Reconstructing the life experiences through prehistoric to early modern Ryukyuans

在这项研究中，Doi N.调查了最近在琉球群岛出土的人类骨骼遗骸。中世冲绳人的骨形态特征，如明显的牙槽突和dokichocrany等，与典型的中世日本人有着密切的相似性。这些特征在史前冲绳人中从未见过。这些发现似乎支持了冲绳人骨骼形态的年代变化可能是受来自日本大陆的中世纪人的影响而形成的观点。调查冲绳人的牙齿形态，并讨论了种群内的变异及其与周边地区的亲缘关系。在岛屿史前史的背景下，分析了考古遗址的植物和动物遗骸。他介绍了关于冲绳农业起源的假设，并根据考古植物学资料对这些假设进行了检验。对取自琉球群岛（包括冲绳、宫古岛和八重山岛）的一系列人类遗骸进行了胶原蛋白的稳定碳和氮同位素分析。结果表明，琉球群岛的饮食习惯在空间和时间上都存在着显著的多样性。虽然史前和近代的研究结果最好地解释了它们的蛋白质来源主要由C3和海洋生态系统组成，但在Gusuku时期的Sakishima地区的两个种群分别显示了C4植物（如谷子）消费和更强烈依赖海洋蛋白质的明确证据。通过对琉球群岛考古遗址中浮岩的化学成分分析，提出了一种新的估算琉球群岛考古遗址年代的方法。和Nishime A.琉球群岛人类骨骼遗骸和考古遗址数据库

In this research, Doi N. investigated human skeletal remains excavated recently from Ryukyu islands. Skeletal morphology of medieval Gusuku age showed that the features of medieval Okinawans, like as distinct alveolar protrusion and dokichocrany, have close resemblances to those of the typical medieval Japanese. These features have never seen in the prehistoric Okinawans. These findings seemed to support the idea that chronological changes of skeletal morphology among the Okinawans were formed probably through the influence of medieval people from Japanese mainland.Ishida H. investigated dental morphology of Okinawans and discussed intra-populational variation and their affinities to surrounding areas.Takamiya H. analyzed plant and animal remains from archaeological sites, in the context of island prehistory. He introduced hypotheses on the origins of agriculture in the Okinawa archipelago and examined them based on archaeobotanical data.Yoneda M. analyzed stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes of collagen for series of human remains obtained from the Ryukyu islands, inducing Okinawa, Miyako, and Yaeyama islands. The results showed a significant diversity in the dietary habits on the Ryukyu islands both in space and time. While the results of the prehistoric and recent periods were best interpreted their protein sources to composed mainly of C3 and marine ecosystems, two populations in the Sakishima area of the Gusuku period showed clear evidence of C4 plants (e.g.foxtail millets) consumption and more strong dependence on marine protein, respectively.Kato Y. tried to devise the new method for estimating ages of archaeological sites in Ryukyu islands, by analyzing chemical components of pumice stones from archaeological sites in Ryukyu islands.Miyagi H. and Nishime A. prepared data base of human skeletal remains and archaeological sites from Ryukyu islands