Study on the Human skeletal remains from Jiangnan, China.

通过对长江下游地区人类骨骼遗存的比较研究，（江南地区），这表明江南地区是弥生移民的一个可能的起源地之一，弥生移民在公元前第一个千年末首次将稻作文化从亚洲大陆带到日本岛屿。目前下结论似乎还为时过早，因为中国还有许多未被研究的领域。对这些未调查地区的古人类骨骼遗存进行人类学研究，对于准确评价江南古代人的身份是十分必要的。近两年（1999-2000年），我们对吉林大学保存的哈密遗址、Xi遗址和北方遗址的人骨进行了比较研究。哈密新石器时代遗址（3200 B. P.）与北方九州的弥生人的突出鼻骨有很大的不同。另一方面，Xi出土的春秋时期和汉初时期的遗骨，在眶间区的平坦度、较高的面部、较高的眼眶和较圆的眼眶等方面，与弥生人的遗骨较为接近，但由于样本量可能较小，在牙齿特征和非测量性颅骨特征方面，仍存在一定的差异。中国北方人（新石器时代末期-汉初）与九州北方弥生人相比，在头骨和肢体形态上也基本相似。

Through the comparative investigations on the human skeletal remains from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River ( Jiangnan region ), it was showed that the Jiangnan region is one of a possible original place of the Yayoi immigrants who brought the rice cultivating culture for the first time from the Asiatic continent to the Japanese island in the end of the first millennium B.C.However, it seem still premature to draw a conclusion at this moment because a lot of un-investigated areas are still remain in the China. It would be necessary to perform the anthropological study on the ancient human skeletal remains in these un-investigated areas for the exact evaluation about the Jiangnan ancient people. During last two years (1999-2000), we made comparative investigations on the human skeletal remains from Hami ruins (Shinkiang), Xi'an and Northern China that is kept in the Jilin University. The skeletal morphology of the neolithic skulls from Hami ruin (3200 B.P.) differ considerably with the prominent nasal bone from the Yayoi people of Northern Kyushu. On the other hand, the skeletal remains of Spring and Autumn period 〜 Earlier Han period in Xi'an are fairly close to the Yayoi colonists, for example, in the flatness of the interorbital region, higher face, higher and round orbit, although the dental characteristics and nonmetrical cranial traits show some differences due to probably small sample size. The people of northern China (the end of neolithic period 〜 early Han period) also show resemblances basically in their skull and limb morphology in comparison with the Yayoi people in northern Kyushu.