Interdisciplinary research on the historical development of social inequality using human remains from the Kofun period

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K12554
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 03050:Archaeology-related
• Research Institution: Kyushu University
• Principal Investigator: YONEMOTO SHIORI 九州大学, 総合研究博物館, 助教 (40757605)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-02-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 筋骨格ストレスマーカー / ストレスマーカー / 階層社会のMSMsのモデル化 / ３D / 顔面部形質の地域性 / いわゆる渡来系形質

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of widening social inequality on the diversity of human physical activity and to clarify its historical development process, using musculoskeletal stress markers. Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, the research plan was slightly modified to examine the period before and after the Kofun period.
There are two accomplishments of the study, The first is that the MSMs pattern differs between the samurai and the townspeople of the Edo period, indicating that the "aristocratization" of the samurai progressed as the reign of the Tokugawa; the second is that the regional characteristics of the facial traits of the northern Kyushu region of the Yayoi period, which until now had been considered homogeneous and high facial features, were examined and revealed to be increased in the variation of traits.

Free Research Field

自然人類学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究は、筋骨格ストレスマーカーを用いて、階層社会の形成・成立によって身分・階層ごとに身体活動の差がどのようにあらわれるのか、を江戸時代の男性を対象にしてモデル化を行った。確実に階層社会と考えられる社会を対象にしてまずは検討を行い明確な結果を得ることで、今後古墳時代の検討を深めていく際の重要な指標となると考える。
また、頭蓋骨の形質の検討のために生成した3Dデータは、今後さらなる詳細な検討を可能にするだけでなく、研究者間ネットワークの構築のための基礎である。COVID-19のような世界的なパンデミックにおいても世界中の研究者が研究を継続する体制を整えることは重要な社会的意義を有すると考える。