Abstract

Inputted have been the lists of main dolphin bones from the District at the Mawaki site: craniums (105 pieces), mandibles (65 pieces), scapulas (190 pieces), radiuses (141 pieces), ulnas (119 pieces) and articulated vertebras from an excavation grid of 6m by 15m (with an additional 1/2�u for one unit) within Stratum �]�T; humeri (187 pieces) from Stratum �]�T and atlases (286 pieces) from the stratums.

Six pairs (18.46%) of mandibles were searched out as those of the same individuals or　of their high possibilities by a rough pairing method. Two pairs　(2.14%) of humeri were　searched out as those of the same individuals or of their high possibilities by a minute pairing method. And three sets (9.38%) of articulated vertebras were searched　out as those of the same individuals or of their high possibilities; their data was inputted with length measurements of corpus vertebrae of a present Lagenorhynchus obliquidens. Only a few examples of the same individuals or of their high possibilities were searched out, either by the humeri pairing or the individual identification of articulated vertebras, although excavated from dumps near a butchery facing a fishery coast.

It may be assumed that, if a catch was poor for labor mobilization, members ofneighboring settlements working together in dolphin fishing, it was impossible for a settlement to have a share of a whole dolphin or that, if different parts probably of some usefulness were divided and distributed among settlements, where they were further butchered, the bone remains were thrown into each dump. It is necessary for verification of this hypothesis to promote individual identification analyses between different parts: craniums, mandibles, atlases, humeri and others.

Key Words

（March, 1993）