An Anthropological Investigation of the Sakhalin Ainu with Special Reference to Nonmetric Cranial Traits

Abstract

The Sakhalin Ainu crania were investigated in terms of nonmetric traits for elucidating their populational affinity. MMDs between the Sakhalin Ainu, Hokkaido Ainu, Neolithic Jomon, Amur, East Asian and North American Mongoloids were calculated on the basis of 15 nonmetric traits. Principal coordinate analysis showed that the Sakhalin Ainu are situated intermediately between three major clusters which consist of the Jomon-Hokkaido Ainu, East Asian, and North American Arctic Mongoloids. While the Sakhalin Ainu basically developed from the JomonAinu stock, the results of the analyses suggested that the Sakhalin Ainu had intermarried considerably with northern people and that that genetic influence was beyond our expectation based on traditional craniometry. Ethnic groups of the Amur basin were placed in an intermediate position between the Arctic and East Asian Mongoloids.