A morphometric analysis of the Japanese macaque (Macaca fuscata) mandibular cheek teeth from the Torihama Shell-midden, Early Jomon Period, Fukui Prefecture, Japan

Abstract

We quantitatively examined the differences in the size and proportion of the Japanese macaque (Macaca fuscata) by comparing the Early Jomon specimens from Torihama shell-midden, Fukui Prefecture and modern specimens from Fukui Prefecture. The purpose of this study was to explore the temporal change in the proportion and size of teeth of the Japanese macaques based on the quantified data. The result of measurements of lower premolars and molars demonstrated that sexual dimorphism was evident only among the modern specimens where the females were significantly smaller than males. The size of male Torihama specimens was within the range of the modern population, whereas the size of the female Torihama specimens was significantly larger than the modern female population. The proportional pattern of premolars and molars for male and female Torihama specimens also differed. The results may suggest a possible difference in the degree of size reduction between males and females since the last glacial period.

Archaeoprimatology: TheLongue DuréeInterface Between Humans and Nonhuman Primates

“…This association pattern might be explained by the current communities of macaques, which are relatively common at coastal sites of Japan (Tsuji & Kazahari 2019); so, they might have been commonly encountered by peoples of the Jomon period (∼14,000-4000 BCE). There, female Japanese macaques in the zooarchaeological record were larger in terms of body size than modern females, a reduction that occurred since the last glacial period (Anezaki et al 2006).…”