Details of a Researcher - MATSUMURA Hirofumi

Papers - MATSUMURA Hirofumi

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Fragmentary and dispersed: preadult personhood and social memory in a Southeast Asian forager cemetery

Brianna J Muir, Trinh H Hiep, Hallie R Buckley, Kate Domett, Anna Willis, Hirofumi Matsumura, Tran T Minh, Nguyen Lan Cuong, Nghia T Huu, Marc F Oxenham

Hunter Gatherer Research ( Liverpool University Press ) 1 - 38 2024.11 [Refereed]

Bioarchaeological analyses of preadults provide a wealth of information about past lifeways and social structures, including aspects of personhood. However, studies of personhood and childhood in archaeological hunter-gatherer (or forager) contexts remain limited, particularly for Southeast Asia. Here, we explore aspects of personhood and the lived experiences of preadults at Con Co Ngua, an early seventh millennium BP sedentary hunter-gatherer community in northern Vietnam. We approach this analysis by way of our knowledge of skeletal representation, grave construction, body positioning, corpse manipulation (including extensive mutilation of certain individuals), and the integration of previous research into lifeways and environment. The results of our analyses provide support for a degree of differential preadult mortuary treatment, primarily manifested through body treatment and positioning. However, interpretations of these treatments are complicated by the highly fragmented and disaggregated nature of the majority of preadult burials. We contend that the comparatively more dispersed and fragmentary nature of the preadult burials at the site is caused by intentional human action at the site, rather than differential preservation or recovery biases, and such apparent biases may actually stem from deliberate human intervention. That is, socially appropriate mortuary treatments regarding constructions of personhood, social memory, or collective identity may have led to the dispersal of preadults throughout the mortuary contexts of the site. More broadly, the mortuary evidence from Con Co Ngua supports the conclusion that all of those buried at Con Co Ngua were bestowed some degree of personhood by their community, as demonstrated through the inclusion of all in the cemetery, from foetuses to elderly adults.

DOI

Bioclimatic and masticatory influences on human cranial diversity verified by analysis of 3D morphometric homologous models

Hirofumi Matsumura, Martin Friess, Makiko Kouchi, Toyohisa Tanijiri, Chris Stringer, Gisselle Garcia, Tsunehiko Hanihara, Vyacheslav Moiseyev, Daisuke Suzuki

Scientific Reports ( Springer Science and Business Media LLC ) 14 ( 1 ) 2024.11 [Refereed]

Authorship： Lead author , Corresponding author

DOI

High prevalence of adult and nonadult scurvy in an early agricultural transition site from <scp>Mainland Southeast Asia</scp> was associated with decreased survivorship

Melandri Vlok, Marc Oxenham, Kate Domett, Hiep Hoang Trinh, Tran Thi Minh, Mai Huong Nguyen, Hirofumi Matsumura, Hallie Buckley

American Journal of Biological Anthropology ( Wiley ) 185 ( 2 ) 2024.08 [Refereed]

Abstract Objectives The osteological paradox recognizes that the presence of lesions is not always directly related with increased mortality. When combined with the clinical, historical, and epidemiological literature on scurvy, survivorship analysis, a form of statistical analysis to assess the relationship between the presence of diseases in the archeological record and survival, helps determine the overall burden of the disease both in terms of morbidity and mortality. This article explores the relationship between scurvy and survivorship in 26 adults from Man Bac, a Neolithic site from northern Vietnam together with prepublished evidence of scurvy in the nonadult population (n = 44). Methods Diagnosis of scurvy included differential diagnosis combined with the Snoddy, A. M. E., Buckley, H. R., Elliott, G. E., Standen, V. G., Arriaza, B. T., & Halcrow, S. E. (2018). Macroscopic features of scurvy in human skeletal remains: A literature synthesis and diagnostic guide. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 167(4), 876–895. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23699 threshold criteria and the Brickley, M. B., & Morgan, B. (2023). Assessing diagnostic certainty for scurvy and rickets in human skeletal remains. American Journal of Biological Anthropology, 181, 637–645 diagnostic certainty approaches. Kaplan–Meier survival curves were produced to assess the relationship between the presence of probable scurvy and age‐at‐death. Results The prevalence of probable scurvy in adults (35%) was considerably lower than reported for the nonadults (80%). Almost all lesions observed in the adults were in a mixed stage of healing. Kaplan–Meier analysis demonstrated no difference in survivorship between infants and children (<15 years) with or without probable scurvy, whereas a meaningful difference was observed for the adults and adolescents (15+ years). Conclusions The findings demonstrate that scurvy considerably decreased survivorship to older age categories. The degree of lesion remodeling, however, indicates that scurvy was not necessarily the direct cause of death but contributed to an overall disease burden that was ultimately fatal.

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Prevalent vertebral compression fractures in the lower thoracolumbar spine of the Okhotsk culture human remains from the Moyoro shell mound site, Hokkaido in Japan.

Daisuke Kubo, Tomohiro Komagino, Hirofumi Matsumura

Asian Journal of Paleopathology 6 17 - 23 2024.06 [Refereed]

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Violence-related skeletal trauma in the Epi-Jomon period: A case study from the Koboro cave site in Hokkaido, Japan

Izumi Braddick, Daisuke Kubo, Hirofumi Matsumura, Rick J. Schulting

Asian Journal of Paleopathology 6 1 - 5 2024.06 [Refereed]

DOI

Nutritional deficiency and ecological stress in the Middle to Final western Jōmon

Melandri Vlok, Clare McFadden, Hirofumi Matsumura, Hallie R. Buckley

Antiquity ( Antiquity Publications ) 98 ( 399 ) 709 - 723 2024.04 [Refereed]

Despite significant research, the direct and indirect causes of a population decline in the eponymous foragers of the Late Jōmon period (c. 4500–2300 BP) in Japan remains undetermined. Here, the authors examine the impact of nutritional stress, using scurvy as a case study, on Middle and a Late/Final Jōmon populations. While an increase in the prevalence of scurvy between the time periods is apparent, no associated change in age at death was observed. The authors argue that the Late Jōmon adapted their food-sharing practices in times of ecological stress, and they highlight the need to consider morbidity and mortality together in palaeopathological assessments and the growing evidence for a non-nutritional cause in the Late Jōmon population decline.

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Palaeoproteomic investigation of an ancient human skeleton with abnormal deposition of dental calculus.

Yoko Uchida-Fukuhara, Shigeru Shimamura, Rikai Sawafuji, Takumi Nishiuchi, Minoru Yoneda, Hajime Ishida, Hirofumi Matsumura, Takumi Tsutaya

Scientific reports 14 ( 1 ) 5938 - 5938 2024.03 [International journal]

Detailed investigation of extremely severe pathological conditions in ancient human skeletons is important as it could shed light on the breadth of potential interactions between humans and disease etiologies in the past. Here, we applied palaeoproteomics to investigate an ancient human skeletal individual with severe oral pathology, focusing our research on bacterial pathogenic factors and host defense response. This female skeleton, from the Okhotsk period (i.e., fifth to thirteenth century) of Northern Japan, poses relevant amounts of abnormal dental calculus deposition and exhibits oral dysfunction due to severe periodontal disease. A shotgun mass-spectrometry analysis identified 81 human proteins and 15 bacterial proteins from the calculus of the subject. We identified two pathogenic or bioinvasive proteins originating from two of the three "red complex" bacteria, the core species associated with severe periodontal disease in modern humans, as well as two additional bioinvasive proteins of periodontal-associated bacteria. Moreover, we discovered defense response system-associated human proteins, although their proportion was mostly similar to those reported in ancient and modern human individuals with lower calculus deposition. These results suggest that the bacterial etiology was similar and the host defense response was not necessarily more intense in ancient individuals with significant amounts of abnormal dental calculus deposition.

DOI PubMed

Hypomineralization disorder in tropical Southeast Asia during the agricultural revolution: Analysis of morbidity and mortality

Melandri Vlok, Marc Oxenham, Clare McFadden, Kate Domett, Hiep Hoang Trinh, Tran Thi Minh, Nguyen Thi Mai Huong, Hirofumi Matsumura, Hallie Buckley

International Journal of Osteoarchaeology ( Wiley ) 34 ( 2 ) 2024.03 [Refereed]

Abstract This paper presents evidence for hypomineralization disorders (rickets and osteomalacia) in non‐adults at Man Bac, a Neolithic site from northern Vietnam dated to 4000–3500BP, contributing to the well‐described disease burden at the site that includes scurvy, treponemal disease, thalassemia, and malaria. Forty‐four non‐adults (<20 years of age‐at‐death) were assessed for macroscopic and radiographic evidence for hypomineralization disorders. Differential diagnosis was completed using traditional methods and three‐level standardized criteria to combat the challenges of overlapping pathological features between hypomineralization disorder and the other diseases already diagnosed at the site. In addition, a diagnostic certainty approach was applied to investigate the impact of lesion ambiguity on our findings. Kaplan–Meier and Fishers exact tests were applied to assess age‐at‐death‐related epidemiological patterns of hypomineralization disorder and co‐morbid relationships with scurvy, thalassemia, and treponemal disease. Almost 50% of the non‐adult assemblage presented with evidence for hypomineralization disorder, which was associated with decreased survivorship in childhood. Potential epidemiological relationships between scurvy and hypomineralization disorders, and thalassemia and hypomineralization disorders are described. The former relationship may be due to the likelihood of the introduction of rice resulting in multi‐micronutrient deficiency, including vitamin C and calcium deficiency, and cultural attitudes to sunlight. The latter relationship may relate to the pathophysiology of thalassemia that can result in secondary osteomalacia possibly contributing to the development of hypomineralization disorder in the thalassemic non‐adults. The findings are significant as they present possible approaches for diagnosis of disease embedded within complex disease burdens where individuals are likely suffering from co‐morbidities.

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Factors influencing cranial variation between prehistoric Japanese forager populations.

Buck LT, Menéndez LP, De Groote I, Hassett BR, Matsumura H, Stock JT

Archaeol Anthropol Sci. 16 3. - 3. 2024 [Refereed]

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Specific pelvic shape in patients with developmental dysplasia of the hip on 3D morphometric homologous model analysis.

Yui Sasaki, Daisuke Suzuki, Ryo Tokita, Hiroyuki Takashima, Hirofumi Matsumura, Satoshi Nagoya

PloS one 19 ( 6 ) e0300938 2024 [International journal]

PURPOSE: To clarify the morphological factors of the pelvis in patients with developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH), three-dimensional (3D) pelvic morphology was analyzed using a template-fitting technique. METHODS: Three-dimensional pelvic data of 50 patients with DDH (DDH group) and 3D pelvic data of 50 patients without obvious pelvic deformity (Normal group) were used. All patients were female. A template model was created by averaging the normal pelvises into a symmetrical and isotropic mesh. Next, 100 homologous models were generated by fitting the pelvic data of each group of patients to the template model. Principal component analysis was performed on the coordinates of each vertex (15,235 vertices) of the pelvic homologous model. In addition, a receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve was calculated from the sensitivity of DDH positivity for each principal component, and principal components for which the area under the curve was significantly large were extracted (p<0.05). Finally, which components of the pelvic morphology frequently seen in DDH patients are related to these extracted principal components was evaluated. RESULTS: The first, third, and sixth principal components showed significantly larger areas under the ROC curves. The morphology indicated by the first principal component was associated with a decrease in coxal inclination in both the coronal and horizontal planes. The third principal component was related to the sacral inclination in the sagittal plane. The sixth principal component was associated with narrowing of the superior part of the pelvis. CONCLUSION: The most important factor in the difference between normal and DDH pelvises was the change in the coxal angle in both the coronal and horizontal planes. That is, in the anterior and superior views, the normal pelvis is a triangle, whereas in DDH, it was more like a quadrilateral.

DOI PubMed

Early Holocene exploitation of taro and yam among southern East Asian hunter-gatherers.

Weiwei Wang, Zhen Li, Chunguang Zhao, Mike T. Carson, Hirofumi Matsumura, Chi Zhang, Hsiao-chun Hung

Antiquity 98 ( 399 ) 597 - 615 2024 [Refereed]

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Paleoepidemiology of cribra orbitalia: Insights from early seventh millennium BP Con Co Ngua, Vietnam.

Tianyi Wang, Clare McFadden, Hallie Buckley, Kate Domett, Anna Willis, Hiep H Trinh, Hirofumi Matsumura, Melandri Vlok, Marc F Oxenham

American journal of biological anthropology 181 ( 2 ) 250 - 261 2023.06 [International journal]

OBJECTIVES: We test the hypothesis that the condition(s) leading to the development of cribra orbitalia at Con Co Ngua, an early seventh millennium sedentary foraging community in Vietnam, effectively reduced the resilience of the population to subsequent health/disease impacts. An assessment of both the implications and potential etiology of cribra orbitalia in this specific population is carried out. METHODS: The effective sample included 141 adults aged ≥15 years (53 females, 71 males, and 17 unknown sex) and 15 pre-adults aged ≤14 years. Cribra orbitalia was identified by way of cortical bone porosity of the orbital roof initiated within the diplöic space, rather than initiated subperiosteally. The approach is also robust to the misidentification of various pseudo-lesions. Resultant data was analyzed using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. RESULTS: Median survival is higher in adults aged ≥15 years without cribra orbitalia than those with this lesion. For the pre-adult cohort, the opposite pattern is seen where median survival is higher in those with cribra orbitalia than those without. CONCLUSION: Adults displayed increased frailty and pre-adults increased resilience with respect to cribra orbitalia. The differential diagnosis for a survival analysis of adults and pre-adults with and without cribra orbitalia included iron deficiency anemia and B12/folate deficiency, parasitism (including hydatid disease and malaria) in addition to thalassemia. The most parsimonious explanation for observed results is for both thalassemia and malaria being the chief etiological agents, while appreciating these conditions interact with, and can cause, other forms such as hematinic deficiency anemias.

DOI PubMed

Human femur morphology and histology variation with ancestry and behaviour in an ancient sample from Vietnam.

Meg M Walker, Marc F Oxenham, Melandri Vlok, Hirofumi Matsumura, Nguyen Thi Mai Huong, Hoang Hiep Trinh, Tran T Minh, Justyna J Miszkiewicz

Annals of anatomy = Anatomischer Anzeiger : official organ of the Anatomische Gesellschaft ( Elsevier BV ) 247 152054 - 152054 2023.04 [Refereed] [International journal]

BACKGROUND: There is a genetic component to the minimum effective strain (MES)-a threshold which determines when bone will adapt to function-which suggests ancestry should play a role in bone (re)modelling. Further elucidating this is difficult in living human populations because of the high global genetic admixture. We examined femora from an anthropological skeletal assemblage (Mán Bạc, Vietnam) representing distinct ancestral groups. We tested whether femur morphological and histological markers of modelling and remodelling differed between ancestries despite their similar lifestyles. METHODS: Static histomorphometry data collected from subperiosteal cortical bone of the femoral midshaft, and gross morphometric measures of femur robusticity, were studied in 17 individuals from the Mán Bạc collection dated to 1906-1523 cal. BC. This assemblage represents agricultural migrants with affinity to East Asian groups, who integrated with the local hunter-gatherers with affinity to Australo-Papuan groups during the mid-Holocene. Femur robusticity and histology data were compared between groups of 'Migrant' (n = 8), 'Admixed' (n = 4), and 'Local' (n = 5). RESULTS: Local individuals had more robust femoral diaphyses with greater secondary osteon densities, and relatively large secondary osteon and Haversian canal parameters than the migrants. The Migrant group showed gracile femoral shafts with the least dense bone made up of small secondary osteons and Haversian canals. The Admixed individuals fell between the Migrant and Local categories in terms of their femoral data. However, we also found that measures of how densely bone is remodelled per unit area were in a tight range across all three ancestries. CONCLUSIONS: Bone modelling and remodelling markers varied with ancestral histories in our sample. This suggests that there is an ancestry related predisposition to bone optimising its metabolic expenditure likely in relation to the MES. Our results stress the need to incorporate population genetic history into hierarchical bone analyses. Understanding ancestry effects on bone morphology has implications for interpreting biomechanical loading history in past and modern human populations.

DOI PubMed

Scurvy in the tropics: Evidence for increasing non‐adult micronutrient deficiency with the transition to agriculture in northern Vietnam

Melandri Vlok, Marc Fredrick Oxenham, Kate Domett, Hiep Hoang Trinh, Tran Thi Minh, Nguyen Thi Mai Huong, Hirofumi Matsumura, Nghia Truong Huu, Lan Cuong Nguyen, Anna Willis, Hallie Buckley

American Journal of Biological Anthropology ( Wiley ) 180 ( 4 ) 715 - 732 2023.01 [Refereed]

Abstract Objective Scurvy in non‐adults was assessed at the Pre‐Neolithic site of Con Co Ngua and the Neolithic site of Man Bac in northern Vietnam to investigate nutritional stress during the agricultural transition in Mainland Southeast Asia (MSEA). Materials One hundred and four human skeletons under the age of 20 years old were assessed. Methods Lesions were recorded macroscopically and radiographically. Differential diagnosis using prior established paleopathological diagnostic criteria for scurvy was conducted. Results There was no clear evidence for scurvy at Con Co Ngua and a high burden of scurvy was present at Man Bac (>79% diagnosed with probable scurvy). Scurvy levels were high across all non‐adult ages at Man Bac indicating significant burden throughout childhood and adolescence. Conclusions No scurvy at Con Co Ngua is consistent with widely available food sources at the peak of the Holocene thermal maximum. High levels of scurvy at Man Bac corresponds with decreased dietary diversity, high pathogen load, and increased population stress with the transition to agriculture around the time of the 4.2 ka desertification event. Significance This is the first systematic population‐level non‐adult investigation of specific nutritional disease in MSEA and demonstrates an increase in nutritional stress during the Neolithic transition in northern Vietnam. Limitations Subperiosteal new bone deposits can be due to normal growth in infants and young children, therefore, identification of scurvy in children under the age of 4 years needs to be considered critically. Suggestions for Further Research Further work in diagnosing specific nutritional disease in other non‐adult cohorts throughout MSEA is required.

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Global patterns of the cranial form of modern human populations described by analysis of a 3D surface homologous model.

Hirofumi Matsumura, Toyohisa Tanijiri, Makiko Kouchi, Tsunehiko Hanihara, Martin Friess, Vyacheslav Moiseyev, Chris Stringer, Kengo Miyahara

Scientific reports 12 ( 1 ) 13826 - 13826 2022.08 [International journal]

This study assessed the regional diversity of the human cranial form by using geometric homologous models based on scanned data from 148 ethnic groups worldwide. This method adopted a template-fitting technique for a nonrigid transformation via the iterative closest point algorithm to generate the homologous meshes. Through the application of principal component analysis to 342 sampled homologous models, the largest variation was detected in overall size, and small South Asian crania were clearly verified. The next greatest diversity was found in the length/breadth proportion of the neurocranium, which showed the contrast between the elongated crania of Africans and the globular crania of Northeast Asians. Notably, this component was slightly correlated with the facial profile. Well-known facial features, such as the forward projection of the cheek among Northeast Asians and compaction of the European maxilla, were reconfirmed. These facial variations were highly correlated with the calvarial outline, particularly the degree of frontal and occipital inclines. An allometric pattern was detected in facial proportions in relation to overall cranial size; in larger crania, the facial profiles tend to be longer and narrower, as demonstrated among many American natives and Northeast Asians. Although our study did not include data on environmental variables that are likely to affect cranial morphology, such as climate or dietary conditions, the large datasets of homologous cranial models will be usefully available for seeking various attributions to phenotypic skeletal characteristics.

DOI PubMed

Negritos in Taiwan and the wider prehistory of Southeast Asia: new discovery from the Xiaoma Caves

Hsiao-chun Hung, Hirofumi Matsumura, Lan Cuong Nguyen, Tsunehiko Hanihara, Shih-Chiang Huang, Mike T. Carson

World Archaeology ( Informa UK Limited ) 54 ( 2 ) 207 - 228 2022.03 [Refereed]

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Primary bone retention in a young adult male with limb disuse: a bioarchaeological case study

Meg M. Walker, Marc F. Oxenham, Thi Mai Huong Nguyen, Hiep Hoang Trinh, Tran Thi Minh, Lan Cuong Nguyen, Hirofumi Matsumura, Justyna J. Miszkiewicz

HISTORICAL BIOLOGY ( TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD ) 2022.02

Bone mineral and mass are low in limb bones that experience prolonged lack of, or minimal, mechanical stimulation. Cases of ancient human limb paralysis offering an opportunity to examine histological markers of cortical bone modelling and remodelling are rare. To improve our understanding of the spectrum of bone tissue response to its muscular disuse environment in archaeological contexts, we tested whether bone histology in an individual afflicted with long-term loss of muscle function showed unremodelled primary bone due to minimal/absent, mechanical stimulation. We examined cortical bone histology in a 1906-1523 cal BC atrophied post-cranium of a young adult (mid-20s) male who had suffered from Klippel-Feil Syndrome Type III, experiencing minimally paraplegia and potentially complete or intermittent quadriplegia in late childhood/early adolescence. Samples taken from the humeral and femoral midshaft displayed thin cortices and extensive retention of primary bone with only localised Haversian tissue or isolated secondary osteons. The retention of widespread primary bone and thin cortices in this adult individual is evidence for stunted modelling and remodelling due to immobility during early ontogeny. Our bone histology descriptions should be of interest to palaeobiologists investigating the effects of physical inactivity on bone microstructure in fossilised and archaeological human remains.

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Hydatid disease (Echinococcosis granulosis) diagnosis from skeletal osteolytic lesions in an early seventh‐millennium forager community from preagricultural northern Vietnam

Melandri Vlok, Hallie R. Buckley, Kate Domett, Anna Willis, Monica Tromp, Hiep H. Trinh, Tran T. Minh, Nguyen T. Mai Huong, Lan Cuong Nguyen, Hirofumi Matsumura, Nghia T. Huu, Marc F. Oxenham

American Journal of Biological Anthropology ( Wiley ) 177 ( 1 ) 100 - 115 2022.01 [Refereed] [International journal]

OBJECTIVES: Con Co Ngua is a complex, sedentary forager site from northern Vietnam dating to the early seventh millennium BP. Prior research identified a calcified Echinococcus granulosis cyst, which causes hydatid disease. Osteolytic lesions consistent with hydatid disease were also present in this individual and others. Hydatid disease is observed in high frequencies in pastoralists, and its presence in a hunter-gatherer community raises questions regarding human-animal interaction prior to farming. The objective of this article is to identify and describe the epidemiology of hydatid disease in the human skeletal assemblage at Con Co Ngua. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred and fifty-five individuals were macroscopically assessed for lesions. Of these, eight individuals were radiographed. Hydatid disease was diagnosed using a new threshold criteria protocol derived from clinical literature, which prioritizes lesions specific to the parasite. RESULTS: Twenty-two individuals (14.2%) presented with osteolytic lesions consistent with hydatid disease, affecting the distal humerus, proximal femur and forearm, and pelvis. Seven individuals radiographed (4.5%) had multilocular cystic lesions strongly diagnostic for hydatid disease. All probable cases had lesions of the distal humerus. The remaining lesions were macroscopically identical to those radiographed and were considered possible cases. DISCUSSION: While hydatid disease has previously been found in pre-agricultural communities, the high prevalence at Con Co Ngua is non-incidental. We propose that the presence of wild canids and management of wild buffalo and deer increased the risk of disease transmission. These findings further reveal subsistence complexity among hunter-gatherers living millennia prior to the adoption of farming in Southeast Asia.

DOI PubMed

Ethics of DNA research on human remains: five globally applicable guidelines.

Songül Alpaslan-Roodenberg, David Anthony, Hiba Babiker, Eszter Bánffy, Thomas Booth, Patricia Capone, Arati Deshpande-Mukherjee, Stefanie Eisenmann, Lars Fehren-Schmitz, Michael Frachetti, Ricardo Fujita, Catherine J Frieman, Qiaomei Fu, Victoria Gibbon, Wolfgang Haak, Mateja Hajdinjak, Kerstin P Hofmann, Brian Holguin, Takeshi Inomata, Hideaki Kanzawa-Kiriyama, William Keegan, Janet Kelso, Johannes Krause, Ganesan Kumaresan, Chapurukha Kusimba, Sibel Kusimba, Carles Lalueza-Fox, Bastien Llamas, Scott MacEachern, Swapan Mallick, Hirofumi Matsumura, Ana Y Morales-Arce, Giedre Motuzaite Matuzeviciute, Veena Mushrif-Tripathy, Nathan Nakatsuka, Rodrigo Nores, Christine Ogola, Mercedes Okumura, Nick Patterson, Ron Pinhasi, Samayamantri P R Prasad, Mary E Prendergast, Jose Luis Punzo, David Reich, Rikai Sawafuji, Elizabeth Sawchuk, Stephan Schiffels, Jakob Sedig, Svetlana Shnaider, Kendra Sirak, Pontus Skoglund, Viviane Slon, Meradeth Snow, Marie Soressi, Matthew Spriggs, Philipp W Stockhammer, Anna Szécsényi-Nagy, Kumarasamy Thangaraj, Vera Tiesler, Ray Tobler, Chuan-Chao Wang, Christina Warinner, Surangi Yasawardene, Muhammad Zahir

Nature 599 ( 7883 ) 41 - 46 2021.11 [International journal]

We are a group of archaeologists, anthropologists, curators and geneticists representing diverse global communities and 31 countries. All of us met in a virtual workshop dedicated to ethics in ancient DNA research held in November 2020. There was widespread agreement that globally applicable ethical guidelines are needed, but that recent recommendations grounded in discussion about research on human remains from North America are not always generalizable worldwide. Here we propose the following globally applicable guidelines, taking into consideration diverse contexts. These hold that: (1) researchers must ensure that all regulations were followed in the places where they work and from which the human remains derived; (2) researchers must prepare a detailed plan prior to beginning any study; (3) researchers must minimize damage to human remains; (4) researchers must ensure that data are made available following publication to allow critical re-examination of scientific findings; and (5) researchers must engage with other stakeholders from the beginning of a study and ensure respect and sensitivity to stakeholder perspectives. We commit to adhering to these guidelines and expect they will promote a high ethical standard in DNA research on human remains going forward.

DOI PubMed

Female craniometrics support the 'two-layer model' of human dispersal in Eastern Eurasia.

Hirofumi Matsumura, Guangmao Xie, Lan Cuong Nguyen, Tsunehiko Hanihara, Zhen Li, Khanh Trung Kien Nguyen, Xuan Tinh Ho, Thi Nga Nguyen, Shih-Chiang Huang, Hsiao-Chun Hung

Scientific reports 11 ( 1 ) 20830 - 20830 2021.10 [International journal]

This study reports a cranio-morphometric analysis of female human remains from seven archaeological sites in China, Vietnam and Taiwan that date between 16,000 and 5300 BP. The aim of the analysis is to test the "two-layer" model of human dispersal in eastern Eurasia, using previously unanalysed female remains to balance the large sample of previously-analysed males. The resulting craniometric data indicate that the examined specimens all belong to the "first layer" of dispersal, and share a common ancestor with recent Australian and Papuan populations, and the ancient Jomon people of Japan. The analysed specimens pre-date the expansion of agricultural populations of East/Northeast Asian origin-that is, the "second layer" of human dispersal proposed by the model. As a result of this study, the two-layer model, which has hitherto rested on evidence only from male skeletons, is now strongly supported by female-derived data. Further comparisons reveal that the people of the first layer were closer in terms of their facial morphology to modern Africans and Sri Lankan Veddah than to modern Asians and Europeans, suggesting that the Late Pleistocene through Middle Holocene hunter-gatherers examined in this study were direct descendants of the anatomically modern humans who first migrated out of Africa through southern Eurasia.

DOI PubMed

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Papers - MATSUMURA Hirofumi