A research team led by Professor Minoru Yoneda of the University of Tokyo discovered that multiple human bones excavated from the XNUMX Kake site in Komoro City, Nagano Prefecture, were human bones around the end of the late Jomon period by radiocarbon dating.He also revealed that a group at the end of the late Jomon period ate millet, which is part of the traditional culture.
The migrant culture that was introduced to the Central Highlands at the end of the Jomon period included not only paddy rice cultivation but also millet cultivation.However, it was unclear whether the grain was used by Jomon people or migrants, and details such as the importance of millet in the diet were not known.
The research team extracted collagen from ancient human bones excavated from the Shichigosankake site and dated the radiocarbon.As a result, it was found that 15 of the 13 points that were successfully measured belonged to the end of the late Jomon period (2750 to 2500 years ago), and 2 points belonged to the Kofun period (1300 years ago and 1600 years ago).
It was also found that the group at the end of the late Jomon period ate millet (foxtail millet), which is a part of the migrant culture, from the characteristics of the stable isotope ratio of carbon and nitrogen whose abundance ratio changes depending on the diet.Confirmation of miscellaneous grain food in Japanese prehistoric human bones was also made in the human bones of the Namani site in Koshoku City, Nagano Prefecture, but since it is a fragmented human bone, it can be determined from the morphological characteristics whether it is a Jomon or a migrant. Not.The Shichigosankake site contained a skull with facial morphology and customary tooth extraction that are characteristic of Jomon people.This time, it was revealed that the Jomon people ate and cultivated millet in addition to the fact that the group used millet.
Compared to the Neolithic population in China, millet is not a staple food, and it seems that the Jomon people chose to grow millet rather than paddy rice while maintaining traditional hunter-gatherer.A new aspect of Jomon culture has been revealed, where traditional food acquisition and food production coexist.
