Dentition of Nansei Islanders and Peopling of the Japanese Archipelago: The Basic Populations in East Asia, IX

Abstract

The dental features of 4 geographical samples from the Nansei Island chain were compared with those of East and Southeast Asian samples. The series from Amami-, Okinawa-, and Sakishima-Islands exhibit inter-regional difference in both metric and non-metric dental features, pointing to some clinal variation in the Nansei Island chain. The original morphology is supposed to be represented by Jomonese. This clinal variation may reflect the post-Yayoi biocultural microevolution and admixture with the sinodont populations from main-island Japan. The sundadont ancestors of Jomonese have likely arrived from Sundaland via the now-submerged East Asian continental shelf in and after the late Pleistocene. One of the main routes for peopling of the Japanese Archipelago might have been through the Nansei Island chain.