Nonmetric cranial variants in a medieval Japanese sample from Ichikishima-jinja site

Abstract

The incidences of 20 nonmetric cranial traits of medieval Japanese skeletons excavated at the Ichikishima-jinja site in southern central Japan are reported, and compared with those of other population samples from Japan by means of Smith's Mean Measure of Divergence (MMD). The Ichikishima sample is proved to be biologically far from both the prehistoric Jomon and recent Hokkaido Ainu samples, and close to the samples from the protohistoric Kofun to the recent period, especially to the Kanto samples of the Muromachi and Kamakura periods. For both the recent and Kofun periods, the Ichikishima sample is closer to the eastern then to the western Japan samples. A secular trend, which is perhaps independent of the extent of admixture between the Jomon and immigrant elements, is suggested for the Japanese samples after the Yayoi period.