Ethnogenesis and Craniofacial Change in Japan from the Perspective of Nonmetric Traits
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Authors
Ossenberg, Nancy Suzanne
Dodo, Yukio
Maeda, Tomoko
Kawakubo, Yoshinori
Date
2016-07-13
Type
journal article
Language
en
Keyword
Ethnogenesis in Japan , Tohoku , Ainu , Cranial Nonmetric Traits
Alternative Title
Abstract
To examine population affinities in light of the ‘dual structure model’, frequencies of 21
nonmetric cranial traits were analyzed in 17 prehistoric to recent samples from Japan and five from
continental northeast Asia. Eight bivariate plots, each representing a different bone or region of the
skull, as well as cluster analysis of 21-trait mean measures of divergence using multidimensional scaling
and additive tree techniques, revealed good discrimination between the Jomon-Ainu indigenous
lineage and that of the immigrants who arrived from continental Asia after 300 BC. In Hokkaido, in
agreement with historical records, Ainu villages of Hidaka province were least, and those close to the
Japan Sea coast were most, hybridized with Wajin. In the central islands, clines were identified among
Wajin skeletal samples whereby those from Kyushu most resembled continental northeast Asians,
while those from the northernmost prefectures of Tohoku apparently retained the strongest indigenous
heritage. In the more southerly prefectures of Tohoku, stronger traces of Jomon ancestry prevailed in
the cohort born during the latest Edo period than in the one born after 1870. Thus, it seems that
increased inter-regional mobility and gene flow following the Meiji Restoration initiated the most
recent episode in the long process of demic diffusion that has helped to shape craniofacial change in
Japan.