[in Japanese]

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Botandaira site is located on the northern slope of the Abukuma mountain range in Fukushima Prefecture. During the water supply works operated around this site in 1977, an adult skeleton was found in a pot-shaped pottery decorated with many lines by small stick. Although the preservation of the pelvis and skull was not good, the Botandaira specimen is the sole case of Yayoi Aeneolithic (early Yayoi period: ca. 200 B.C.) adult skeletal remains in Tohoku District. At that time of finding the material was studied by Prof. T. Ogata, however the official report has not yet been published because of several reasons, especially Ogata's death. Recently we had a opportunity of reappraising the remains thanks to the kindness of Sukagawa municipal museum.
It ia almost certain that the Botandaira material is a female one from the results of sex assessment based on fragmentary bones by Nakahashi (1988) and discriminant analysis using limb-measurements. The sectional shapes at the mid-point of bodies of the ulna, femur and fibula or at the nutrient foramen of the tibia are similar to those of the late and final Jomon people. The result of discriminant analysis among 4 groups, i.e., Jomon and immigrant Yayoi (excavated from northern Kyusyu and Yamaguchi Prefecture in western Japan) of both sexes, was that the Botandaira specimen was classified into a female Jomon with correct probability more than 90 percent. Though it is impossible to infer the lineage of the specimen only from the results of the present study, it is suggested that immigrant group hardly influenced on the limb-morphology of this material, in terms of either genetic background or cultural effects.
The mortuary style of Botandaira remains is not cremation nor artificial destruction but reburial within a pot-shaped pottery. Besides, all incisors and canines of the mandible are extracted intentionally. Corresponding to a trait of reburial pottery, the Botandaira woman has Jomon-like characteristics physically, while her cultural aspects do not possess the native features of Tohoku District. Further examination is expected for the estimation of her homeland in the future.

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