Prehistoric diet and mortuary practices in the Jomon period: Isotopic evidence from human skeletal remains from the Yoshigo shell mound

Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis of human bone collagen is a useful tool for clarifying the diet of prehistoric populations. The people of the Jomon period have been shown to have had a highly varied diet; however, the reasons for this dietary variation remain unclear. Therefore, the objectives of the present study were to clarify the factors that affected dietary variation among the Jomon people during the Late/Final Jomon period through stable isotope analysis of human skeletal remains from the Yoshigo shell mound in Japan, and to investigate the association between diet, sex, and mortuary variables. The carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios of 123 individuals from the Yoshigo shell mound were evaluated. The results indicated that the Jomon people consumed both terrestrial and marine resources with varying degrees of dependence. In addition, the following two groups were identified based on burial posture and position in the shell layer: early and late occupation groups. A comparison of these groups revealed that dependence on marine resources might have temporally decreased. Remains buried in clusters in the eastern and southern parts of the cemetery yielded low and high nitrogen isotope ratios, respectively. Associations were found between diet and burial posture in the east cluster and between diet and both sex and ornaments in the south cluster. These results suggest the presence of an association between diet and mortuary variables relative to burial clusters. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.