A Multivariate Craniometric Study of the Inhabitants of the Ryukyu Islands and Comparisons with Cranial Series from Japan, Asia, and the Pacific.

要旨

The Ryukyu Islands, a 1,300 kilometer long chain of islands stretching from the southernmost part of Kyushu Island of the main Japanese Islands to Taiwan in the East China Sea, have long attracted the attention of anthropologists. Although officially a part of modern Japan since 1879, cultural, linguistic, and other characteristics of the indigenous inhabitants of the Ryukyu Islands retain features which are distinct from the Yamato culture of the inhabitants of the main Japanese Islands. Using measurements recorded in crania, this paper investigates the biological relationships and the possible origins of the indigenous inhabitants of the Ryukyu Islands through comparisons with the modern and prehistoric inhabitants of Japan's main islands and neighboring regions of Asia and the Pacific. Three separate applications of multivariate statistical procedures, stepwise discriminant function analysis and Mahalanobis' generalized distance, are applied to 29 cranial measurements recorded in six male cranial series from the Ryukyu Islands, ten male cranial series representing prehistoric and modern Japanese (including Ainu), and 42 additional male cranial series from surrounding regions of Asia, Australia, and Oceania. The results of these new multivariate craniometirc analyses indicate that the Ryukyuan cranial series are closest to Yayoi, Kofun, and medieval Kamakura cranial series which, in turn, are well differentiated from the modern Japanese, Jomon, and Ainu cranial series. Broader comparisons indicate that the Ryukyuan, Japanese (since Yayoi times), Jomon, and Ainu cranial series are closest to several East Asian and North Asian series. There is little evidence to support a southern origin of either the Ryukyu Islanders or the Jomon and Ainu. These new results reaffirm an Ainu-Jomon connection but not an Ainu (or Jomon)-Ryukyuan association. Further research, including larger, earlier dated, skeletal assemblages from the Ryukyu Islands, is needed to further address questions of origins and affinities of the Ryukyu Islanders.

主題