Collaborative Research on Cut Injuries and the Agents in Ancient Human Skeletons

本研究对奈良县Shibu遗址、鸟取县青谷-神地遗址、神户市新浦遗址出土的弥生骨骸，以及法医解剖案例中发现的杀人伤骸，特别是弥生时期有割伤的人骨，进行了详细的宏观解剖研究，并对其实际状态和情况进行了比较分析。与此同时，利用弥生时代考古遗址中发现的多种石器和青铜武器的逼真复制品，在实验室里重复了在日本猴子和猪的新鲜骨头上制造伤口的实验。我们将古代人类骨骼上的损伤与现代动物骨骼上的损伤进行比较，试图确定骨骼损伤与使用的武器之间的因果关系。由于骨骼损伤模型变得更加精细和真实，我们已经达到了一种真实的方法来区分是否是杀人案件，以及弥生人类骨骼可能的武器。这是目前研究中最显著的结果之一。此外，我们发现将古代骨损伤分为四类是有用的，即刺伤，切割，射击和损伤。无论如何，通过这项合作研究，我们已经能够了解古代骨骼损伤的性质以及日本弥生时代人类骨骼可能造成这种损伤的原因，这应该是非常重要的。因此，我们可以说，对弥生晚期所谓的“大战”进行实质性调查的一步现在已经实现。

In the present research, especially human skeletons with cut injuries from the Yayoi period, possible skeletons killed in homicide cases, have been macro-anatomically investigated in detail, and the actual states and situations of those injuries have been comparatively analysed among the Yayoi skeletons unearthed at the Shibu site, Nara Prefecture, at the Aoya-Kamijichi site, Tottori Prefecture, and at the Shinpo site, Kobe City, and with homicidal injuries in forensic anatomy cases. At the same time, using the realistic replicas of many kinds of stone- and bronze-weapons found at archaeological sites from the Yayoi period, experiments to make injuries on the fresh bones of Japanese monkeys and pigs have been repeated at the laboratory. We have tried to identify the causative relations between bone injuries and weapons to be used, referring injuries on ancient human bones to those on modern animal bones. As the result of the bone injury model becoming more elaborate and realistic, we have reached to an authentic methodology of discriminating if homicide cases or not, and probable weapons as well with the Yayoi human skeletons. This is one of the most remarkable results in the present study. Furthermore, we have found it useful to classify ancient bone injuries into four categories, that is, stabbing, cutting, shooting and damaging. Anyway, it should be very significant that through this collaborative research, we have become able to understand the nature of ancient bone injuries and the possible/probable causative agents of such injuries with the Yayoi human skeletons in Japan. Thus we can say that a step to investigate substantially into the so-called ‘Wakoku-no-Tairan' (Great War Affairs) in the late-Yayoi period, has now materialized.