Comparative Studies of Dental Characteristics in the Aogashima Islanders

Abstract

Metric and non-metric data of the dental traits of the Aogashima Islanders were compared with those from the Honshu Japanese (Tokyo and Kyoto areas), the Okinawa Islanders, the Ainu, the Jomon and the Yayoi populations using multivariate analysis methods. The overall tooth size of the Aogashima Islanders is closest to the Tokyo residents, larger than the Jomon population, the Okinawa Islanders and the Ainu, and smaller. than the Yayoi population. On the other hand, the Aogashima Islanders are similar to the Okinawa Islanders in the shape factors of the tooth crown measurements. In the non-metric dental characters, the Aogashima Islanders show a closer affinity to the Okinawa Islanders than to any other populations compared. As a whole, the Aogashima Islanders are similar to the Jomon population as well as those who show close affinities to the latter, and largely differ from the Yayoi population in dental morphology. This finding seems to suggest that the dental traits in isolated populations such as the Aogashima Islanders may give important informations about the geographic variations which are supposed to reflect the history of formation processes of the Japanese population.