Evidence for weapon-related traumas in medieval Japan: observations of the human crania from Seiyokan

Abstract

The Seiyokan site is located in Kamakura, Japan, and has yielded 91 human skeletons belonging to the 14-15th centuries AD. The purposes of this study are to examine the human crania from the archeological site at Seiyokan, to analyze the presence, distribution, and variability of their weaponrelated traumas, and finally to better understand violence in medieval Japan from osteological evidence. The results demonstrate that the traumas on the crania have morphological features consistent with human-induced cut marks. The presence of cut marks on the Seiyokan crania, which strongly suggests the prevalence of violence in medieval Japan, is in accord with the historical background-that a militarily organized society was founded by force and that the rise to political power of the warrior class and the establishment of a military government resulted in continuous disturbances, armed conflicts, and violent death.

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

“…Several preceding studies have shown that human skeletons from medieval Japan exhibited traumatic injuries related to violence, such as gashes, decapitations, blows, stabbing, and scratches (Suzuki et al, 1956;Morimoto, 1987;Morimoto and Hirata, 1992;Hirata et al, 2004;Nagaoka et al, 2009Nagaoka et al, , 2010. The results of this study demonstrated the presence of weapon-related traumas on the cranium and limb bones.…”

“…Comparative samples for this study were cited from the literature on paleodemography (Nagaoka et al, 2006(Nagaoka et al, , 2012bNagaoka andHirata, 2007, 2008), dental caries (Sakura, 1964;Fujita, 1995;Ohshima, 1996;Todaka et al, 2003), enamel hypoplasia (Sawada, 2010), and violent behavior (Suzuki et al, 1956;Hirata et al, 2004;Nagaoka et al, 2009Nagaoka et al, , 2010Nagaoka, 2012) (Table 1). The chronological ages used in the comparative samples are the Jomon (14500-300 BC), Yayoi (300 BC-300 AD), medieval (1185-1573 AD), and Edo (1603-1687 AD) periods.…”

“…Nagaoka et al (2006) compared the urban sanitation situation between the medieval and Edo populations and considered that population concentration in medieval Kamakura had impacted negatively on the lives of the inhabitants. Urban sanitation of the water supply and waste disposal was not provided there and the observation of injured skeletons by Nagaoka et al (2009Nagaoka et al ( , 2010 implied the possibility that some of the medieval Japanese individuals were drawn into direct or indirect involvement in violence and warfare. In Edo-period Japan also, the mortality rate was higher in urban areas than in rural areas (Kito, 2000).…”

“…The first author of this paper (T.N.) and colleagues analyzed them and indicated several new findings regarding paleodemography and paleopathology of the medieval Japanese: (1) the paleodemographic study of the YM and YCSB-372 series demonstrated a higher proportion of deaths in young individuals than the Edo period (1603-1867 AD) Japanese and implied severe living conditions in medieval Kamakura due to malnutrition and warfare (Nagaoka et al, 2006;; (2) the paleopathological study of the YM site revealed the first evidence for leprosy and tuberculosis in medieval Japan (Hirata et al, 2011) and less frequent degenerative changes in spines than the Okhotsk and Kumejima skeletal series (Shimoda et al, 2012); and (3) the presence of cut marks on the crania from the Seiyokan, YM, and YCSB-372 sites strongly suggested the prevalence of violence in medieval Japan (Hirata et al, 2004;Nagaoka et al, 2009Nagaoka et al, , 2010. These studies have revealed the life and death situations of the urban inhabitants of medieval Japan from multiple perspectives and a tentative hypothesis is that the medieval people suffered from poor health due to malnutrition and interpersonal violence.…”

Degenerative changes of the spine in people from prehistoric Okhotsk culture and two ancient human groups from Kanto and Okinawa, Japan

“…Medieval Kamakura and early-modern Kumejima peoples Intensive paleodemographic research has been performed and has revealed that the medieval Kamakura people were not long lived (Nagaoka et al, 2006;Nagaoka and Hirata, 2008). In addition, many weapon-related traumas were found among the skeletal remains from medieval Kamakura (Suzuki et al, 1956;Hirata et al, 2004;Nagaoka et al, 2009Nagaoka et al, , 2010. However, there have been few studies on the life activity patterns of these people.…”