In this study, we estimate the genealogical relations among the prehistoric and recent populations in Hokkaido (the Jomon/Epi-Jomon, Okhotsk, and Ainu peoples) and the Northeast Asians including the recent Sakhalin Ainu and lower Amur inhabitants as well as the Neolithic Baikalian in terms of the frequencies of nine nonmetric cranial traits. The population relationships inferred from nonmetric cranial trait analyses were examined by craniometric analyses involving 18 measurements. The findings of this study are as follows: (1) The Jomon/Epi-Jomon people in Hokkaido are phenetically closest to the Hokkaido Ainu; (2) The Hokkaido Ainu are closer to the Okhotsk people than to the Sakhalin Ainu; (3) The frequencies of nonmetric cranial traits in the Okhotsk people tend to be an average of that of the Jomon/Epi-Jomon in Hokkaido and the Neolithic Baikalian, who are possible ancestors of the lower Amur inhabitants; (4) The Sakhalin Ainu are very close to the Okhotsk people, and they are also, to a certain extent, close to the lower Amur inhabitants. From these findings, we speculate that (1) the Jomon/Epi-Jomon people in Hokkaido made a large contribution to the ethnogenesis of recent Hokkaido Ainu; (2) the cultural and genetic exchanges between the ancestors of the Hokkaido Ainu and Okhotsk people were more frequent than have been noted so far; (3) the Epi-Jomon people in Hokkaido in addition to the ancestors of the lower Amur inhabitants, such as the Neolithic Baikalian, genetically contributed to the physical makeup of the Okhotsk people; and (4) by the thirteenth century, the ancestors of the Hokkaido Ainu migrated to the southern part of Sakhalin Island and integrated with the Okhotsk people living there, and they composed the core group of the recent Sakhalin Ainu.

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In the present study, in order to further discuss the usefulness of femoral diaphysis in determining sex of human remains, sexual dimorphism of mid-femoral cross-sectional geometry was examined. A total of 31 Jomon femora of the Hobi shell mound site of Aichi prefecture (14 males and 17 females, ca. 3000–2300 BP) and 42 modern Japanese femora of the Kanto region (21 males and 21 females, aged 20 to 50 years) were used for the study. The cross sections were captured by means of micro-CT. The cross-sectional geometry was measured using ImageJ and CT-Rugle softwares. The Wilks’ lambda (λ) and percentage of correct classification (PCC) were calculated in each measurement. It was found that, both in the two groups, the cortical bone area was the most accurate sex discriminator (Jomonese: λ = 0.230, PCC = 96.8, modern Japanese: λ = 0.469, PCC = 85.7). In the Jomonese, the anteroposterior outer diameter, outer perimeter, periosteal dimension, maximum second moment of area, and polar moment of area also achieved the accuracy of higher than 90% (λ: 0.311–0.362, PCC: 93.5–96.8). In the modern Japanese, all measurements except the cortical bone area had relatively low accuracy (λ: 0.514–0.876, PCC: 61.9–81.0). The results of the present study indicate that cortical bone area of mid-femoral cross section can be of great use in determining sex of human remains.

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The Edo-period (AD 1603–1867) human skeletal remains were excavated from the Unseiji site in Akashi, Japan. The inscription of the gravestone suggested that the individual was a grandmother of a chief retainer of the Akashi clan. Because the accumulation of anthropological data for high-status persons in the Edo period is important for future studies, this study reports the basic description of this individual from the perspectives of morphology, paleopathology, and stable isotope analysis. The results obtained here are as follows. (1) The osteological diagnosis of age at death and sex revealed that this individual is a female whose age at death is 50 years and more. This is consistent with the record of the gravestone inscription. (2) This individual is characterized by the large maximum cranial length, the small basion-bregma height, and the large facial width and height, which are all different from the craniofacial features of the Tokugawa-shogunate family, the Edo-period commoners, and the modern Japanese. (3) The carbon and nitrogen stable isotopic analysis of this individual further revealed that the main source of proteins of this individual was fresh water fish or a combination of terrestrial and sea food.

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