Articlebronze1996

A Comparative Study of Ritual Tooth Ablation in Ancient China and Japan.

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Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology Archaeological and Geological Studies

Abstract

This paper comparatively examines ritual tooth ablation in ancient China and Japan. In China, as far as it is known at present, ritual tooth ablation first appeared among the people of the Shandong-North Jiangsu region, at least 6500 years ago, and then became very popular amongst the people of the Dawenkou culture of coastal China. In Japan, on the other hand, this custom was performed extensively among the people of the Late-Final Jomon period. This results in a time lag in their periods of prevalence of about 2000 years. There are also significant differences in the form of tooth ablation in ancient China and Japan. China is represented by the bilateral ablation of the upper lateral incisors (2I2 type), and with the exception of a small group, showed no remarkable temporal change after its inception. Ritual ablation in Japan was more complex and the number of teeth extracted during this custom's most prevalent period was more numerous than that of China. On the other hand, there exist several points which may suggest some relation between both countries, such as the basic similarities in the age at commencement of ablation, the prevalence of extraction of under incisors from the Late Jomon period in western Japan and the existence of the same style of ablation in the peoples of nearly the same period in China. Especially, the abrupt increase of extraction of the upper lateral incisors in the people of the Yayoi period, such as Doigahama, who show morphological resemblances with the neolithic people of northern China, may suggest the influence of Chinese tradition. Although it is difficult, at the present, to trace and conclude any specific relationship between the traditions of these two countries due to the lack of skeletal remains from China corresponding to the Late-Final Jomon and Yayoi periods in Japan, these results strongly suggest the significance and necessity for further studies.

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References

1993Temporal craniometric changes from the Jomon to the Modern period in western Japan 1968Anterior Tooth Loss in Arctic Populations 1988Affinities of the protohistoric Kofun people of Japan with pre- and proto-historic Asian populations.2014Human Skeletal Remains

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