A sting in the tail: An embedded stingray spine in a mid-1st millennium AD adult male skeleton from Rebun Island, Hokkaido, Japan.

Autor: Schulting RJ; School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, 1 South Parks Rd, Oxford 0X1 3TG, United Kingdom. Electronic address: rick.schulting@arch.ox.ac.uk., Kubo D; Faculty of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Kita 15, Nishi 7, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-8638, Japan., Nishida K; Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan, 1-1-10 Kaigandori, Minato-ku, Osaka 552-0022, Japan., Braddick I; School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, 1 South Parks Rd, Oxford 0X1 3TG, United Kingdom., Yoneda M; The University Museum, The University of Tokyo, Hongo 7-3-1, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan., Kato H; Centre for Ainu & Indigenous Studies, Hokkaido University, Kita 8, Nishi 6, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-0808, Japan., Ishida H; Department of Human Biology and Anatomy, Graduate School of Medicine, University of the Ryukyus, Uehara 207, Nishihara, Okinawa 903-0215 Japan.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: International journal of paleopathology [Int J Paleopathol] 2022 Sep; Vol. 38, pp. 107-114. Date of Electronic Publication: 2022 Jul 28.
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpp.2022.06.006
Abstrakt: Objectives: We report here a stingray spine (Dasyatidae) found embedded in the femur of a male skeleton from the archaeological site of Uedomari-5, Rebun Island, Hokkaido, Japan.
Materials: A single well-preserved but incomplete human skeleton.
Methods: Macroscopic observation and low power magnification, CT imaging, radiocarbon dating and stable isotope (carbon, nitrogen) analysis.
Results: The stingray spine is tentatively identified as Bathytoshia brevicaudata. CT imaging shows no healing, indicating that death occurred shortly afterwards. The skeleton has been directly radiocarbon dated to the Okhotsk period (cal AD 429-827), with δ 13 C (-13.7‰) and δ 15 N (19.3‰) values indicating a diet focused on marine foods.
Conclusions: The absence of healing in what would have been a non-lethal injury strongly suggests that the spine tipped an arrowhead, rather than being the result of an accidental encounter with a living stingray. It is possible that the injury reflects a period of increased conflict coinciding with, or following on from, the expansion of the Okhotsk culture from Sakhalin into northern Hokkaido.
Significance: Uedomari-5 provides the first example, to our knowledge, of a stingray spine directly embedded in human bone at an archaeological site. More widely, the finding contributes to our knowledge of conflict in northern hunter-gatherer communities.
Limitations: Given the early excavation date (1949-50), there is little contextual information available for the burials.
Suggestions for Further Research: ZooMS (Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry) may be able to identify the stingray species. Archival research may provide more information concerning the excavations at Uedomari-5.
(Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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