Abstract
Studies of the regional variation of morphological traits of Japanese are aimed at clarification of population history. Some metric traits of the modern Japanese show a concentric circular regional variation: the people in central Japan around the Kinki District are morphologically different from those in peripheral regions. The purposes of this study are to examine metric traits of early modern Japanese crania in the Kinki District and to clarify regional variation at this period. The materials measured here are composed of 34 male crania from the Sakai Kango Toshi and Kosenji sites (Sakai, Japan) in the late 17th to early 19th centuries. The Sakai crania which have brachicephalic and higher cranial vaults and higher and narrower faces than other contemporary ones suggest that a concentric distribution existed in the early modern period, and it continues to exist in the modern period.
