Demographic structure of skeletal populations in historic Japan: a new estimation of adult age-at-death distributions based on the auricular surface of the ilium

Journal of Archaeological Science

Volumn 35, Issue 5, 2008, Pages 1370-1377

  Nagaoka, Tomohito ^a   Hirata, Kazuaki ^a  

^a ST MARIANNA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE   (Japan)

Author keywords

Age at death distribution; Auricular surface; Japan; Paleodemography

Indexed keywords

AGE STRUCTURE; ANTHROPOLOGY; ARCHAEOLOGY; CENSUS; CHRONOLOGY; COMPARATIVE STUDY; DEMOGRAPHIC HISTORY; METAMORPHOSIS; MORTALITY; SKELETAL REMAINS;

ASIA; EURASIA; FAR EAST; JAPAN;

EID: 40749110536     PISSN: 03054403     EISSN: 10959238     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2007.10.002     Document Type: Article

References (59)

1. Alesan A., Malgosa A., and Simó C. Looking into the demography of an Iron Age population in the western Mediterranean. I. Mortality. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 110 (1999) 285-301
2. Angel J.L. The basis of paleodemography. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 30 (1969) 427-438
3. Bedford M.E., Russell K.F., Lovejoy C.O., Meindl R.S., Simpson S.W., and Stuart-Macadam P.L. Test of the multifactorial aging method using skeletons with known ages-at-death from the Grant Collection. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 91 (1993) 287-297
4. Bocquet-Appel J.P., and Bacro J.N. Brief communication: estimates of some demographic parameters in a Neolithic rock-cut chamber (approximately 2000 BC) using iterative techniques for aging and demographic estimators. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 102 (1997) 569-575
5. Bocquet-Appel J.P., and Masset C. Farewell to palaeodemography. J. Hum. Evol. 11 (1982) 321-333
6. Bocquet-Appel J.P., and Masset C. Paleodemography: resurrection or ghost?. J. Hum. Evol. 14 (1985) 107-111
7. Bocquet-Appel J.P., and Masset C. Paleodemography: expectancy and false hope. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 99 (1996) 571-583
8. Brooks S.T., and Suchey J.M. Skeletal age determination based on the os pubis: a comparison of the Acsádi-Nemeskéri and Suchey-Brooks methods. Hum. Evol. 5 (1990) 227-238
9. Bruzek J. A method for visual determination of sex using the human hip bone. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 117 (2002) 157-168
10. Buckberry J.L., and Chamberlain A.T. Age estimation from the auricular surface of the ilium: a revised method. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 119 (2002) 231-239
11. Buikstra J.E., and Konigsberg L.W. Paleodemography: critiques and controversies. Am. Antiq. 87 (1985) 316-334
12. Caspari R., and Lee S.H. Older age becomes common late in human evolution. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 101 (2004) 10895-10900
13. Caspari R., and Lee S.H. Is human longevity a consequence of cultural change or modern biology?. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 129 (2006) 512-517
14. Chamberlain A. Demography in Archaeology (2006), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
15. Curet L.A. Caribbean Paleodemography (2005), The University Alabama Press, Alabama
16. Drusini A.G., Carrara N., Orefici G., and Rippa-Bonati M. Paleodemography of the Nasca Valley populations: reconstruction of the ancient human ecology in the southern Peruvian coast. Homo 52 (2001) 157-172
17. Eshed V., Gopher V., Gage T.B., and Hershkovitz I. Has the transition to agriculture reshaped the demographic structure of prehistoric populations?. New evidence from the Levant. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 124 (2004) 315-329
18. Falys C.G., Schutkowski H., and Weston D.A. Auricular surface aging: worse than expected? A test of the revised method on a documented historic skeletal assemblage. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 130 (2006) 508-513
19. Flecker H. Time of appearance and fusion of ossification centers as observed by roentgenographic methods. Am. J. Roentgenol. 47 (1942) 97-159
20. Hawkes K. Grandmothers and the evolution of human longevity. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 15 (2003) 380-400
21. Hayami A. Rekishi-jinko-gaku de mita nihon (2001), Bungei-shunju, Tokyo (in Japanese)
22. Hoppa R.D. Paleodemography: looking back and thinking ahead. In: Hoppa R.D., and Vaupel J.W. (Eds). Paleodemography: Age Distributions from Skeletal Samples (2002), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 9-28
23. Horowitz S., Armelagos G., and Wachter K. On generating birth rates from skeletal populations. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 76 (1988) 189-196
24. Howell N. Toward a uniformitarian theory of human palaeodemography. J. Hum. Evol. 5 (1976) 25-40
25. Jackes M. Building the bases for paleodemographic analysis: adult age determination. In: Katzenberg M.A., and Saunders S.R. (Eds). Biological Anthropology of the Human Skeleton (2000), Wiley-Liss, New York 417-466
26. Johansson S.R., and Horowitz S. Estimating mortality in skeletal populations: influence of the growth rate on the interpretation of levels and trends during the transition to agriculture. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 71 (1986) 233-250
27. Kito H. Jinko kara yomu nihon no rekishi (2000), Kodansha, Tokyo (in Japanese)
28. Kobayashi K. On the expectation of Life in the late Tokugawa period. J. Anthropol. Soc. Nippon. 65 (1956) 32-43
29. Konigsberg L.W., and Frankenberg S.R. Estimation of age structure in anthropological demography. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 89 (1992) 235-256
30. Lovejoy C.O. Dental wear in the Libben population: its functional pattern and role in the determination of adult skeletal age at death. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 68 (1985) 47-56
31. Lovejoy C.O., Meindl R.S., Pryzbeck T.R., Barton T.S., Kotting D., and Heiple K.G. The palaeodemography of the Libben site, Ottowa County, Ohio. Science 198 (1977) 291-293
32. Lovejoy C.O., Meindl R.S., Pryzbeck T.R., and Mensforth R.P. Chronological metamorphosis of the auricular surface of the illium: a new method of determining adult age at death. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 68 (1985) 15-28
33. Meindl R.S., and Lovejoy C.O. Ectocranial suture closure: a revised method for the determination of skeletal age at death on the lateral-anterior sutures. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 68 (1985) 57-66
34. Mensforth B.P. Paleodemography of the Carlston Annis (Bt-5) late archaic skeletal population. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 82 (1990) 81-99
35. Miles A.E.W. The dentition in the assessment of individual age in skeletal material. In: Brothwell D.R. (Ed). Dental Anthropology (1963), Pergamon, Oxford 191-209
36. Milner G.R., Wood J.W., and Boldsen J.L. Paleodemography. In: Katzenberg M.A., and Saunders S.R. (Eds). Biological Anthropology of the Human Skeleton (2000), Wiley-Liss, New York 467-497
37. Mulhern D.M., and Jones E.B. Test of revised method of age estimation from the auricular surface of the ilium. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 126 (2005) 61-65
38. Murray K.A., and Murray T. A test of the auricular surface aging technique. J. Forensic Sci. 36 (1991) 1162-1169
39. Nagaoka T., and Hirata K. Reconstruction of paleodemographic characteristics from skeletal age at death distributions: perspectives from Hitotsubashi. Japan. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 134 (2007) 301-311
40. Nagaoka T., Hirata K., Yokota E., and Matsu'ura S. Paleodemography of a medieval population in Japan: analysis of human skeletal remains from the Yuigahama-minami site. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 131 (2006) 1-14
41. Osborne D.N., Simmons T.L., and Nawrocki S.P. Reconsidering the auricular surface as an indicator of age at death. J. Forensic Sci. 49 (2004) 1-7
42. Owsley D.W., and Bass W.M. A demographic analysis of skeletons from the Larson site (39WW2) Walworth County, South Dakota: vital statistics. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 51 (1979) 145-154
43. Phenice T.W. A newly developed visual method of sexing the os pubis. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 30 (1969) 297-301
44. Sattenspiel L., and Harpending H. Stable populations and skeletal age. Am. Antiq. 48 (1983) 488-498
45. Saunders S.R., Fitzgerald C., Rogers T., Dundar C., and McKillop H. A test of several methods of skeletal age estimation using a documented archaeological sample. Can. Soc. Forensic Sci. J. 30 (1992) 49-60
46. Schmitt A. Age-at-death assessment using the os pubis and the auricular surface of the ilium: a test on an identified Asian sample. Int. J. Osteoarchaeol. 14 (2004) 1-6
47. SPSS Inc., 2005. SPSS for Windows. 13.0J. Chicago.
48. Stojanowski C.M., Seidemann R.M., and Doran G.H. Differential skeletal preservation at Windover Pond: causes and consequences. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 119 (2002) 15-26
49. Storey R. An elusive paleodemography? A comparison of two methods for estimating the adult age distribution of deaths at late Classic Copan. Honduras. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 132 (2007) 40-47
50. Suzuki H. Iseki Itai no Sogoteki Kosatsu. In: Anthropological Society of Nippon (Ed). Kamakura-shi Zaimokuza Hakken no Chusei Iseki to sono Jinkotsu (1956), Iwanami Shoten, Tokyo 63-66 (in Japanese with English abstract)
51. Todd T.W. Age changes in the pubic bone. I: the white male pubis. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 3 (1920) 285-334
52. Ubelaker D.H. Human Skeletal Remains. Excavation, Analysis. Interpretation. second ed. (1989), Aldine, Chicago
53. Wakebe T. A morphological study of crania of infants and children in the Japanese. Nagasaki Med. J. 65 (1990) 805-824 (in Japanese with English title)
54. Waldron T. The relative survival of the human skeleton: implications for palaeopathology. In: Boddington A., Garland A.N., and Janaway R.C. (Eds). Death, Decay and Reconstruction: Approaches to Archaeology and Forensic Science (1987), Manchester University Press, Manchester 55-64
55. Walker P.L., Johnson J.R., and Lambert P.M. Age and sex biases in the preservation of human skeletal remains. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 76 (1988) 183-188
56. Webb P.A.O., and Suchey J.M. Epiphyseal union of anterior iliac crest and medial clavicle in a modern multiracial sample of American males and females. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 68 (1985) 457-466
57. Weiss K.M. Demographic models for anthropology. Memoirs of the Society for American Archaeology 27 (1973) Am. Antiq. 38, part 2
58. White T.D., and Folkens P.A. Human Osteology. second ed. (2000), Academic Press, London
59. Wood J.W., Milner G.R., Harpending H.C., and Weiss K.M. The osteological paradox. Curr. Anthropol. 33 (1992) 343-370