Bioarchaeology of East Asia: Movement, Contact, Health

14. Bioarchaeological Perspectives on Systemic Stress during the Agricultural Transition in Prehistoric Japan

14 Bioarchaeological Perspectives on Systemic Stress during the Agricultural Transition in Prehistoric Japan DANIEL H. TEMPLE AND CLARK SPENCER LARSEN The purpose of this chapter is to document and interpret patterns of systemic stress during the agricultural transition in prehistoric Japan. Patterns of stress during the agricultural transition in this region have been explored by earlier research that generally relied on singular skeletal indicators of stress and disease (Sanui 1960; Inoue et al. 1986; Oyamada et al. 1996; Todaka et al. 2003; Suzuki and Inoue 2007; Suzuki et al. 2008). This chapter uses multiple skeletal indicators of diet and physiological stress to examine whether similar trends (i.e., little change in health profiles) are identifiable in Jomon populations from prehistoric Japan following the transition to a wet-rice economy circa 4000 through 2300 BP. The agricultural transition was a crucial period in human prehistory once thought to act as a beacon of modernity—ushering in numerous technological developments. Bioarchaeological research has, however, questioned the extent to which modern humans benefited from the transition to food-producing economies (Cohen and Armelagos 1984; Larsen 1987, 1995, 2002, 2006; Cohen and Crane-Kramer 2007). Numerous studies report increased frequencies of linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH) defects and porotic hyperostosisamongskeletalsamplesfromtheearlyagriculturalperiodsoftheWestern Hemisphere, Europe, and Southwest Asia (El-Najjar et al. 1976; Cook 1980; Larsen 1983; Kennedy 1984; Rose et al. 1991; Larsen et al. 2002). Spikes in periostitisfrequenciesinAfrica(Armelagos1969;Armelagosetal.1984;Martin et al. 1984), the Western Hemisphere (Lallo et al. 1978; Ubelaker 1984; Powell1988;LarsenandHarn1994),andVietnam(Oxenhametal.2005)are alsoobserved.Thesetrendsreflectdietaryrelianceonnutritionallyinadequate cultigens and population aggregation (Larsen 1987, 1995, 2002, 2006). Bioarchaeological studies of systemic stress in Southeast and East Asia Systemic Stress during the Agricultural Transition in Prehistoric Japan 345 provide mixed support for general models of increased stress during the agricultural transition. In particular, these studies find little change in dental caries, LEH defect, cribra orbitalia, or periostitis prevalence following the transition to wet-rice agriculture (Oxenham et al. 2002; Pietrusewsky and Douglas 2002a,b; Douglas and Pietrusewsky 2007; Domett and Tayles 2007). Factors such as the gradual adoption of intensive agriculture, low cariogenecity of rice, and stasis in chronic infectious disease are all offered as explanatory factors for these trends. This chapter attempts to assess whether similar trends are identifiable in prehistoric Japan following the transition to a wet-rice economy, using multiple skeletal indicators of diet and stress. Biocultural Context Jomon Jomon period (16,000–2300 BP in eastern Japan) cultures were part of a 13,000-year foraging tradition in the Japanese islands (Imamura 1996a). Jomon foragers were the descendants of Pleistocene nomads who migrated to Japan around 20,000 BP and subsumed preexisting “knife-blade” cultures (Kobayashi 2005). These later groups were associated with a “microblade” technology that first appeared in Hokkaido, likely in relation to the expansion of cultural networks from eastern Siberia (Imamura 1996a; Kobayashi 2005). Microblade Paleolithic industries diversified from Hokkaido into Tohoku around 14,000 BP, evolved into the Mikoshiba tradition, and formed the basis for the earliest spread of Jomon culture (Imamura 1996a). One set of hypotheses surrounding the earliest migrations to the Japanese islands suggest that the ancestors of Jomon people migrated from Sundaland (Turner 1990; Hanihara 1991). Hypotheses predicting that Pleistocene foragersmigratedto Japanfromthisregionare associatedwith a dentalmorphological complex observed in Jomon people that is shared with the early inhabitants of Sundaland (Turner 1990, 1992; Matsumura and Hudson 2005). Multivariate analyses of cranial and dental measurements also find similarities between the Paleolithic foragers of Japan, Jomon people, and individuals from this region (Hanihara 1991; Baba et al. 1998). Other multivariate analyses of cranial and dental traits suggest a Northeast Asian point of origin for the Pleistocene ancestors of Jomon foragers (Pietrusewsky 1999, 2005; Seguchi et al. 2007; Hanihara and Ishida 2009; and others). Cold-derived body size among Jomon foragers and the Pleistocene occupants of the Japanese islands suggest that this region was initially populated by foragers from a colder environment such as Northeast/Central Asia (Temple et al. 2008). Analysis of classic loci and Y chromosomes de- 346 Daniel H. Temple and Clark Spencer Larsen rived from the Ainu suggest a Northeast/Central Asian point of origin for the ancestors of Jomon people dating to approximately 20,000 BP (Omoto and Saitou 1997; Hammer et al. 2006). More recently, ancient DNA analysis of Jomon period skeletal remains from Hokkaido indicate that the Pleistocene ancestors of Jomon people migrated to the Japanese islands...