Morphological studies of Okhotsk crania from Omisaki, Hokkaido.

Abstract

Metrical and nonmetrical data were taken of the cranial series of the Okhotsk culture unearthed from the Omisaki site, Hokkaido. The Omisaki crania were compared in terms of metrical data with the crania of the Ainu, Moyoro Okhotsk, Jomon, recent Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Northern Mongoloids. It was shown that the Omisaki crania possess the characteristics of Northern Mongoloids, and that the Moyoro and Omisaki are of an identical group. This Okhotsk group has a close resemblance in cranial measurements to the Nanays and Ulchs in the lower basin of the Amur as well as to the Asiatic Eskimos, while the Troickoe crania of the Mo-ho culture in the Amur basin have little metrical resemblance to the Okhotsk crania. The cluster analysis applied to the individual cranium of the Hokkaido Ainu and Omisaki Okhotsk suggested that a few of the crania excavated at the Okhotsk burials resemble the Ainu crania, though there is a basic difference in total cranial morphology between the Ainu and Okhotsk populations.