An Anthropological Study on the Japanese Jomon Skulls from the Tsukumo and Kou Sites

Abstract

The materials are the Jomon (Neolithic) Japanese skulls which were excavated by Dr. K. OGUSHI at the sites of Tsukumo (Okayama Prefecture) and Kou (Osaka Prefecture) and restored by him in 1917-18. The Tsukumo skulls consist of 25 males and 19 females, and the skulls from the Kou site of 3 males and 5 females. The Martin's methods for cranioscopy and craniometry were applied on the skulls and the data obtained were compared with those of the Jomon skulls from Tsukumo (KIYONO), Yoshiko, Inariyama, Kou (KIYONO and NAKAYAMA), Hosoura, and with those of the recent Kinai Japanese and Ainu.From an archeological point of view, the Tsukumo skulls belong to the late Jomon period and the Kou skulls to the early Jomon period. The Kou skulls reported by KIY0N0 and NAKAYAMA were excavated from the different locality from that of the present materials. In the former materials some late Jomon skulls were (supposed to be) mixed together. Marked differences between the Tsukumo and the Kou skulls show that the characteristics of the Tsukumo skulls are similar to the Jomon skulls and different from those of the recent Kinai Japanese or Ainu, and the Kou skulls are not so different from the recent Kinai Japanese in morphology of the frontal, parietal and orbital regions. Insertion areas of muscles in the Kou skulls develope more roughly than those of the Tsukumo skulls. Artificial extraction of teeth are observed in 80.6% of the Tsukumo skulls and it was performed on the canines and adjacent teeth. No such an extraction was observed in the Kou skulls.Metrical profiles of the Tsukumo and Kou skulls are summarized as follows: the male skulls from Tsukumo and Kou sites belong to mesocrany and the female skulls to brachycranic; the Tsukumo skulls and Kou female skulls are orthocranic and tapesiocranic; the male Kou skulls are hypsicranic and metriocranic; transverse f rontoparietal indices in the two groups show metriometopic type and the Virchow's upper facial index in the Tsukumo skulls belongs to hyperchamaeprosopic range; and the orbital and nasal indices represent mesoconchic and chamaerrhinic types, respectively.