The evolving Japanese: the dual structure hypothesis at 30

The population history of Japan has been one of the most intensively studied anthropological questions anywhere in the world, with a huge literature dating back to the nineteenth century and before. A growing consensus over the 1980s that the modern Japanese comprise an admixture of a Neolithic popu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Evolutionary human sciences 2020-01, Vol.2, p.e6-e6, Article e6
Main Authors: Hudson, Mark J, Nakagome, Shigeki, Whitman, John B
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural dispersals
Ainu
Bronze Age migrations
Japanese
national identity
Review
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Summary:The population history of Japan has been one of the most intensively studied anthropological questions anywhere in the world, with a huge literature dating back to the nineteenth century and before. A growing consensus over the 1980s that the modern Japanese comprise an admixture of a Neolithic population with Bronze Age migrants from the Korean peninsula was crystallised in Kazurō Hanihara's influential 'dual structure hypothesis' published in 1991. Here, we use recent research in biological anthropology, historical linguistics and archaeology to evaluate this hypothesis after three decades. Although the major assumptions of Hanihara's model have been supported by recent work, we discuss areas where new findings have led to a re-evaluation of aspects of the hypothesis and emphasise the need for further research in key areas including ancient DNA and archaeology.
ISSN:2513-843X
2513-843X
DOI:10.1017/ehs.2020.6