Metric and Non-metric Characters of the Jomon Skulls from the Ebishima Shell-Mound in Northeastern Honshu, Japan.

Abstract

The metric and non-metric data on 32 human skulls excavated at the Ebishima (alias Kaitori) shell-mound in Iwate Prefecture, Japan, are provided for future anthropological analyses. The skeletal remains date back to the Late and/or Latest phases (ca. 2, 500 B.C. to ca. 300 B.C.) of the Jomon period. Preliminary comparisons of cranial measurements among five Jomon local populations indicate that, in both sexes, the Jomon people of the Tohoku district including the Ebishima sample tend to have narrower and higher skulls than those from the other districts. In the occurrence frequencies of non-metric cranial characters, the Ebishima sample is not significantly different from the Jomon population of eastern Honshu in 20 of the 21 non-metric characters examined. The presumably deliberate ablation of teeth is recognized in 80% of the adults from the Ebishima shell-mound.