Paleodemography of the early modern human skeletons from Kumejima (Okinawa, Japan)

Nagaoka, Tomohito; Ishida, Hajime; Hirata, Kazuaki

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2014.11.015

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…The three age-classes of the Kumejima and Kamakura individuals at their time of death are shown in Table 2 (Nagaoka et al, 2014). Significant age-class differences were found between these two samples (P = 7.44E-4 for females, P = 1.06E-4 for males), confirming the short life expectancy in the Kamakura series.…”

Section: Demographicsmentioning

confidence: 70%

“…We estimated the sex of the adult individuals using standard methods, including assessment of pelvic and cranial morphologies (White et al, 2011). The ages of the Kumejima and Kamakura individuals at their time of death were estimated using analyses of the auricular surfaces of the iliums (Nagaoka et al, 2006and Nagaoka et al, 2014. However, the ages at time of death and adulthood of the other three samples were judged based on tooth eruption, epiphyseal closure, and/or the auricular surface of the ilium (White et al, 2011.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Degenerative changes in the appendicular joints of ancient human populations from the Japan Islands

Suzuki

Sunagawa

Shindo

et al. 2016

Quaternary International

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Degenerative changes in the appendicular joints of ancient human populations from the Japan Islands http://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/8316/ Article LJMU has developed LJMU Research Online for users to access the research output of the University more effectively.Abstract: Degenerative changes in six major limb joints were investigated to compare their prevalence among five ancient skeletal populations from the Japan Islands. The populations assessed in this study consisted of the farmers in the northern Kyushu/Yamaguchi area and the foragers from the northwestern Kyushu area from the Yayoi period (5th century BC to 3rd century AD); the Okhotsk (5th to 12th centuries AD) foragers from Hokkaido and Sakhalin; the common people from medieval Kamakura (12th to 14th centuries AD) in Kanto, central Japan; and the early-modern farmers (17th to 19th centuries AD) from Kumejima, in the southernmost island chain (Ryukyu Islands). Crude prevalence comparisons showed that the shoulder and hip joints were principally affected in earlymodern Kumejima and medieval Kamakura, which contrasted with the high prevalence of elbow and knee joint changes in the Okhotsk people. The heavy dependence on marine mammals and fish for dietary protein intake probably required flexion and extension movements of the most severely degenerated joints in the Okhotsk people. The northern Kyushu/Yamaguchi and northwestern Kyushu Yayoi peoples were more affected by degeneration in the wrist joints than others, possibly due to their use of innovative tools such as stone or shell knives and harpoons. A multivariate logistic regression analysis, adjusted for age, region, and sex as the predictor variables for degenerative changes in joints, was applied to only to the two samples from Kumejima and Kamakura (including previously reported spine data) because of their better preservation. This revealed differences in the prevalence of changes in some joints; for example, age-related changes were recognized. The Kumejima people were more commonly affected by hip and knee joint changes, whereas the Kamakura people were more commonly affected by changes to apophyseal joints. Because a stable isotope analysis indicated that the trophic levels of the two populations were almost the same, the pattern of degenerative changes would have reflected differences in their specific workloads, such as wet rice cultivation using a peculiar hoe by the Kumejima people. This study, combining multivariate logistic regression analysis of degenerative joint changes and stable isotope analyses, uses large skeletal populations to add clarity to the actual rigors of ancient life. AbstractDegenerative changes in six major limb joints were investigated to compare their prevalence among five ancient skeletal populations from the Japan Islands. The populations assessed in this study consisted of the farmers in the northern Kyushu/ Yamaguchi area and the foragers from the northwestern Kyushu area from the Yayoi period (5th century BC to 3rd century AD); the Okhotsk (5th to 12th c...

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Section: Demographicsmentioning

confidence: 70%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Degenerative changes in the appendicular joints of ancient human populations from the Japan Islands

Suzuki

Sunagawa

Shindo

et al. 2016

Quaternary International

Self Cite

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“…The estimation of age‐at‐death, and subsequently, the construction of population survival distributions, is an invaluable tool in bioarchaeology. Studies in age‐at‐death have informed knowledge of past demography (e.g., Fiorin et al, 2017; Gurri et al, 2015; Nagaoka et al, 2016; Redfern & Chamberlain, 2011; Warriner et al, 2012), health (e.g., Ash et al, 2016; DeWitte, 2014; Frelat & Souday, 2015), frailty (DeWitte, 2010, 2014, 2015; DeWitte & Hughes‐Morey, 2012; Flensborg, 2016; Yaussy et al, 2016), fertility (Klaus & Tam, 2009), and stress (e.g., Betsinger & DeWitte, 2017; DeWitte, 2017; Gamble et al, 2017; Kyle et al, 2018), among a variety of other sociobiological phenomena. Yet the inherent challenges of estimating age‐at‐death from skeletal remains, such as age mimicry (Bocquet‐Appel & Masset, 1982; Boldsen et al, 2002; Buckberry, 2015), variation in degenerative change (Boldsen et al, 2002), differential preservation (Cappella et al, 2017), and accuracy of anatomical region for different age groups (Boldsen et al, 2002; Buckberry & Chamberlain, 2002; Milner & Boldsen, 2012), have limited reconstruction of population‐level survival patterns.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effectiveness of skeletal age‐estimation in the reconstruction of population survivorship in post‐medieval Dublin

Clark

2021

Intl J of Osteoarchaeology

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Bioarchaeologists have long used age estimates from skeletal remains to draw conclusions about past lifeways and sociobiological phenomena such as health, stress, fertility, and frailty, among others. However, the estimation of age from skeletal remains is complicated by a multitude of well‐documented challenges including age mimicry, variation in degeneration, preservation, and accuracy between anatomical regions, individuals, and populations. The application of transition analysis to bioarchaeological age estimation was introduced nearly two decades ago to address some of these challenges, and the newest version promise further improvements. However, given the time lag between the introduction of a new technology and its adoption, continued evaluation of existing methods remains important. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of skeletal age‐at‐death estimation through transition analysis in the reconstruction of population survivorship in 18th century Dublin, Ireland. It was hypothesized that there would be no differences between the survival distributions calculated from 18th‐century parish records and survival distributions estimated from skeletal remains rom approximately the same time and location. Results show that survivorship estimated from transition analysis was approximately equal to the survivorship calculated from burial records in early‐ to mid‐adulthood, despite the fact that the samples do not represent the same individuals. However, transition analysis consistently produced higher survival curves in later adulthood, despite the lower socioeconomic statuses of the individuals represented in the skeletal sample relative to the individuals in the burial records, though these differences were not statistically significant for females. These findings suggest that bioarchaeologists should continue to exercise caution when drawing conclusions about populations based on skeletons.

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Influences of industrial development and urbanization on human lives in premodern Japan: Views from paleodemography

Nagaoka

Nakayama

2021

International Journal of Paleopathology

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Paleodemography of the early modern human skeletons from Kumejima (Okinawa, Japan)

Cited by 3 publications

References 40 publications

Degenerative changes in the appendicular joints of ancient human populations from the Japan Islands

Degenerative changes in the appendicular joints of ancient human populations from the Japan Islands

The effectiveness of skeletal age‐estimation in the reconstruction of population survivorship in post‐medieval Dublin

Influences of industrial development and urbanization on human lives in premodern Japan: Views from paleodemography

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