Morphological Variation of Crania of the Medieval Period Japanese

Nagaoka, Tomohito; Shizushima, Akio; Sawada, Junmei; Hirata, Kazuaki

doi:10.1537/asj.114.139

Cited by 9 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Subsequently, a similar tendency has been shown with medieval samples newly unearthed in the Kanto region and in western Japan (e.g. Nakahashi and Nagai, 1985;Sakuma, 1986;Nakahashi, 1993;Matsushita, 2002;Nagaoka et al, 2006). Thus, strong alveolar prognathism is generally accepted as one of the common characteristics of medieval people in mainland Japan.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 63%

Re-evaluation of temporal changes in alveolar protrusion in Japan according to two newly introduced craniometric angles

Ohno

Kawakubo

Kuraoka

2016

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Prognathism in the human facial skeleton is generally divided into two types: alveolar and facial. The degree of alveolar prognathism has conventionally been evaluated using the alveolar profile angle, defined on the basis of the line through the nasospinale and prosthion and the Frankfort horizontal (FH). Previous examinations of Japanese crania from the protohistoric Kofun period (c. 300-700 AD) to the modern period have established that the medieval (c. 1200-1600 AD) Japanese possessed the strongest alveolar prognathism. However, the nasospinale is an ambiguous landmark that is difficult to determine. Moreover, it has been suggested that the alveolar profile angle itself is problematic for quantifying alveolar prognathism. Here, we devised a new method for evaluating each type of prognathism independently and investigated temporal changes in the Japanese population using three-dimensional (3D) coordinate landmark data collected with a 3D contact digitizer. Facial prognathism was quantified using an obtuse angle, termed the midfacial protrusion angle, created by a line that runs through the nasion and subspinale with the FH. Alveolar prognathism was evaluated using a reflex angle, named the alveolar protrusion angle, formed between the nasion-subspinale and subspinale-prosthion lines. An analysis of 66 male crania derived from the northern Kyushu and Yamaguchi (westernmost part of Honshu) region showed no significant change of the alveolar protrusion angle over time from the Kofun period to the modern period. In contrast, the midfacial protrusion angle increased from the Kofun period to the medieval period and then decreased in the modern period. These results suggest that the strongest facial prognathism was exhibited in the medieval period. Previous results, which suggested that alveolar prognathism was strong in the medieval Japanese, may have been significantly affected by facial prognathism.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 63%

Re-evaluation of temporal changes in alveolar protrusion in Japan according to two newly introduced craniometric angles

Ohno

Kawakubo

Kuraoka

2016

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“…Although Suzuki (1956) and subsequent studies have emphasized this peculiarity, virtually no attention has been paid to among-site differences in the medieval series. An examination of the variations in cranial metric traits in medieval populations, however, showed that the Zaimokuza series had more dolichocephalic and chameprosopic crania than other medieval series (Nagaoka et al, 2006). Nagaoka et al (2006) demonstrated that the peculiarity of the medieval series appeared more strongly in the human skeletons of the Kamakura period than in those of the Muromachi period and that the craniometric variations among them reflected chronological differences.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…An examination of the variations in cranial metric traits in medieval populations, however, showed that the Zaimokuza series had more dolichocephalic and chameprosopic crania than other medieval series (Nagaoka et al, 2006). Nagaoka et al (2006) demonstrated that the peculiarity of the medieval series appeared more strongly in the human skeletons of the Kamakura period than in those of the Muromachi period and that the craniometric variations among them reflected chronological differences. This study showed that the YCSB-SI series had a larger upper facial height and smaller nasal breadth than the Zaimokuza series and that the peculiarity appeared more strongly in the human skeletons of the Kamakura period than in those of the Muromachi period.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…The materials in the principal-component analysis were raw data of the 65 Kamakura-period individuals and 30 Muromachi-period individuals which had been used in part by Nagaoka et al (2006). The Kamakura-period individuals were derived from the sites of Yuigahama-minami (individual burials) (Nagaoka et al, 2006), Yuigahamachusei-shudan-bochi (Nagaoka et al, 2006), and Gokurakuji (Nagaoka et al, 2006), and the Muromachi-period individuals were derived from the sites of YCSB-SI (this study), Kajibashi (Nagaoka et al, 2006), and Marunouchi (Nagaoka et al, 2006). Both the Kajibashi and Marunouchi sites were located in Tokyo and dated back to the 15-16th centuries AD (Nagaoka et al, 2006).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…372) (Hirata and Nagaoka, 2005) in Kamakura City and have been studied from the perspectives of bioarchaeology and morphology (e.g. Nagaoka et al, 2006Nagaoka et al, , 2008. 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.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Nagaoka¹,

Miyauchi

Nakayama

et al. 2015

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The aims of this study are to examine the human skeletal remains from the Yuigahamachusei-shudan-bochi (seika-ichiba) site, or YCSB-SI, to provide data regarding the metrics of the crania and limb bones, to compare these metrics with those of ancient Japanese skeletons, and to discuss the population variability of the medieval Japanese. The results provided several findings regarding the cranial and limb-bone traits of the YCSB-SI sample: (1) the YCSB-SI remains shared dolichocephaly with the remains from the other medieval series, but the YCSB-SI remains had the highest faces of all the medieval series; (2) there is a distinction between the YCSB-SI remains and the Jomon remains in that the former had a larger length-breadth index of the crania, higher Virchow's facial and upper facial indices, smaller maximum length of the ulnae and tibiae, and a smaller mid-shaft index of the femora than the latter; and (3) the estimated stature from Fujii's equations using the maximum length of the femur for YCSB-SI males and females was 158.7 and 146.3 cm, respectively, which is nearly equal to that of other medieval series but several centimeters shorter than that of the Kofun series.

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Evidence for temporal and social differences in cranial dimensions in Edo‐period Japanese

Nagaoka

Kawakubo

Hirata

2010

Intl J of Osteoarchaeology

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This study examined the craniometric traits of the Edo-period (AD1603-1867) human skeletons from the Hitotsubashi site in Tokyo, compared them with temporally and socially various populations, and attempted to detect the morphological differentiation patterns that the Edo-period Japanese exhibited over time and under those social/environmental conditions. The materials measured here were the townsmen's crania from the Hitotsubashi site, which were dated back to the early half of the Edo period. The observations revealed that the Hitotsubashi samples were more dolichocephalic than any other Edo series and were different from subsequent Edo series in terms of larger maximum cranial length and smaller maximum cranial breadth. The Hitotsubashi samples were definitely in contrast with those of Tentokuji and Shirogane, both of which included a samurai (warrior) class of the late to final Edo period and exhibited the most brachycephalic crania. It is reasonable to assume that the temporal and social situations were possibly related to the observed cranial variation and that the temporal changes in cranial dimensions in pre-modern Japan might have reflected the nutritional and environmental conditions.

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Morphological Variation of Crania of the Medieval Period Japanese

Cited by 9 publications

References 20 publications

Re-evaluation of temporal changes in alveolar protrusion in Japan according to two newly introduced craniometric angles

Re-evaluation of temporal changes in alveolar protrusion in Japan according to two newly introduced craniometric angles

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

Evidence for temporal and social differences in cranial dimensions in Edo‐period Japanese

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