The first human skeleton (DHS-1) excavated in 1953 at the Doigahama site (Yayoi period, Shimonoseki City, Yamaguchi) is commonly known as the ‘u wo daku onna’ (‘woman embracing a cormorant’). This name originates from the identification of avian bones found near the breast of this middle-aged female as a chick of the Japanese cormorant (Phalacrocorax capillatus). However, a recent morphological re-examination of these avian bones clarified that they were not those of a juvenile cormorant. Additionally, three of the avian bones were found to have been bitten by small animals, which raises questions about the premise that these bones were buried at the same time as DHS-1. In this study, we observed and compared the surface morphology of DHS-1 and the associated bones (infant human bones (DHS-1a) and avian bones), and re-examined the possibility of simultaneous burial of these remains from taphonomic perspectives. We observed three types of damage (types A, B, and C) in the bones. Of these, two types of damage (types A and B) were observed in DHS-1. The characteristics of type A were consistent with those reported as traces of insect bites, and type B with those reported to be derived from plant roots. Type C, presumed to be animal bite marks such as those from small carnivores, was found only in the avian bones and DHS-1a, but not in DHS-1. Considering the appearance patterns of the damage, we hypothesize that after the burial of DHS-1, the sand moved and the body was temporarily exposed. When it was covered with sand again, the avian bones and DHS-1a were buried near DHS-1. Subsequently, all these bones were then excavated together.

The positions of the rostral opening of the pterygoid canal and the foramen of the zygomatic nerve in dogs and wolves were observed using samples taken from the crania of 144 contemporary Japanese dogs, 45 European dogs, and 36 grey wolves. The rostral opening of the pterygoid canal was located in the pterygopalatine fossa in 85–100% of the European dog and grey wolf individuals examined in this study; however, in 35% of the Japanese dogs, the opening was found in the medial wall of the orbital fissure, at a relatively high incidence rate compared with European dogs and wolves. This trait of the Japanese dogs is considered to be a variant, and to learn about its origin the crania of 45 Jomon dogs (5th millennium–10th century BC), 1 Jomon Japanese wolf (c. 6000 BP¹⁴C), 13 Yayoi dogs (5th–4thcenturies BC), 14 dogs from China (5th millennium–20th century BC), and 108 dogs from Susuya site, Sakhalin (4th century BC–6th century AD) were examined. The rostral opening of the pterygoid canal in the orbital fissure of the Neolithic period dogs from Japan and China had an occurrence rate of 73–100%, higher than that of contemporary Japanese dogs, giving rise to the possibility that this variant of the contemporary Japanese dogs is an inherited trait. It should be noted that in the modern 8 Japanese wolves (c. 17th century AD), 75% were of the orbital fissure type, and the Jomon Japanese wolf also had a pterygoid canal which opened into the orbital fissure, a trend differing from that of the grey wolf elsewhere in the world. The foramen for the zygomatic nerve was present in Jomon dogs at a relatively high occurrence rate. However, it was rarely observed overall among the dog specimens examined, and none were observed in the wolf samples.