Incidences of Cranial Nonmetric Characters in Five Jomon Populations from West Japan

Abstract

Incidence data of thirty cranial nonmetric characters were presented for five Jomon population samples of West Japan as well as for protohistoric Kofun sample of west Japan and modern Kinki, Hokuriku, Okinawa-Amami, Sakhalin Ainu, and Korea-China samples, and data of 19 characters for Sakishima samples. COCHRAN'S tests show significant sex differences for 14 or at least 10 of 30 characters. Interpopulation comparisons were performed by applying metric multidimensional scaling analysis (MMDSA) to mean character differences based on side incidences of cranial nonmetric characters. Among the five Jomon populations, Tsukumo was most derived from other Jomon populations, that is Yoshiko, Inariyama, Hobi and Ota. As a whole, Jomon populations showed marked affinities to Hokkaido Ainu but not to any other population including Sakhalin Ainu or Kofun.