan

Abstract

Obtaining genetic information about early humans is indispensable to our understanding of the demographic history of mankind. In the present study, we performed a detailed mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis of a skeleton of the initial Jomon era unearthed from the Yugura cave site in Nagano, Japan, which was dated to 7920–7795 calBP by direct ¹⁴C dating. mtDNA of the Yugura skeleton was designated to haplogroup D4b2, which is widely observed in present-day East Asians, including the Japanese, but is absent in Hokkaido Jomon people. This finding indicates that the basal population of Japan was heterogeneous with respect to their mtDNA lineage. This is the first report on the genotype of the people from the initial phase of the Jomon period.