Genealogical position of native Taiwanese(Bunun Tribe) in East Asian populations based on tooth crown morphology.

Abstract

The 17 tooth crown traits of the Bunun, one of the aboriginal tribes in Taiwan, were observed and classified, and their frequencies were compared with Sinodonts and Sundadonts defined and classified in East Asian populations by , in order to estimate the genealogical position of the Bunun tribe in East Asia. In the respective comparisons of the 17 traits, the Bunun have considerable resemblance to Sinodonts on shoveling (UI1), double shoveling (UIl) and deflecting wrinkle (LM 1), while on tuberculum dentale (UI2), cusp 5 (UM1) and 4-cusp (LM2), they have considerable resemblance to Sundadonts. Furthermore, cluster analysis and principal co-ordinate analysis based on SMITH's MMDs among the Bunun and other East Asian populations, using all the observed traits, revealed that the Bunun are similar to the Yami (Taiwan aborigine), the North ChinaMongolian and the South Chinese in East Asia, and belong to, if anything, the Sinodonty cluster.Considering the above results and the estimated distribution of Sinodonty and Sundadonty in the past and the present, it cannot be reasoned that Taiwan aborigines had Sinodont characteristics since their ancestors reached Taiwan, but that Sinodontification by Chinese mainlanders has been superimposed on to the native Sundadonty who seem to have come up from the south to Taiwan. The beginning of Sinodontification in Taiwan may have been earlier than in Japan.

Population history of the northern and central Nansei Islands (Ryukyu island arc) based on dental morphological variations: gene flow from North Kyushu to Nansei Islands

“…Some arguments against the theory have been highlighted, particularly in the recent studies by Dodo (1992), Doi et al (1997), Doi (1998Doi ( , 2003Doi ( , 2004, Dodo et al (1998Dodo et al ( , 2000, and Asato and Doi (1999). From the viewpoint of dental morphology, Manabe et al (1999a) performed a study using dental plaster casts of modern, young, living Okinawa main islanders; their study suggested that this population was much more similar to the migrant Yayoi and modern Japanese main island populations than to the Jomonese and Hokkaido Ainu populations. Subsequently, some evidence that the modern Nansei islanders show a greater affinity to the migrant rather than to the native Japanese was additionally provided by Manabe et al (1999bManabe et al ( , 2001Manabe et al ( , 2003a.…”

“…The eight significant traits on the first axis, namely UI1 shoveling, UI1 double shovel, UM1 cusp 5, LM2 Y-groove, LM1 cusp 6, LM2 4-cusp, LM1 deflecting wrinkle, and LM1 protostylid, are predominantly the traits that have shown obvious differences between sinodonty and sundadonty in previous analy- Table 1. ses (Turner, 1987(Turner, , 1990Manabe et al, 1991. The first axis can be used to distinguish the populations exhibiting sinodonty from those exhibiting sundadonty.…”

“…None of the known regions showed a rapid and large temporal change from sundadonty to sinodonty, as seen in the post-Jomon change in Japan (Turner, 1987(Turner, , 1990Manabe, 1989, Manabe et al,1991, 1997, 2002. The change that occurred between the Jomon and the Yayoi periods in Japan cannot be explained without considering the influence of the migrant sinodont genes.…”

“…Ever since a physical similari-ty between the Ryukyuan and Ainu populations was indicated by von Baelz in 1911, many anthropological studies using various methods have been conducted on Nansei islanders. The methods used in these studies comprised somatological measurements and observations (Newman and Eng, 1947;Suda, 1950;Ikeda and Tagaya, 1980), osteological measurements and nonmetric traits (Hsü, 1948;Ikeda, 1974;Kouhara, 1976;Tagaya and Ikeda, 1976;Yamaguchi, 1982Yamaguchi, , 1992Mouri, 1986;Dodo, 1992;Pietrusewsky, 1994Pietrusewsky, , 1999Pietrusewsky, , 2004Doi et al, 1997;Dodo et al, 1998Dodo et al, , 2000Doi, 1998Doi, , 2003Doi, , 2004Asato and Doi, 1999;Matsushita, 2001;Nakahashi, 2003), dental measurements and nonmetric traits (Yamada et al, 1970;Hanihara K. et al, 1974;Hanihara K., 1976;Tsuru, 1978;Matayoshi, 1982;Turner, 1987;Hanihara T., 1989Hanihara T., , 1991Hanihara T., , 1992bMatsumura, 1995;Manabe et al, 1999aManabe et al, , b, 2001Manabe et al, , 2003aHiga et al, 2003;Haneji et al, 2007), and genetics (e.g. Omoto et al, 1976;Omoto, 1978…”

“…Following the gradual elucidation of the variations in the dental morphology in East Asia by Turner's large-scale investigations (Turner, 1987(Turner, , 1990(Turner, , 1992, the anthropological positioning of Nansei islanders in East Asian populations has been clearly indicated subsequently (Manabe et al, 1999a(Manabe et al, , b, 2001(Manabe et al, , 2003a.…”