Nonmetric morphological characters of deciduous teeth in Japan: diachronic evidence of the past 4000 years

Abstract

The efficiency of nonmetric (discrete) characters of the deciduous dentition in assessing affinities of human populations was investigated in seven population samples from western Japan. The Neolithic Jomon (the Late and Latest stages, 4000–2300 BP), the Aeneolithic Yayoi (2300–1700 BP, divided into materials from the Tanegashima Island and other western Japan materials), the protohistoric Kofun (1700–1300 BP), the medieval Kamakura & Muromachi (800–400 BP), the early modern Edo (400–130 BP) and modern Japanese were compared for 17 traits. From the analyses of univariate and multivariate comparisons, close affinities between the Jomon and the Tanegashima Yayoi populations and between the other Yayoi, Kofun, Medieval, Edo and modern Japanese populations were indicated. This result coincided with the results obtained from the investigations of permanent dentition. The Jomon and Tanegashima Yayoi populations showed high frequencies of middle trigonid crest and cusp 6, while the other Yayoi and post-Yayoi Japanese populations expressed high frequencies of shovelling, cusp 7 and distal trigonid crest. As simple tooth crowns are characteristic of their permanent teeth, the traits abounding in the Jomon and the Tanegashima Yayoi deciduous dentition were unique to their deciduous dentition. Different gene frequencies in juveniles and adults, or a heavy functional demand on their deciduous teeth, may be responsible for this difference. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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