Morphological and genetic studies on human skeletal remains of the Nansei islands

我们可以整合两次（第一次在千叶，第二次在冲绳）对南西岛民进行的形态学、遗传学和生态学研究的结果。此外，土井和峰从奄美和冲绳收集了骨骼样本进行mtDNA分析。迄今为止的研究结果如下：（<Skeletal morphology>1）发现冲绳人与种子岛人和奄美弥生人有一些共同的骨骼特征。（2）在冲绳和奄美群岛都发现了显著的骨骼形态的长期变化。（3）现代南西岛民，通常被认为与阿伊努人有密切的亲缘关系，被揭示出具有独特的形态特征。他们的脸是扁平的，明显区别于阿伊努人。<mtDNA>对东亚5个人群（日本大陆人、阿伊努人、冲绳人、朝鲜人和中国人）的mtDNA分析支持了现代日本人起源的杂交理论。此外，阿伊努人和冲绳人，虽然他们彼此有一些遗传相似性，但被认为是在弥生移民开始发生时作为不同的人群存在的。<Prehistory>冲绳上的居住地数量表明，对该岛的成功殖民只发生在中绳文时代后期或晚绳文时代早期，而不是在此之前。

We could integrate our findings obtained from morphological, genetic and ecological studies about the Nansei islanders twice (1st at Chiba and 2nd at Okinawa). In addition, Doi and Mine collected skeletal samples from the Amami and Okinawa islands for mtDNA analysis. mtDNA analyzes of these skeletal samples are proceeding at National Institute of Genetics.The results obtained up to the present were summarized as follows :<Skeletal morphology>1) The ancient Okinawans were revealed to share some skeletal features with the Tanegashima and Amami Yayoi peoples. They were characterized by small cranial size, hyperbrachycrany and shorter face.2) Significant secular changes in skeletal morphology were found both in the Okinawa and Amami islands.3) The modern Nansei islanders, generally considered to have close affinity to the Ainu, were revealed to have unique morphological characteristics. They were clearly discriminated from the Ainu by flat face.<mtDNA>The analyzes of mtDNA from five East Asian populations (mainland Japanese, Ainu, Okinawans, Koreans, and Chinese) lend support to the hybridization theory on the origin of modern Japanese. Furthermore, the Ainu and Okinawans, though they shared some genetic affinity with each other, were thought to have existed as different populations when the Yayoi migration began to take place.<Prehistory>The number of habitation sites in the Okinawa islands indicated that successful colonization of the island took place only during the later part of the Middle Jomon or the earlier part of the Late Jomon, but not prior to this time.