Abstract
In 2002, a human child skeleton of 6-7 years old was excavated from the Hamashiriya shell-mound, Higashidori-mura, Aomori Prefecture, which is located in the northernmost part of Honshu Island, Japan. The age of the site was evaluated at the medieval period (ca. 600-700 yrs BP) from the archaeological background. This study aims to examine the morphological characteristics of teeth, metric and nonmetric, of the Hamashiriya skeleton by comparing them with other populations in Japan, especially focusing on resemblance to the Ainu and the medieval Japanese. The tooth size of the Hamashiriya skeleton is in the range of both Ainu and medieval Japanese. Since there is no significant difference in dental size between the two control samples, it cannot be shown whether to resemble Ainu or medieval Japanese. In regard to non-metrical crown characteristics, however, the weakly-developed shovel-shaped upper incisors of the Hamashiriya child exhibit that it has close affinities to Jomon natives and Ainu. The presence of middle trigonid crest in the lower second deciduous molar, which frequently occurs in Jomon natives, also indicates the resemblance to Ainu.
