Demographic and pathological characteristics of the medieval Japanese: new evidence from human skeletons from Kamakura, Japan

Abstract

The purposes of this study are to conduct paleodemographic and paleopathological analyses of medieval human skeletons from Japan and to clarify their life and death situations. The materials used here were individuals from the Yuigahama-chusei-shudan-bochi site (Seika-ichiba location) (i.e. YCSB-SI), located along the Yuigahama seashore of the southern end of Kamakura City. Several new findings regarding the life and death situations of YCSB-SI were obtained: (1) YCSB-SI exhibited a younger age-at-death distribution than other skeletal series; (2) the frequency of caries lesions in YCSB-SI was 5%, females exhibited more caries lesions than males and this group exhibited the lowest caries prevalence rate among Japanese populations; (3) the frequencies of enamel hypoplasia were 67% in the upper central incisors and 73% in the lower canines, which were almost equal to those of non-medieval series; and (4) the presence of weapon-related traumas on the cranium and limb bones from YCSB-SI was demonstrated. It is inferred from the present and previously reported data that population concentration in Kamakura impacted negatively on the lives of the inhabitants, possibly by malnutrition, increase of infectious diseases, and occasionally death by violence, and that all the results can be consistently explained by assuming urbanization and severe living conditions in medieval Kamakura.

Infant feeding practice in medieval Japan: Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of human skeletons from Yuigahama‐minami

“…Paleodemographic studies on the townspeople skeletons from the Yuigahama-minami site (162 adults and 98 subadults) and Seika-ichiba location of the Chusei Shudan Bochi site (28 adults and 13 subadults) indicate a younger ageat-death distribution than that of early modern Edo populations, similar to the Mesolithic-Neolithic Jomon population (Nagaoka et al, 2006(Nagaoka et al, , 2013. A higher frequency of several stress markers, such as enamel hypoplasia and cribra orbitalia, was observed for medieval Kamakura skeletons from the Yuigahama-minami site (Hirata et al, 2011) and the Chusei Shudan Bochi site (Nagaoka et al, 2013).…”

Metric traits of the crania and limb bones of medieval human skeletons from Kamakura City, Japan

“…Ohkouchi (1986) published a brief report on the YCSB-SI site and considered that the human skeletons dated back to the 14th and 15th centuries AD, or the Muromachi period in the pottery sequence. Most of the human skeletons were found in articulated positions with entire-body skeletons and were not mixed with the remains of other individuals (Nagaoka et al, 2013). The medieval human remains from Kamakura City have usually been excavated from multiple burial sites and determining the age and sex of each isolated bone has been difficult because of the lack of an associated pelvis and cranium.…”

“…A survey of the Yuigahama-chusei-shudan-bochi (seika-ichiba) site, or YCSB-SI, in Kamakura City was further undertaken by the Kamakura Board of Education and the medieval human skeletal remains were excavated. Nagaoka et al (2013) conducted paleodemographic and paleopathological analyses of the human skeletal remains from YCSB-SI and suggested the following findings: (1) the sample comprises at least 51 individuals; (2) the frequency of caries lesions was 5%, which is the lowest caries prevalence rate among Japanese populations; and (3) the presence of weapon-related trauma on the cranium and limb bones was demonstrated.…”

Impact of Subsistence on Demographic Patterns in Bronze Age to Early Iron Age in Northern China

“…Through the study of sex ratio, peak age of death, and life-span, we can estimate the ancient inhabitants' living conditions (Nagaoka et al 2013;White 2014;Espinoza and Morfin 2015;Walter and DeWitte 2017). Furthermore, it aids a better understanding of local funeral customs, ancient people's views of life and death, and other archaeological topics.…”