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Objective. The prevalence of calculus is known to be variable by difference in diets or subsistence strategy between human populations. However, this situation has not been confirmed so far for hunter-gatherers and farming people in terms of history. In this study, we tried to reveal the association of diets or subsistence with calculus in different historical populations: Siberian natives, Joseon period Korean people, and Russian settlers in Siberia. Design. We examined the teeth of Siberian natives (hunter-gatherers), Russian (wheat farming) settlers, and Joseon (rice farming) people in sixteenth to nineteenth century. Age and sex were estimated using the methods of Buikstra and Ubelaker (1994). We examined specimens to detect signs of calculus formation in teeth. Calculus rates in each group were statistically compared, and the proportions of calculus by age or sex were also compared across each group. We used package R for statistical analysis. Results and Discussion. The prevalence of calculus deposition decreased in the order of Joseon people, Russian settlers, and Siberian natives. Our study proposes that the rate of calculi among farming people was evidently higher than that of hunter-gatherers in sixteenth to nineteenth century Eurasia. In all three groups, calculus prevalence became higher as age increases and was noteworthy in males. Conclusion. Current study demonstrated a significant difference of calculus formation between those groups with different diets or subsistence strategies. Higher prevalence of dental calculus was observed in agriculturalist Joseon Koreans and Russian settlers, but Siberian natives exhibited relatively lower frequency of dental calculus. The results of this study enable us to reconsider the meaning of association between subsistence strategy and calculus in different historical populations.

Metagonimiasis, commonly seen in East Asian countries, is a parasitic disorder caused by definitive hosts’ ingestion of undercooked freshwater fishes. Recently, genetic analysis has proved 28S rRNA and cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) mtDNA gene to be a successful marker differentiating species of the genus Metagonimus. In the present study, using specimens from the newly discovered Joseon Dynasty human remains of Goryeong, we obtained updated genetic data on genus Metagonimus, which was also prevalent during the Joseon period. The ancient DNA (aDNA) was retrieved from the coprolite sample of the seventeenth century, half-mummified individual discovered at Goryeong Country, South Korea. Cloning and sequencing were performed on PCR-amplified amplicons for M. yokogawai 28S rRNA and COI mtDNA gene. The consensus sequences were used for species identification and phylogenetic analysis using NCBI/BLAST and MEGA X software. Based on the COI mtDNA gene region, the Goryeong sequence was confirmed as belonging to M. yokogawai, as it was shown to form a separate cluster with other M. yokogawai taxa that are distinct also from M. takahashii and M. miyatai. In a series of our genetic analyses on genus Metagonimus using samples retrieved from Joseon-period cases, aDNA sequences of genus Metagonimus revealed in South Korea thus far are those of M. yokogawai, but not of M. miyatai or M. takahashii yet.

삼국~통일신라시대의 화장실 관련 생활유적에서 검출된 기생충은 고고학(+문헌사), 생물학, 의학 관련 연구자들의 융복합연구로 과거 사람들의 삶을 이해함에 중요한 자료로 받아들여지고 있다. 그리고 기생충은 고대인들의 식생활이나 질병 등을 살펴볼 수 있는 자료이기도 하다. 인분을 활용한 농경이나 오수 처리 시스템 등과 같은 도시환경이나 경관까지도 폭넓게 파악할 수가 있다. 또한 기생충의 DNA 추출 등 새로운 자연과학적 분석을 적용하여 기생충의 진화 과정을 복원하여 질병의 역사적 흐름을 추적하는데 상당히 유익하다. 기생충의 검출이 곧바로 ‘화장실’이라고 단정하는데 신중해야 한다. 기생충은 도시의 오수 처리와 관련한 시설에서도 검출되기도 한다. 화장실이 아니라 분뇨를 폐기하는 시설도 존재할 수 있다. 기존에 수세식 화장실로 보아왔던 유구에 대해서도 재검토가 필요하다. 고대에서부터 20세기까지도 분뇨는 地力을 높일 수 있는 유용한 비료로 활용되어 왔다. 기생충에 의한 감염은 분뇨를 비료로 이용한 농경으로 일어날 수도 있다. 화장실은 인류 역사와 함께했다고 해도 과언이 아니다. 과거부터 인간은 음식을 먹는것뿐만 아니라 배설의 중요성도 인식하였기에 농경사회로 전환됨과 동시에 거주지에서의 화장실 존재가 필요했다. 하지만 고대 사회는 사람의 분변을 활용한 농경법의 발달과 더불어 비위생적인 하수처리, 잦은 하수의 범람 등 다양한 조건에 기생충에 노출되었을 것으로 추정된다. 기생충은 화장실에서뿐만 아니라 다양한 조건으로 과거부터 현재까지 우리 인간과 접촉되어 있으며, 우리의 생활 패턴과 거주문화에 따라 그 양상도 달라진다. 국내외 사례에서 보더라도 인구가 밀집한 지역, 강의 범람, 농경지나 정원 등에서는 화장실 유구가 아니더라도 고대 기생충의 흔적을 찾을 수 있는 기회가 많다. 이러한 경향을 근거로 향후 고고학적 유적의 토양과 퇴적물을 심도 있게 관찰, 조사, 연구하여 고대 사회의 음식문화, 유통경로, 공중위생, 질병관계 등을 이해하고 발전시켜 한반도 고대사의 새로운 이정표가 되길 기대한다.

Our previous research on coprolite specimens from the mummies of Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910 CE) has revealed various species of parasite eggs. Herein, we added 2 new helminthic cases of human remains from Joseon-period graves in the Republic of Korea (Korea). The organic materials precipitated on the hip bones of 2 half-mummied cases (Goryeong and Gwangmyeong cases) were collected, rehydrated, and examined by a microscope. In the sample from Goryeong-gun (gun=County), ova of Trichuris trichiura, Clonorchis sinensis, and Metagonimus spp. were detected, and eggs of T. trichiura and A. lumbricoides were found from the sample of Gwangmyeong-si (si=City). By adding this outcome to the existing data pool, we confirm our previous estimates of Joseon-period parasite infection rates. The overall rates of A. lumbricoides, T. trichiura, and C. sinensis decreased dramatically from Joseon to the modern period. In Goryeong mummy specimen, we also found Metagonimus spp. eggs that has rarely been detected in archaeological samples so far.

We investigated changes in the cranial/cephalic index of the Korean population in millennia, centuries, and recent decades. Secular changes of Korean's cephalic index in history were studied using the data of archaeology literature and our measurement data of different adult skull sets for the fifteenth-nineteenth century Joseon people, the Korean War victims (1950-1953), and the Korean skeletons collected by medical schools in the 1960s. A change in head shape during the last century was also estimated by the analysis on Korean cephalometric datasets of Korean Research Institute of Standards and Science. In brief, over the past 2000 years, the crania of Korean people have steadily changed from mesocephalic to brachycephalic, mainly due to the cranial length shortening. Brachycephalization accelerated at the beginning of the twentieth century and continued until the early twenty-first century, largely caused by increased cephalic breadth. We also note that debrachycephalization began in birth cohorts around 1965 for males and around 1970 for females. Taken together, we figure out that the head shape of Korean people has been gradually shortened over millennia and then has undergone dramatic shortening in the last century. In recent decades, however, the changing pattern has reversed to debrachycephalization, for which we discussed about the possible causes in the present report.

The Harappan Civilization is notable as one of the earliest complex societies spanning the vast area of northwest India and Pakistan. To uncover patterns of violent injury among the Harappan people, anthropologists have looked for signs of trauma on skeletons. Notwithstanding the pioneering achievements made thus far, there is still more work to do before violence among the Harappan people will be comprehensively understood from the socio-cultural perspective. In this study, we report new evidence of violence-related trauma found among remains unearthed from the Mature Harappan period (2600–1900 BCE) cemetery of Rakhigarhi, located about 150 km northwest of Delhi. Briefly, in the left frontal area of the cranium of an adult female (BR12), we found a depression fracture that might have been caused by a direct blow to the skull with a round-tipped object. Since the traumatic lesion of BR12 had completely healed, the skull fracture is very unlikely to have been the direct cause of death. Our paleopathological report provides significant insight into interpersonal violence that might have occurred among the Harappan people. Proof of whether or not Rakhigarhi society was a hierarchy beset by structural violence differing by class and/or other categories, however, must await future excavations of additional areas of the Rakhigarhi and/or nearby Harappan cemetery.

Objective: Increased prevalence of dental caries evidently is correlated with increasing intake of sugar and carbohydrate-rich foods. Preceding and accompanying this dietary alteration might have been a shift from a hunting-and-gathering subsistence strategy to one based on agriculture. We corroborated this conjecture by means of a study on the prevalence of caries, antemortem tooth loss (AMTL) and tooth wear among 16th to 19th century hunter-gatherers and agriculturalists who co-existed in West Siberia. Design: Indigenous skeletons (n = 75) exhumed from Tatar, Selkup, Khant, and Nenet graves along with Russian settler skeletons (n = 79) from Izyuk were examined. The prevalence of caries, AMTL and tooth wear among the indigenous peoples were compared with those among the Russian settlers. The resulting statistical inferences were tested using package R. Results: The agriculturalist Russian settlers showed a significantly higher prevalence of dental caries (11.88%) than did the non-agriculturalist indigenous Siberian people (3.85%). Among the latter, the prevalence was the lowest in the Khanty and the highest in the Tatars, suggesting that caries differently affected each sub-group of indigenous Siberian people. Correspondingly to the case of dental caries, the Russian settlers’ AMTL prevalence also was higher than that of the indigenous Siberians, regardless of age. On the other hand, the native Siberians and the Russian settlers did not show statistical differences in tooth wear. Conclusion: In the study on 16th to 19th century West Siberian populations, we were able to corroborate our presumption that agriculturalists ingesting a carbohydrate-rich diet would have higher rates of dental caries and AMTL than would hunter-gatherers.

Although research conducted in East Asia has uncovered parasite eggs from ancient toilets or cesspits, data accumulated to date needs to be supplemented by more archaeoparasitological studies. We examined a total of 21 soil samples from a toilet-like structure at the Hwajisan site, a Baekje-period royal villa, in present-day Korea. At least 4 species of helminth eggs, i.e., Trichuris trichiura, Ascaris lumbricoides, Clonorchis sinensis, and Trichuris sp. (or Trichuris vulpis) were detected in 3 sediment samples of the structure that was likely a toilet used by Baekje nobles. The eggs of T. trichiura were found in all 3 samples (no. 1, 4, and 5); and A. lumbricoides eggs were detected in 2 samples (no. 4 and 5). C. sinensis and T. vulpis-like eggs were found in no. 5 sample. From the findings of this study, we can suppose that the soil-transmitted helminths were prevalent in ancient Korean people, including the nobles of Baekje Kingdom during the 5th to 7th century.

In the general context of rescue archaeology or in any emergency salvage operation, especially where human bones are involved that need to be cremated within a short time frame, anthropologists cannot conduct their work carefully at a university or institute lab. Thus, they have sought ever-more efficient and effective investigative protocols by which work can be conducted in cases of urgent time constraints. A recent anthropological survey conducted at a small town in South Korea (Goryeung) is thus significant. A joint team of anthropologists and dress historians performed collaborative research work in a “field lab” set up at the excavation site. Our novel protocol, by which academic data demonstrably can be successfully secured in the field instead of having to be sent to a university or institute lab, could be useful for the purposes of rescue archaeology.

Metagonimiasis is foodborne intestinal parasitism occurring by the definitive hosts' ingestion of raw or undercooked fish, mostly commonly sweetfish. Most Metagonimus infection is caused by Metagonimus yokogawai but also rarely by Metagonimus takahashii as well as Metagonimus miyatai. Despite recent molecular work on Metagonimus spp., there are still insufficient data to reveal the genetic characteristics of ancient M. yokogawai in a wide geo-historical scope. In this study, we were successful in the analysis of M. yokogawai ancient DNA (aDNA) using coprolite samples retrieved from 16th- to 17th-century Korean mummies. In BLAST and phylogenetic analyses, M. yokogawai 28S rDNA of Korean mummies were clustered along with the 28S rDNA taxa of M. takahashii and M. miyatai in GenBank. Conversely, the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) of M. yokogawai aDNA from Korean mummies was distinctly clustered apart from M. takahashii and M. miyatai sequences. This study is the first report of its kind to identify M. yokogawai aDNA retrieved from the archaeological specimens and confirms the usefulness of COI in molecular diagnosis of M. yokogawai. Considering the rarity of reports on the genetics of genus Metagonimus spp., our study will be fundamental for the future study of M. yokogawai paleogenetics.

Echinostomiasis is prevalent in southeastern as well as northeastern Asian countries. This endemicity notwithstanding, no echinostome egg has as yet been reported by paleoparasitological studies conducted in Asian countries. Recently we analyzed geological-strata specimens retrieved from the ancient capital city of the Baekje Kingdom to uncover clues to the possible prevalence of echinostomiasis among contemporaneous populations of Korea. By means of archaeoparasitological technique, we found ancient Isthmiophora hortensis eggs in the specimens, thus revealing for the first time that ancient Korean people experienced isthmiophoriasis. Our report can be considered to have effectively broadened the spatial and temporal scope of research on echinostomiasis in human history.

In parasitology, it has been observed that human populations in highly-populated areas are highly vulnerable to parasite infection. In this regard, the emergence of urbanized societies in history might have caused human parasite infection rates to increase. However, except for a few parasitological reports, the overall pattern of ancient parasitic infection still remains obscure for urbanized society in history. Since corroborative evidence thus far has been too insufficient to posit a relationship between historical urbanization and parasitism, a more detailed picture of the parasitism in urbanized as well as non-urbanized societies needs to be revealed. Recently, we have performed a series of scientific analyses on the specimens obtained from archaeological sites in order to answer these queries. The studies have focused mostly on archaeological specimens obtained from certain urban areas, such as palaces and residences, where pre-modern people from all walks of life once interacted. Using these specimens, we successfully revealed different patterns of ancient parasitism in urban and non-urban areas, thus allowing us to consider whether it actually varied by the degree of urbanization in history.

Accurate interpretation of radiological data is important for reliable paleopathological study of mummies. This is especially true for the mummified heart, an anatomically complicated organ that is distorted and displaced due to long-term dehydration and the action of gravity. In the present study, we compared post-factum autopsy results for mummified hearts of differing preservation statuses with corresponding radiological (computed tomography [CT]-image) findings in order to obtain information necessary for accurate radiological diagnosis. We found that the valvular apparatus (especially the aortic valve and chordae tendinae) was easily distinguishable on the CT images of mummies in which more cardiac structures were preserved. We also identified several situations that are known to incur misdiagnosis of cardiac CT images: the presence of pseudo-cavities in the cardiac wall, confusion of the valvular apparatus with cardiac-wall debris, and invisibility of cardiac structures on CT images due to collapse or adhesion. While acknowledging the merits of top-priority CT scanning in non-invasive research, post-factum autopsy also has value as a complementary and confirmatory analysis for enhanced accuracy of diagnoses in paleo-radiological studies.

Anatomical landmarks are considered the most objective indicators for use in forensic facial comparisons. Therefore, accurately identifying and locating these landmarks is the beginning of reliable facial comparison. This study evaluated the accuracy with which facial landmarks are located and examined their reliability according to type of landmark, head posture, and image quality. Nine operators located a series of landmarks on prepared facial images used to produce comparison images. Then, the average distances between the reciprocal landmarks (ADRL) on the reference and the comparison images were measured as indicators of landmark reliability. We found that a set of landmarks had higher or lower reliability as a function of the head angle and image quality. More reliable landmarks were associated with certain head postures and degrees of image quality. These should be used for facial comparison analysis depending on various head and image conditions.

This article presents the results of experiments aimed at testing the hypotheses that mummifi cation of human bodies in Joseon Dynasty burials was caused by an exothermic reaction and subsequent destruction of intestinal microfl ora. Well-preserved mummies of that period were discovered only in the Hoegwakmyo tombs, where the lime-soil-mixture barrier was present. Experiments were conducted using animal bodies placed in miniature grave models. Immediately after contact with moisture, the temperature inside the coffi n surrounded by a lime-soil-mixture increased to 130.8±23.5°C and remained stable for 141.0±64.7 minutes. The examination of bacterial cultures on MacConkey or blood agar plates showed that the entire fl ora normally existing in the rat intestine was completely sterilized by high temperature. We also demonstrate that the same mummifi cation can be reproduced regardless of the sizes of miniature graves.

Although genetic information about Bos taurus has been successfully revealed by a number of studies, the data on ancient DNA remains insufficient with respect to cattle raised in East Asia during historical times. This is especially so in the case of South Korea, where very little genetic information on cattle DNA has been obtained, notwithstanding the significant changes in the genetic traits of cattle populations that occurred during the country's colonial period. In the present study, we have endeavored to determine the mitochondrial DNA D-loop and coding region sequences obtained from a 15th century cattle bone unearthed amid an archaeological site of the Joseon-period in a tributary of the Cheonggyecheon creek, South Korea. The consensus sequence of the cattle's mitotype, established by alignment of the individual clone sequences, was 16138C, 106C, 169G, 221 + C, 587 + C, 2536A, 9682C, 13310C (Haplogroup = T3a). Having blasted it with the sequences available within GenBank, the Joseon cattle mitotype was found to be similar to modern Bos taurus sequences from South Korea, Japan, China and even Europe, the Americas and Oceania. By completely sequencing the mtDNA D-loop and coding the regional signature of the bone, we were able to acquire invaluable information enriching our knowledge of the genetic history of the genus Bos in South Korea.

Helicobacter pylori is a bacterium that grows in the stomach mucosal epithelium, and can induce gastric diseases. Although many studies on modern H. pylori genomes have been reported from all over the world, a comprehensive picture of H. pylori is still lacking. Therefore, there is a pressing need to obtain archaeological specimens and to subject the ancient DNA (aDNA) extracted therefrom to analysis. Considering the typically excellent state of preservation of Joseon mummies discovered in Korea, we thus tried to isolate ancient H. pylori DNA from their mummified stomach specimens. After screening Korean mummy stomachs containing remnant H. pylori DNA, vacA (s- and m-region) alleles were successfully identified in the stomach isolates of two samples. The H. pylori strains identified had vacA s1/m2 (Cheongdo mummy) and s1 (Dangjin mummy) alleles. This paper is significant in that it is the first report of presumptive ancient H. pylori DNA obtained from East Asian archaeological specimens. However, full characterization and exploitation of ancient H. pylori DNA remnant in Joseon mummy specimens will require subsequent investigations utilizing the most cutting-edge techniques established for the analysis of ancient intestinal-content samples, such as next-generation sequencing (NGS).

A human skull was discovered at the 16th-century drainage channel of market district ruins, one of the busiest streets in the capital of Joseon kingdom. By anthropological examination, we noticed the cut mark at the right occipital part of the cranium. Judging from the wound property, it might have been caused by a strong strike using a sharp-edged weapon. As no periosteal reaction or healing signs were observed at the cut mark, he might have died shortly after the skull wound was made. We speculated that this might have been of a civilian or soldier victim who died in a battle or the decapitated head of prisoner. This is the first report about the discovery of the skull damaged by sharp-edged weapon at the archaeological sites in the capital city of Joseon Kingdom.