Medieval human life activity based on human and animal skeletal remains.

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Hirata and others (2004) discussed skeletal injuries caused by sharp weapons among four medieval archaeological sites, in Kamakura, Japan. It is interesting that the injuries by swords in the medieval Japanese skeletons of Zaimokuza site were distinguishable from those of other three sites. A medieval Yuigahama-minami skeletal samples abridged life-table analysis yielded a life expectancy at birth of 24.0 years for both sexes, a life expectancy at age 15 years of 15.8 years for males, and 18.0 years for females. The small tooth size of the Kamakura medieval series may be related to non-lineage factors, and would not contradict their similarity in odontometric pattern with the Yayoi, Kofun, Ed, and modern series.Population affinities and biological variation in human skeletal series associated with the Okhotsk culture from Hokkaido and Sakhalin Islands during the 5th and 12th century AD are investigated using 19 nonmetric cranial traits. The method of Relethford and Blangero (1990) sugg … More ests that the eastern Okhotsk had a larger Rii value (distance from the centroid) and a lower observed variation than the northern Okhotsk, indicating that the eastern Okhotsk lost phenotypic variability. The Jomon and Ainu were closer to the Okhotsk than to other Northeast Asian series prior to any admixture.In order to investigate the phylogenetic status of the Okhotsk people, DNA was carefully extracted from human bone remains excavated from their archaeological sites. The phylogenetic relationships inferred from mtDNA sequences showed that the Okhotsk people were closer to the Nivkhi and Ulchi people among northeastern Asian populations. Moreover, the Okhotsk people had a relatively closer genetic affinity with the Ainu people of Hokkaido.Nonmetric cranial variation of the Ryukyuans, including the historic Kumejima population, and their neighboring peoples was investigated. The result may prove not only northern, but also southern influences to the Ryukyu Islands during the prehistoric and historic times, as suggested by recent genetic studies. Degenerative diseases of the spine and limb bones, and dental disease were investigated in the early modern people, consisting of human skeletal remains found in Kumejima. Severe degenerative diseases of the lumbar vertebra were more frequently seen in females. Frequency of right elbow osteoarthritis of scale 4 in female is higher than in male. The highest rate of dental caries occurred in the adult females. Not only female physiological events, such as pregnancy and menopause, but also differences in food preference may have led to this sex difference, as suggested by isotopic analysis. Younger adult females tended to be more affected by LEH, indicating that they experienced greater physiological stress during early childhood. Less