Type of Research Fundamental Research
Research Title Reconsideration of Jomon Social Structure Based on Excavated Human Skeleton from Archaeological, Anthropological and Chronological Perspectives
Head of the Research Team Prof. YAMADA Yasuhiro
Research Period FY2016-2018
Purpose This study aims to develop a new database of human skeleton excavated from Jomon remains that are well preserved enough to be archaeologically analyzed to determine burial attributes, and reconstruct the structure of graves based on the results of the chronological, isotopic, and, if possible, DNA analysis of the skeleton while reviewing conventional theories on burial customs and social structures and propose a new conceptual model of Jomon society.
Result The purpose of this research is to date human skeletons excavated from various regions of Japan and make reference to the measured values for the traits of human skeletons from archaeological, anthropological chronological, and genetic perspectives in order to reexamine human bone traits and the characteristics of burial customs. During this fiscal year, two plenary research meetings were held to examine the above issues. As a result, we were able to date the excavated human bones and perform carbon/nitrogen isotope analysis and genetic analysis with regard to the shell mounds in Yoshigo, Hobi, and Ikawazu in Aichi Prefecture, Tsukumo and Funamoto in Oakayama Prefecture, and Todoroki in Kumamoto Prefecture and other sites, which have played important roles in conventional burial research, and basic research on burial studies was advanced. These achievements furthered basic research on burial customs theory. In addition, the project succeeded in elucidating the correlation between tooth extraction types and changes in the environment based on isotope analysis and also in genome sequencing a human skeleton from the Jomon period based on the DNA analysis, which led to further discussions concerning the origin and lineage of the Jomon people. Since the 2019, we have been conducting ongoing research with Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research(A).