Journal of the Anthropological Society of Nippon

Comparative Analysis of Dietary Habits between Jomon and Ainu Hunter-Gatherers from Stable Carbon Isotopes of Human Bone

Zarko ROKSANDIC, Masao MINAGAWA, Takeru AKAZAWA

1988 Volume 96 Issue 4 Pages 391-404
Published: 1988
Released on J-STAGE: February 26, 2008

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1537/ase1911.96.391

JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

Show abstractHide abstract

There has been much discussion about regional diversity in the subsistence economies of Japanese prehistoric hunter-gatherers during the Jomon period. The discussion has focused on the meaning of regional difference in such archaeological evidence as artifact, faunal and floral assembrages. In this study, however, human bones are the major topic. Carbon isotopic analysis of the human skeletal materials from three Jomon shellmidden sites and from northern Ainu populations in Hokkaido and Sakhalin, spanning the time period 4000BP to the present, indicates area-specific dietary specialization. The Hokkaido and Sakhalin aboriginal people developed a marine-oriented subsistence base, while more emphasis on terrestrial food chains was found in the Jomon period samples.

View full abstract

Download PDF (1487K)
Three-Dimensional Measurement of the Occlusal Surface of the Upper First Molar in South African Samples

Eisaku KANAZAWA, Donald H. MORRIS, Mitsuo SEKIKAWA, Tadashi OZAKI

1988 Volume 96 Issue 4 Pages 405-415
Published: 1988
Released on J-STAGE: February 26, 2008

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1537/ase1911.96.405

JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

Show abstractHide abstract

Three-dimensional measurement of the occlusal table of the upper first maxillary molar in three racial populations in South Africa was carried out with the use of moire contourography. Three populations were San Bushman, Central Sotho Bantu (Negroid) and Asiatic Indian (Caucasian). Their dental casts had been collected in 1968-1969 in Botswana and Lenasia by Nuffield Foundation and are now housed in Arizona State University. A moire photograph of the occlusal table in which contour lines were projected was obtained from each molar, and the height of cuspal tips and the intercuspal distance were measured. Cusps were highest in Asiatic Indian, intermediate in Bantu and lowest in Bushman. However, Bantu showed larger intercuspal distances than Indian, while Bushman had the smallest value of the distance. The results were compared with those of other racial populations previously investigated, then it was found that arrangement of four cusps in these samples were different from Mongoloid samples and that the proportion between cusp height and intercuspal distance in Asiatic Indian was close to another Caucasian, European white.

View full abstract

Download PDF (3597K)
Enamel Hypoplasia of the Permanent Teeth in Japanese from the Jomon to the Modern Periods

Miyoko YAMAMOTO

1988 Volume 96 Issue 4 Pages 417-433
Published: 1988
Released on J-STAGE: February 26, 2008

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1537/ase1911.96.417

JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

Show abstractHide abstract

Since enamel hypoplasia is a reduction in the enamel thickness caused by either serious nutritional deficiency or systemic disease which occurred during tooth formation, an exact estimation of it is commonly thought to be valuable as a stress indicator in archaeological materials. In this study, the frequencies, types and chronological distribution of the enamel hypoplasia were examined in the permanent teeth of the human skulls of the prehistoric Jomon, protohistoric Kofun, late medieval Muromachi, early modern Edo, and late Modern (belonging to the individuals born around 1900 A. D.) periods of Japan. Methodology of estimation of the enamel hypoplasia was also discussed. The frequencies of cribra orbitalia were additionally investigated.
The enamel hypoplasia was rare under three years of age and occurred mainly at four to five in all the periods. Sex difference in the frequencies of the hypoplasia was not significant for the teeth of any types. It was suggested that the lower canines would be most adequate for the estimation of the enamel hypoplasia, although the frequencies of the hypoplasia were varied among the teeth of various types. The frequency of the hypoplasia in the agricultural Kofun people was slightly lower than that in the Jomon huntergatherers. The frequency in the Edo period was highly increased, while that in the late Modern times was considerably decreased. The hypoplasia of both severe pit and groove types could not be found in the Jomon and Kofun. This would be explained by a probable situation in these days where serious stress events brought about a high mortality. Several workers recently considered that the induction of agriculture was able to cause the enamel hypoplasia in the prehistoric America. It was, however, interesting to note in this study that the Japanese agriculturists displayed relatively low frequencies of the enamel hypoplasia.

View full abstract

Download PDF (7298K)
Inter-Island Variation in Tooth Size of the Cook Islanders, and Their Biological Affinities with Other Oceanic People

Hiroyuki YAMADA, Keiichi KAWAMOTO, Takuro SAKAI, Kazumichi KATAYAMA

1988 Volume 96 Issue 4 Pages 435-448
Published: 1988
Released on J-STAGE: February 26, 2008

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1537/ase1911.96.435

JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

Show abstractHide abstract

The dentition of the Cook islanders was metrically examined in terms of inter-island variation and biological population affinity. The mesiodistal and buccolingual crown diameters of the permanent dentition were recorded here on 146 plaster casts of male minors in the Cook Islands. According to the ethnic origin or native island of each subject, the samples have been divided into six population series. The results revealed that Pukapukans were greatest in tooth size among the Cook Islands peoples, and that the differences between Pukapukans and the other Cook Islands populations were significant for the mesiodistal dimensions of the upper and lower second premolars, and the first and second molars, and for the buccolingual of the upper central incisor and the lower second molar. Within the samples from the southern group of Cooks, however, no difference was found in tooth size. The part-European sample showed a rather close distance to those of the southern Cook populations, but did a considerably great distance from the Pukapukan sample. Through the comparison with several ethnic populations in Oceania, there emerged two major clusters: a Cooks-Taumako-Hawaii-Java cluster and a cluster consisting of populations from New Guinea, Bougainville and Australia. The present findings of odontometric analysis supported the biological dichotomy in Oceanic populations, which was proposed by some osteological and dental morphological studies.

View full abstract

Download PDF (5119K)
On the Effect of the Fluctuating Population Size on the Age of a Mutant Gene

Naruya SAITOU, Hiromu SHIMIZU, Keiichi OMOTO

1988 Volume 96 Issue 4 Pages 449-458
Published: 1988
Released on J-STAGE: February 26, 2008

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1537/ase1911.96.449

JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

Show abstractHide abstract

The age of a mutant gene was studied under various cases of population size fluctuation. A Monte Carlo method was used to simulate a branching process under the assumption that the probability distribution of descendant gene numbers follows a Poisson distribution. It is shown that a population with a constant population size tend to have larger age of a mutant gene than populations in which the size is fluctuating. It was also shown that for a Negrito population of Luzon Island, the observed distribu tion of gene transmission estimated through pedigree data agrees well with a Poisson distribution.

View full abstract

Download PDF (969K)
A Canonical Correlation Analysis of the Human Alveolar Arch and Facial Forms: A Statistical Examination of their Biomechanical Association

Takeo SHIMADA

1988 Volume 96 Issue 4 Pages 459-475
Published: 1988
Released on J-STAGE: February 26, 2008

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1537/ase1911.96.459

JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

Show abstractHide abstract

The relationship of the alveolar arch form to the other part of the upper face was analyzed with special reference to masticatory function using the facial measurements projected to the frontal and sagittal planes and factor scores of alveolar arch. The factor analysis designed for selecting facial measurements extracted the five factors reflecting 1) the overall size, 2) the upper facial breadth, 3) maxillary prognathism, 4) depth in the orbital region and 5) positioning of the upper face to the cranial base, which suggested use of 11 measurements. Since the correlations between the facial measurements and alveolar arch factor scores were rather low, canonical correlation analysis was employed to examine the association between them. Statistical significance was detected only for the first canonical component corresponding to the contrast between U-shaped and parabolic arches. Thiscontrast differs from that found for the divergence among hominoids, since the current U-shaped arch is associated with the reduction in size and pro-trusion at orbital section of the upper face. This component could not be interpreted biomechanically.

View full abstract

Download PDF (8579K)

Register with J-STAGE for free!