ANTHROPOLOGICAL SCIENCE Vol. 115, 163–168, 2007

Human skeletal remains from the castle site in : metrics and weapon injuries

Tomohito NAGAOKA1*, Mikiko ABE2

1Department of Anatomy, St. Marianna University School of Medicine, 2-16-1 Sugao, Miyamae-ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa, 216-8511 Japan 2Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Graduate school of Medicine, Osaka City University, Asahimachi, Abeno-ku, Osaka, 545-8585 Japan

Received 28 November 2006; accepted 28 February 2007

Abstract The purpose of this study is to report on the results of the observations of newly excavated human skeletons from the site and to explore the metric features and weapon injuries of the skeletons. Our study allows some tentative observations. First, based on analyses of the Q-mode correlation coefficient and Penrose’s shape distance, the Osaka castle skeletons are similar to medieval populations in terms of both cranial and dental crown measurements. Second, we found five sword cuts on the skull and on the axis of a male individual. It seems very likely that this individual was decap- itated, since the skull with its upper cervical vertebrae was unaccompanied by any other postcranial skeletal elements. This is the first study that addresses the morphological features and weapon injuries of human skeletons at the transition from the medieval to early modern periods in the Kinki District.

Key words: Osaka castle, human skeletal remains, injuries

Introduction Japan (Figure 1). The archaeological excavation of the site was undertaken in 1999 by the Osaka Center for Cultural The population history of the Japanese has fascinated Heritage, and yielded several skeletons from the castle’s out- many anthropologists. Hanihara (1991) proposed the “dual er moat. The excavated skeletons are believed to be victims structure model”. This model assumes an initial occupation of the Winter Siege of Osaka in 1614. The Winter Siege of of the Japanese archipelago from the Upper Palaeolithic of Osaka was a battle that occurred when Southeast Asia, giving rise to the Neolithic Jomon people, or attacked the Toyotomi clan of Osaka castle in December Jomonese, which was followed by a second wave of migra- 1614. The Winter Siege of Osaka ended on 19 December tion from a Northeast Asian source, in and after the Ae- 1614 with the victory of Tokugawa Shogunate. This study neolithic Yayoi period. The model suggests that descendant reports on the results of the observations of the skeletons, in- populations of both lineages gradually intermixed through cluding sex, age at death, and weapon injuries, and explores time at varying rates according to geographical region. The the metric features of the skeletons. new immigrants are believed to have been responsible for establishing the imperial court in the Kinki district in west- Materials and Methods ern Japan. The Kinki district has been the center of politics, economics, and culture in Japan over thousands of years. The excavated skeletons from the Osaka castle site are at The anthropological study of human skeletal remains least six individuals. They are curated at the Osaka Center from the Kinki district plays an important role in clarifying for Cultural Heritage. This study dealt with two well-pre- Japanese history (e.g. Kohama, 1960; Ikeda and Tagaya, served skeletons, excluding the fragmentary ones. The sex 1980; Hanihara, 1985; Kouchi, 1983, 1986; Tagaya, 1995; of each specimen was determined using the criteria of Nagaoka and Kumakura, 2002; Nagaoka, 2003; Nagaoka Krogman (1962), Phenice (1969), and Bruzek (2002). The and Hirata, 2003). However, little is known about skeletons age at death was estimated using the criteria of Lovejoy at the transition from the medieval to early modern periods et al. (1985) and Ubelaker (1989). in the Kinki district. The purpose of this study is to describe Comparisons were made with data available in the litera- the morphological features of newly excavated human skel- ture on population samples dating from prehistoric to modern etons from the Osaka castle site and to add skeletal evidence times: Jomon of middle to final stages (3000–300 BC) to the history of the Japanese. (Kiyono and Miyamoto, 1926; Matsumura, 1994), Yayoi The Osaka castle site is located at Chuo-ku in Osaka city, (300 BC–300 AD) of the northern Kyushu-Yamaguchi district (Nakahashi and Nagai, 1989; Matsumura, 1994), Kofun * Corresponding author. e-mail: [email protected] (300–700 AD) (Ikeda, 1993; Matsumura, 1994), medieval phone: +81-44-977-8111; fax: +81-44-976-3740 (1300–1400 AD) of the Kanto district (Nagaoka and Hirata, Published online 30 June 2007 2006; Nagaoka et al., 2006), (1603–1868 AD) of the in J-STAGE (www.jstage.jst.go.jp) DOI: 10.1537/ase.061128 Kinki district (Nagaoka and Kumakura, 2002; Nagaoka and

© 2007 The Anthropological Society of Nippon 163 164 T. NAGAOKA AND M. ABE ANTHROPOLOGICAL SCIENCE

Results and Discussion Brief description The results of observations on individual skeletons are briefly presented below.

Skeleton No. 99 (Figure 2) The skeleton examined consisted of cranium, mandible, and first and second cervical vertebrae. The sex is estimated as male, and the age at death was 20–30. We found five sword cuts on the skull and in the axis (Figure 3).

Skeleton No. 112 (Figure 2) The skeleton examined consisted of cranium, mandible, vertebrae, rib, sternum, clavicle, scapula, humerus, radius, ulna, hand bones, pelvis, femur, patella, tibia, fibula, and foot bones. The sex is estimated as female, and the age at death was 50 years or older. The estimated stature is 1443 mm by Fujii’s (1960) equation based on the maximum length of the left femur (363 mm). Metric analyses The cranial indices of the Osaka castle samples were 75 and 78 (Table 1). The No. 112 female has a large maximum cranial length and a small maximum cranial breadth (Table 1, Figure 4). The Kollmann upper facial indices of the two individuals were 50 and 52 (Table 1). The Osaka castle skeletons of both sexes have small zygomatic breadth and upper facial height (Table 1, Figure 5). The dental dimen- sions are given in Table 2. The sum of the cross-sectional areas of dental crown diameters (mesiodistal diameter

Figure 1. Map showing the location of the Osaka castle site.

Hirata, 2003), and modern (1869 AD–present) of the Kinki district (Miyamoto, 1924; Brace and Nagai, 1982). Osteometric measurements excluding the upper facial height were taken according to Martin and Knussmann (1988), and the upper facial height according to Howells (1973). The Martin–Knussmann upper facial height can be corrected to the Howells measurement by subtracting 2.5 mm for males and 2.0 mm for females (Dodo, 2001). The metric tooth characteristics that we examined in this study were the mesiodistal and buccolingual diameters of the central incisors to the second molars of the upper and lower jaws (Fujita, 1949). Using the means and standard deviations of modern Japa- nese (Matsumura, 1994; Hanihara, 2002), the Q-mode corre- lation coefficient and Penrose shape distance were computed based on seven cranial measurements (maximum cranial length, maximum cranial breadth, basion–bregma height, bi- zygomatic breadth, upper facial height, nasal breadth, and nasal height), and on 28 dental crown measurements. Statis- tical analyses were performed using the SPSS 13.0J software Figure 2. Frontal, lateral, and superior views of the skulls from package (SPSS Inc., 2005). the Osaka castle site (1: No. 99 male; 2: No. 112 female). Vol. 115, 2007 HUMAN SKELETAL REMAINS FROM OSAKA CASTLE 165

Table 1. Cranial measurements of the Osaka castle series Osaka castle specimen number No. 99 No. 112 Sex male female Linear cranial measurements (mm) 1 Maximum cranial length 183 178 5 Basion-nasion length 97 97 8 Maximum cranial breadth 142 134 9 Minimum frontal breadth 89 94 10 Maximum frontal breadth 110 113 11 Biauricular breadth 118 114 17 Basion-bregma height 129 132 23 Horizontal circumference 515 510 24 Transvers arc 293 293 25 Sagittal arc 365 377 26 Frontal sagittal arc 116 130 27 Parietal sagittal arc 128 134 28 Occipital sagittal arc 121 113 29 Frontal sagittal chord 109 116 30 Parietal sagittal chord 118 117 31 Occipital sagittal chord 101 96 40 Basion-prosthion length 95 97 42 Basion-gnathion length 106 99 45 Bizygomatic breadth 128 122 46 Bimaxillary breadth 97 90 47 Facial height 115 106 48 Upper facial height 66 61 50 Anterior interorbital breadth 18 19 F Anterior interorbital arc 20 23 51 Orbital breadth 44 41 52 Orbital height 33 36 54 Nasal breadth 26 26 55 Nasal height 50 48 57 Minimum nasal breadth 9 7 60 External palatal length 52 51 61 External palatal breadth 63 62 Internal palatal length 46 44 63 Internal palatal breadth 42 65 Bicondylar breadth 117 111 66 Bigonial breadth 90 69 Symphyseal height 33 29 70 Ramus height 63 52 71 Ramus breadth 33 33 Angle measurement (°) 72 Profile angle 83 79 73 Nasal profle angle 92 92 74 Alveolar profile angle 62 57 Index 8:1 Cranial index 78 75 17:1 Length-height index 70 74 17:8 Breadth-height index 91 99 Figure 3. Weapon injuries on the calvarium and axis of individual 47:45 Facial index (Kollmann) 90 87 No. 99 from the Osaka castle site. Posterior view of the skull (upper), 47:46 Facial index (Virchow) 119 118 inferior view of the skull with the atlas and the axis (middle), and 48:45 Upper facial index (Kollmann) 52 50 superior view of the axis (lower). 48:46 Upper facial index (Virchow) 68 68 52:51 Orbital index 75 88 54:55 Nasal index 52 54

× buccolingual diameter) of males shows that the Osaka cas- tle male has smaller teeth than other series, including the Jomon (Table 3). Based on the analyses of the Q-mode cor- small tooth size of the Osaka castle samples also contradicts relation coefficient and Penrose’s shape distance, the Osaka the finding of a previous study that the Kinki people have the castle skeletons are similar to medieval populations both in largest teeth in Japan in the latter half of the cranial measurements and in dental crown measurements (Nagaoka and Hirata, 2003). This difference can be explain- (Table 4, Table 5). ed in two ways: first, the Osaka castle skeletons represent the A small upper facial height was not seen in the Kinki peo- morphological features of the Kinki district people in the ple in the latter half of the Edo period (Nagaoka, 2003). The , and the morphological features of the Kinki 166 T. NAGAOKA AND M. ABE ANTHROPOLOGICAL SCIENCE

Figure 4. Maximum cranial length and maximum cranial breadth of the skulls from the Osaka castle site. people subsequently changed; second, these skeletons are Table 2. Dental crown measurements of the Osaka castle series not representative of the inhabitants of the Kinki district of Osaka castle specimen number No. 99 No. 112 the 17th century. Considering the latter case, it is possible that these skeletons are atypical of the people of the Kinki Sex male female district, or that these skeletons belong to people conscripted Mesiodistal diameter (mm) for the Winter Siege from other districts. We should obtain UI1 8.1 further skeletons in order to explain the discrepancy. The re- UI2 7.2 sults of the present analyses are seen to be of value in ad- UC 7.5 UP3 6.6 7.1 dressing the morphological features of human skeletons at UP4 6.0 the transition from the medieval to early modern periods in UM1 9.7 the Kinki district. Further studies are needed to clarify the UM2 9.0 osteometric and odontometric features of the Kinki people. LI1 5.4 4.9 LI2 6.0 5.8 Weapon injuries LC 6.9 5.8 LP3 6.3 7.0 The male No. 99 shows weapon injuries. Several injuries, LP4 6.2 7.0 possibly resulting from a Japanese sword with keen LM1 10.2 edge, were found on both the skull and the second cervical LM2 9.3 vertebrae. It seems very likely that the male was decapitated Buccolingual diameter (mm) in battle, as the injured skull with the upper cervical verte- UI1 6.7 brae was unaccompanied by any other postcranial skeletal UI2 6.5 elements. UC 8.2 7.4 UP3 9.0 An injury to the right and left parietal bones ran in an ob- UP4 8.5 lique direction from the right front to the left rear UM1 11.4 (Figure 3a). The injury took the form of superficial incisions UM2 11.1 to the external table. Another two injuries to the right pari- LI1 5.6 5.5 etal bone extended from lambda to the upper right direction LI2 6.3 5.7 (Figure 3b and 3c). These injuries entered into the endocra- LC 7.4 6.6 LP3 7.5 7.7 nial cavity. All the above three injuries to the skull show the LP4 7.6 7.8 clear-cut unhealed nature of the wound, implying they were LM1 10.4 made just before death. LM2 8.8 The second cervical vertebra shows two injuries. First, the right inferior articular process of the second cervical verte- bra was injured in a direction from upper posterior to lower son, because the sword would sever not only the spinal cord anterior (Figure 3d). Second, the decapitator seems to have but also the right vertebral artery. In the Japanese way of de- cut deep into the right superior articular processes of the sec- capitation by sword, the anterior skin of the neck of a con- ond cervical vertebra in a horizontal direction from right victed person should be left intact following decapitation by posterior to left anterior with the sharp edge of the sword a halfway cut (Morimoto, 1987; Morimoto and Hirata, (Figure 3e). The present observations make it quite clear that 1992). The present observations suggest that the halfway cut the sword cut deep into the articular process and stopped be- method of decapitation had been adopted during the Winter fore the dens (Figure 3e). These cuts could rapidly kill a per- Siege of Osaka. Vol. 115, 2007 HUMAN SKELETAL REMAINS FROM OSAKA CASTLE 167

Figure 5. Bizygomatic breadth and upper facial height of the skulls from the Osaka castle site.

Table 3. Sum of cross-sectional area (MD × BL) for the permanent Table 5. Distance from the Osaka castle female to six comparative teeth from the first incisors to the second molars of both jaws of males population samples based on seven cranial measurements Population Sum of cross-sectional area (mm2) Q-mode correlation Penrose’s shape coefficient (1 − r) distance Edo 1095 Kofun 1091 Jomon 0.944 1.493 Yayoi 1090 Yayoi 1.093 0.681 Modern 1075 Kofun 0.793 0.424 Medieval 1026 Medieval 0.504 0.369 Jomon 989 Edo 1.523 1.240 Osaka castle 885 Modern 1.533 0.693 Underlines show minimum distances from the Osaka castle female.

Conclusions Acknowledgments This study describes the morphological features of newly We express our gratitude to H. Eura of Osaka Prefectural excavated human skeletons from the Osaka castle site. The Museum of Yayoi Culture for his help. two main findings are as follows: (1) The Osaka castle skeletons show similarity to medieval populations both in cranial measurements and in dental References crown measurements. Brace C.L. and Nagai M. (1982) Japanese tooth size: past and (2) We found five sword cuts on the skull and on the axis in present. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 34: a male individual. It seems very likely that the male was 191–204. decapitated, since this skull with its upper cervical verte- Bruzek J. (2002) A method for visual determination of sex using brae was unaccompanied by any other postcranial skele- the human hip bone. American Journal of Physical Anthro- pology, 117: 157–168. tal elements. Dodo Y. (2001) Influence of the measurement methods of upper facial height on analytical results. Anthropological Science

Table 4. Distance from the Osaka castle male to six comparative population samples based on seven cranial and 28 tooth crown measurements Distance by skull Distance by teeth Q-mode correlation Penrose’s shape Q-mode correlation Penrose’s shape coefficient (1 − r) distance coefficient (1 − r) distance Jomon 0.596 0.890 0.776 1.070 Yayoi 0.764 0.544 1.155 1.146 Kofun 0.976 0.682 1.330 1.242 Medieval 0.592 0.473 0.468 0.838 Edo 0.945 0.637 1.155 1.234 Modern 1.275 0.683 0.686 0.995 Underlines show minimum distances from the Osaka castle male. 168 T. NAGAOKA AND M. ABE ANTHROPOLOGICAL SCIENCE

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