In Search of Pleistocene Human Fossils in Kitakami Mountain Areas, Iwate Prefecture

我们于1994年启动了“北上山区寻找更新世人类化石”的研究项目。此后，在岩手县大崎县的Abakuchi和Kaza'ana洞穴遗址进行了6个季节的人类学、古生物学和考古发掘。1996年，我们在东北地区北部首次成功挖掘出保存完好的弥生时代人类婴儿骨架。从其形态特征来看，婴儿似乎在一定程度上受到了移民型弥生的遗传影响。1997 ~ 2000年，虽然没有发现旧石器时代晚期的人类化石和人工制品，但发现了许多大中型哺乳动物的化石，如fusaca Macaca、selenartos tibetanus、象科genet spindet等。在Kaza’ana洞穴中发现的晚更新世的Alces。在Kaza’ana洞穴遗址晚更新世还发现了许多已灭绝类型的微型动物，如Clethrinomys-Phuronomys过渡形态、Microtus epiratticepodes、Microtos cf. Brandtiodes等。这些发掘的最终报告将于2001年底由东北大学出版社以专著的形式出版。

We initiated a research project "In Search of Pleistocene Human Fossils in Kitakami Mountain Areas" in 1994. Thereafter, six seasons of anthropological, palaeontological and archaeological excavations were carried out at the Abakuchi and Kaza'ana cave sites in Ohazama, Iwate Prefecture. In 1996, we successfully dug up a remarkably well-preserved human infant skeleton of the Yayoi period for the first time in northern Tohoku region. Judging form its morphological characteristics, the infant seems to have been genetically influenced by the Yayoi of immigrant type in some degree. In 1997 to 2000, although human fossils and artifacts of the Upper Palaeolithic were not found, we could discover fossils of many large or medium-sized mammals such as Macaca fuscata, Selenarctos tibetanus, Elephantidae, gen.et sp.indet., Alces alces from the late Pleistocene formation in the Kaza'ana cave. Many micro faunas of extinct types such as Clethrinomys-Phuronomys transitional form, Microtus epiratticepodes, Microtos cf. Brandtiodes were also unearthed from the late Pleistocene formation in the Kaza'ana cave site. The final reports on these excavations will be published by the end of 2001 from the Tohoku University Press as a monograph.