GENERAL DISCUSSION

Estimation of the Stature

The stature of the Minatogawa man was estimated according to the methods of Peason (1899) and of Fujii (1960). The estimated statures using the femora by Fujii's method are 1532, 1499, 1556, 1499 mm in MI, MII, MIII, MIV, respectively. The value for MIII seems too great when the relative shortness of her tibia is taken into account. In estimating statures by Peason's formula, various kinds of bone are used. The ranges are from 1535 to 1565 mm in MI, from 1430 to 1473 in MII, from 1449 to 1523 mm in MIII, and from 1430 to 1491 mm in MIV, If the mean of the range estimated by Peason's method is taken for the stature of Minatogawa people, it is 155 cm in MI, 145 cm in MIII, 149 cm in MIII, 146 cm in MIV. These statures are somewhat smaller than the Neolithic Japanese as well as the Recent Japanese (Hiramoto, 1972).

Though this kind of data are not many, Ogata (1973) estimated the stature of the Early Neolithic (B. P. 9,000-5,000) Japanese according to Peason's method (1899) using the femur. It is 157.5 cm in the males and 147.1 cm in the females, while the corresponding value of the Minatogawa male is 156.1 cm and the mean values of the same females are 144.5 cm. The statures of Minatogawa Man are slightly smaller than those of Early Neolithic Japanese. If the stature of the Minatogawa people represents the stature of the Upper Paleolithic Japanese, the slight increase from this age to the Early Neolithic may be continuous to the gradual increase from the Early Neolithic to the Late Neolithic.

Summarized Characters of Each Individual

MI: moderately robust old male, having a short stature, rather slender limbs with bigger hands and feet except for short heels, narrow shoulders, and a robust pelvis with a large inlet.

MII: gracile old female, having a short stature, slender limbs, a narrow shoulders, and a narrow but rather stout pelvis with a small inlet.

MIII: gracile matured female: having a rather short stature, slender and long limbs with long hands and feet except for short heels, narrow shoulders, and a narrow and gracile pelvis with a moderate inlet.

MIV: old female, having a short stature, strong upper limbs with wide shoulders, rather slender lower limbs with short heels, a narrow but robust pelvis with small inlet. The sex of this individual may be female, though there is some doubt.

The Position of Minatogawa Man in the Course of Evolution

As mentioned at the beginning of this report, the time of the Upper Paleolithic Sapiens is known in Eastern Asia, though the skeletal remains are not rich. No description of a postcranial Neanderthaloid skeleton has been found in Eastern Asia, although there are several postcranial skeletons from Sinanthropus. The problem is the uncertainty of the characteristics of the postcranial skeleton in the Sinanthropus in relation to the Recent Sapiens in Eastern Asia, because the former is not as different from the latter as is the Neanderthaloid.

At the present stage, it is quite difficult to solve this problem. However, as far as the characteristics of humeri and femora are concerned, Minatogawa man shows rather close resemblance to the Sinanthropus and slight resemblance to the West European Neanderthals. As a tentative speculation, based on the characters of postcranial bones, it is likely that the Sinanthropus might have evolved to certain sapiens populations, one of which became the Minatogawa people, without acquiring the robust characters the West-European Neanderthals had, though those populations had passed their own stage of Neanderthaloid.

Generally, Minatogawa people have many characters which agree with those of the Early to Late Neolithic Japanese, whereas they bear also many characters which do not agree with those of the Neolithic Japanese, for example, shortness of the clavicle, antero lateral flexion of the humerus, strong curvature of the ulna, round cross-section of the femur, medial convexity of the tibia, shortness of the heel, and so on. It seems that the Minatogawa people belong to one of the oldest types of Sapiens sapiens in Eastern Asia.

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