Multivariate comparisons of female cranial series from the Ryukyu Islands and Japan

Abstract

Stepwise discriminant function and Mahalanobis' generalized distance analyses were applied to 29 cranial measurements in six female cranial series from the Ryukyu Islands and ten female cranial series representing modern and prehistoric Japanese and the Ainu. Two separate comparisons were made: the first compares Ryukyu Island cranial series and the second compares 16 cranial series from Japan. The results of this analysis have been used to investigate the biological relationships of the modern and near-modern indigenous inhabitants of the Ryukyu Islands and the modern and prehistoric inhabitants of Japan's main islands. These new multivariate craniometric results are similar to those reported in a previous study that utilized male craniometric data. Overall, the Ryukyu cranial series are generally closest to a cluster consisting of Yayoi, Kofun, and medieval Kamakura cranial series, suggesting these populations were influenced by immigrants from the north. Modern Japanese, Jomon, and Ainu cranial series are well differentiated from each other and from the Ryukyu series. The Jomon are closest to the Ainu, and together these two are the most differentiated groups compared. As in the male results, the female results do not support a connection between Ainu, Jomon, and Ryukyu Island series.

Comparative analysis of facial morphology between Okinawa Islanders and mainland Japanese using three‐dimensional images

“…People in mainland Japan have similar cranial characteristics to Yayoi migrants, whereas the Ainu living in Hokkaido, the northernmost part of Japan, and people in the Ryukyu Islands, the southernmost part of Japan, relatively retain cranial features of the Jomon people (Hanihara, 1991;Watanabe et al, 2004), although there were some differences between the two present populations (Miyake, 1940;Suda, 1950;Pietrusewsky, 1999Pietrusewsky, , 2004Dodo et al, 2000).…”

Craniometric divergence history of the Japanese populations

“…The view that the Jomon in Hokkaido were the probable major ancestors of the Ainu has been supported by many researchers (e.g. Turner, 1976;Yamaguchi, 1982;Ishida, 1990Ishida, , 1992Ishida, , 1993Kozintsev, 1992;Ishida and Dodo, 1997;Pietrusewsky, 1999Pietrusewsky, , 2000Pietrusewsky, , 2004Dodo and Kawakubo, 2002;Shigematsu et al, 2004;Fukumine et al, 2006;Ossenberg et al, 2006). Dodo and Kawakubo (2002), as well as the simple "dual-structure model" (Hanihara K., 1991), hypothesized that the Ainu in Hokkaido are the direct descendants of the Jomon without the effects of admixtures such as from the Yayoi.…”

Non-metric dental trait variation among local sites and regional groups of the Neolithic Jomon period, Japan

“…It is generally agreed, based on cranial and dental morphology, that Jomon period populations are direct ancestors of the Hokkaido Ainu (e.g. Howells, 1966;Turner, 1976;Brace and Nagai, 1982;Yamaguchi, 1982;Hanihara, 1985Hanihara, , 1991Dodo, 1986;Mouri, 1986;Matsumura, 1989Matsumura, , 1994Matsumura, , 1995aDodo and Ishida, 1990;Pietrusewsky, 1994Pietrusewsky, , 2004Ossenberg et al, 2006). Geographical variation in Jomon period material has been investigated by several researchers and only minor differences have been found in the cranial morphology of samples dating from the middle to final Jomon periods (ca.…”