Jomon Potteries from the Kasori shell mound in the Gyokusen-kan Collection: Study Ⅱ of archaeological materials in the Gyokusen-kan Collection

In this study, I examined the regional characteristics of the cranial features of human remains from the Yayoi period in the northern Kyushu-Yamaguchi region, which are considered to have facial features very different from those of the Jomon period, but which have not been comprehensively examined in terms of their regional characteristics since 1989. In 1953, excavations at the Doigahama site in Yamaguchi Prefecture and the Mitsunagata site in Saga Prefecture led to the discovery of human remains from the Yayoi period, and based on these materials, Takeo Kanaseki proposed the “migratory theory”. It is an important subject in the anthropology to clarify the origin, diffusion process, and regional characteristics of human remains from the Yayoi period in the northern Kyushu-Yamaguchi area, which have significantly different characteristics compared to human remains from Jomon period. However, since the comprehensive study of the Yayoi people in 1989, the regional characteristics of cranial traits, especially facial features, have only been compared among three distinctly different regions: northwestern Kyushu, southern Kyushu, and the northern Kyushu-Yamaguchi region. As a result, the image of the emergence of a homogeneous “migrant population” in the Northern Kyushu-Yamaguchi region is being formed, emphasizing the significant differences in traits from those of the Jomon period people. Therefore, it is important to reexamine the regional characteristics of cranial traits, especially facial traits, and the regional differences in individual traits within the northern Kyushu-Yamaguchi area during the Yayoi period. The present study reveals that, compared to the human skeletons of Jomon and the human skeletons of Yayoi in northwestern Kyushu, the yayoi populations of the northern Kyushu and Yamaguchi regions have a strong tendency toward high facial features in both males and females, while the Hibikinada coastal area has weaker tendency toward high facial features. Analysis at the individual reveals that high-faced and low-faced individuals existed at any time an in any region throughout the Yayoi period, and that there was more variation in traits compared to the Jomon period human remains. Based on the results of archaeological and ancient DNA analyses, it is considered that the trait variation shown in this study may have occurred as a result of interbreeding between native and migrant populations. Furthermore, it is suggested that hybridization was also advanced at the Shinmachi site, which has been emphasized as being of native descent.