Comparative analysis of dietary habits between Jomon and Ainu hunter-gatherers from stable carbon isotopes of human bone.

Abstract

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