유라시아 제민족의 생물인류학 특징 - 치아인류학 특징을 중심으로

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to research the dental anthropologicalcharacteristics based on dental data of many ethnic groups in Eurasia. Thegroups of research subjects are Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Buryats, Chinese, Koreans,and Japanese. Owing to the great chemical preservation, the teeth are the mostremained in archaeological sites including human fossils. Human teethreflect not only the genetic characteristics, but also the cultural stateincluding dietary life, so the change in dental shape becomes importantdata for indirectly understanding the state of cultural change. The dentalanthropological characteristics could be variously shown according toenvironmental or general influences, and this characteristic could be usedas the index that shows the biological-anthropological characteristics ofa specific ethnic group. Thus, it is used as important information forresearches that estimate the moving path of a specific ethnic group or revealthe genetic kinship. The appearance rate of shovel-shaped teeth which is an importantbiological anthropological index of Mongoloid shown in teeth among manyethnic groups of Eurasia, was the highest in Northeast Asian group suchas Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans. On the other hand, the Carabelli’s cuspwhich is the indexical characteristic of Europeans was the highest in Kazakhs. And the frequency of distal trigonid crest and deflecting wringlewas highly shown in Northeast Asian group, which reflects differencesbetween ethnic groups. In this study, the Buryats of ethnic groups in Eurasiashowed more similar dental anthropological characteristics to Koreans thanKazakhs and Uzbeks. The Eurasian culture is the major foundation of the pluralistic culturalstructure of East Asia. However, in order to reveal the origin and movingpath of Koreans, it would be necessary to accumulate more data andalso to conduct convergence researches with related studies such asarchaeology, anthropology, and folklore to get more definite answersto it.