Variation in cranial shape in medieval Japanese from Kamakura City

抄録

Many medieval skulls from Kamakura, Japan were found to be characterized by dolichocephaly, although these medieval people are most likely to be the ancestors of the modern Japanese. The specificity in the metric cranial traits has been repeatedly demonstrated by archaeological findings from other medieval sites in Kamakura City. It is not known whether these specific features were shared by the descendants of the medieval Kamakura people due to a complete lack of the skeletal remains belonging to the later half of the medieval period. Fortunately, we obtained access to a new series of skeletal remains of the later half of the medieval period from the Nozoji-ato site, and examined the variation in craiometric traits during the medieval period. The results revealed that the Nozoji-ato series were more brachycephalic than the populations within medieval Kamakura City and demonstrated the presence of secular changes within the Japanese medieval period. New data from the Nozoji-ato series thus showed that the medieval people within Kamakura City exhibited wider intra-regional variations in cranial measurements than previously anticipated. It is concluded that this contrasts with the commonly accepted theory that medieval populations were homogeneous in terms of dolichocephaly.