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Studies on Wild Boar and Dog found at Shell-mounds in the Amami-Oshima Archipelago

1960; Anthropological Society of Nippon; Volume: 68; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1537/ase1911.68.96

1884-765X

Shigeyuki Hayashida,

Veterinary Oncology Research

Bones of beasts found at Usuku shell-mound of Kasari-mura in the main-island of Amami-Oshima and at Omonawa shell-mound of Tokunoshima, were investigated, and it is noticed that almost all of the beast bones found belong to wild boars and that none belongs to the deer. A piece of dog's ulna was also found at Usuku shell-mound.Wild boars found at shell-mounds in Amami are smaller than those found among some remains in Southern Kyushu, and are of about the same size as those found living now in Amami. Wild boars of larger size which are found at the remains in Southern Kyushu have never been found at shell-mounds in Amami.Many bones of deers are found as fossils in Amami but none of wild boars are found as fossils there. Whereas, after the era of shell-mound formation, the bones found are only of wild boars. If it is assumed that there were no wild boars in previous ages in Kyushu, it seems that wild boars which suddenly appear at shell mounds were those bred by men in shell mound ages, and that they were brought in there from some places abroad. As there have not been found wild boars of larger size which are to be seen among the remains from Southern Kyushu, they seem to have been brought in there from South China or places farther south. And the living wild-boars are probably their descendants.The dog found there is of a small size, about 33cm in body height, and belongs to the dog of a small size in the Japanese stone age, just as do the dogs found at Omonawa shell-mound and Sakihikawa shell-mound. The dog is probably related, as HASEBE asserted, to those found in Mid-Southern China or places farther south.