09 · Yamaguchi · mobility, kinship and injuries

Three hundred lives in the sand

The Yayoi skeletons from Doigahama

The remains of about three hundred people allow investigation of their diet, kinship and movements.

Museum documentation · free public access, no account required.

Historically specific recreation of The Yayoi skeletons of Doigahama, Doigahama, Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi, Mainly 4th century BCE–3rd century CE. — **DECLARED VISUAL RECONSTRUCTION · EXISTING EDITORIAL RESOURCE · TRACEKEEPERS**
Generated reconstruction · Declared visual hypothesis
Declared visual reconstruction for museographic context; it is not a photograph of the original nor documentary evidence.

History and context

Nineteen campaigns recovered remains of about three hundred people at Doigahama. Osteological form, isotopes and DNA studies allow investigation of kinship and movements between the archipelago and the continent with increasing resolution.

Some Yayoi skeletons show weapon-inflicted injuries more frequently than the studied Jomon, consistent with more conflict-prone societies. This does not authorise dividing the population into fixed races: migrants and local communities mixed in regional and prolonged ways.

Nineteen campaigns recovered nearly three hundred individuals in coastal sand. Rather than a ‘type’ skeleton, the cemetery allows comparison of ages, diets, kinships and movements across generations.

Blade-produced traumas appear more frequently than in comparable Jōmon samples. DNA, morphology and isotopes answer different questions and must not be combined to fabricate fixed racial categories.

Evidence and interpretation

Documented fact: The National Museum of Nature and Science documents about 300 individuals, morphological differences, trauma and new DNA research. Interpretation and caution: individual origin, cultural identity and a direct link between a wound and a specific war require case-by-case analysis. Expanded documentation: The National Museum of Nature and Science documents quantity, morphological differences, trauma and genetic analysis. Expanded interpretation and caution: Biological resemblance does not equal cultural identity; a wound cannot be assigned to a specific war without context.

Catalogue facts

Narrative date: Mainly 4th century BCE–3rd century CE
Location: Doigahama, Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi
Material: Human remains, shells, pottery and sandy sediments
Context: Coastal cemetery and bioarchaeological laboratory
Curatorial reading: The documented fact and its interpretation appear separately in the evidence block.
Sample: The campaigns recovered remains of approximately 300 people.
Trauma: Several individuals present lethal or perimortem injuries caused by sharp instruments.
Methods: Morphology, isotopes and DNA offer distinct scales of mobility and kinship.
Documentary coverage: 2 museum, heritage, primary corpus or research sources for this stop.

A SHARED TOPIC, DIFFERENT MOMENTS

Objects connected through time

Follow a topic across the collections. A shared tag is a way to compare objects, not proof that one culture influenced another.

The order uses the midpoint of each approximate date range; ranges can overlap. Spacing does not represent elapsed time. Swipe, scroll or use the arrows. With the sequence focused, use ← / →, Home or End.

THE CURRENT OBJECT

Its date is not sufficiently established to place it on the timeline. We keep it here, separate from the dated objects.

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Mainly 4th century BCE–3rd century CE

Three hundred lives in the sand

Yayoi Japan

Cemetery of various phases, not an individual piece.

Current record

Human remains and bioarchaeology3 dated objects

1 / 3In the centre: Cemetery R-37

Also connected, without a comparable date (2)

These objects are not placed after the others: an unknown date does not mean a more recent object.

CemeteryIndus civilisation · ca. 2600–1900 BCE
Shum LakaBantu-speaking worlds · c. 8,000 and 3,000 years before present

You can scroll the first group without JavaScript. The other topics are also available below.

Funerary contexts

Current object, without a comparable date: Three hundred lives in the sand.

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

A Kerma vessel deposited at Abydos · Second Intermediate Period · Ancient Egypt
A vase travels; the rite changes · No individual dating published on this record · Iberians
Cemetery · ca. 2600–1900 BCE · Indus civilisation
Daegok-ri grave goods · from c. 5th century BCE · Gojoseon and early Korea
Four panoplies · No individual dating published on this record · Iberians
Livestock and mounds · c. 2050–1500 BCE · Nubia, Kerma and Kush
Shum Laka · c. 8,000 and 3,000 years before present · Bantu-speaking worlds
The quarry remained visible · Mainly 6th–5th centuries BCE · Gojoseon and early Korea
Urns from Adichanallur · Iron Age · samples towards 665 and 467 BCE · Vedic and later Indian worlds

Shell and mother-of-pearl

Current object, without a comparable date: Three hundred lives in the sand.

'Jamila's' necklace · ≈7250–7000 BCE · Prehistory
Worshiper of Tell Asmar · Towards 2900–2600 BCE · Sumer
Royal Game of Ur · 2600–2400 BCE · Sumer
The goat from PG 1237 · ca. 2600–2400 BCE · Sumer
Standard of Ur · ca. 2600–2400 BCE · Sumer
Statue of Ebih-Il · Towards 2400 BCE · Sumer
The Gallery of the Conch Shells · Main use c. 800–500 BCE · Pre-Inca cultures
Missing grave goods · 13th–15th centuries according to the heritage overview · Bantu-speaking worlds

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

Meluhha · ca. 2600–1900 BCE · Indus civilisation

Ceramics

Current object, without a comparable date: Three hundred lives in the sand.

Dolní Věstonice I · ≈29,000–27,000 years · Prehistory
Before Sumer · mid-6th–5th millennium BCE · Sumer
Twin-chambered vessel from Cova de l’Or · Early Neolithic · VI–V millennia BCE · Prehistory
Before Egypt · ca. 4400–3800 BCE · Ancient Egypt
Before Nubia · V–IV millennium BCE · Nubia, Kerma and Kush
Before Gojoseon · Middle Neolithic, c. 4000 BCE · Gojoseon and early Korea
Bevel-rimmed bowl · ca. 3500–3000 BCE · Sumer
Before Yayoi · Middle Jōmon, ca. 3000 BCE · Yayoi Japan
Vasiliki · ca. 2500–2200 BCE · Greek worlds
Before the Greeks · c. 2400–2200 BCE · Greek worlds
Cemetery R-37 · ca. 2550–2030 BCE · Indus civilisation
Before Ancient China · c. 2500–2000 BCE · Ancient China
Longshan · c. 2500–2000 BCE · Ancient China
Kerma vessel · c. 1802–1640 BCE · Nubia, Kerma and Kush
Burial at K IV · circa 1750–1550 BCE · Nubia, Kerma and Kush
Before Vedic India · c. 1900–1300 BCE · Vedic and later Indian worlds
Osmankayası and Ilıca · ca. 1700/1650–1200 BCE · Hittites
Grey bowl from Hastinapura · c. 1100–800 BCE in the classical sequence of Hastinapura · Vedic and later Indian worlds
Before Etruscans and Rome · ca. 850–800 BCE · Etruscans and Rome
The urn under the helmet · 9th–8th centuries BCE · Etruscans and Rome
Ceramic stand 1010 · 8th–7th centuries BCE · orientalizing · Iberians
Ishtar Gate · 7th–6th centuries BCE · work of Nebuchadnezzar II · Sumer
Glazed brick guards · 522–486 BCE · Achaemenid Persia
Orpheus among the Thracians · circa 440 BCE; attributed to the London Painter E 497. · Thracians
The Attic krater that took on a new life in Cástulo · 4th century BCE · Greek worlds
Thoth in the form of a baboon · 664–30 BCE · Ancient Egypt
Leipzig Fish Plate · Last third 4th–early 3rd century BCE · Greek worlds
Dove of the Amarejo · 3rd century BCE · Iberians
Vas dels Guerrers · 3rd–early 2nd century BCE · Iberians
Warriors' Vase · 3rd–2nd centuries BCE · Iberians
Northern mound · 2nd–1st centuries BCE · Yayoi Japan
Kalathos of Alcorisa · 2nd–1st centuries BCE · Iberians
Urewe vessel · regional range c. 800 BCE–650 CE · Bantu-speaking worlds
Two rows of coffins · Mainly Middle Yayoi, 2nd century BCE–1st century CE · Yayoi Japan
Ceramics that continued · Last third of the 2nd century BCE–1st century CE · Iberians
Egyptian oil lamp with a fish, held in Laon · 3rd–4th centuries CE · Ancient Egypt
Laon lamp with fish · 3rd–4th centuries CE · Etruscans and Rome
Kabusanza, ca. 400 · ca. 400 CE · Batwa / Twa histories
Missing grave goods · 13th–15th centuries according to the heritage overview · Bantu-speaking worlds

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

A Kerma vessel deposited at Abydos · Second Intermediate Period · Ancient Egypt
A tradition that invents · collected in 1993 or 1995 · Batwa / Twa histories
A vase travels; the rite changes · No individual dating published on this record · Iberians
Akrotiri · c. 1700–1500 BCE · Greek worlds
Dia’s strata · 9th century BCE–2nd millennium CE · Mande Worlds
Early pottery · before ca. 9400 cal BCE · Mande Worlds
Jenne-jeno contexts · ca. 250 BCE–1400 CE · Mande Worlds
Liédena Flask · Roman period · individual chronology not published in the entry · Etruscans and Rome
Lothal · ca. 2400–1600 BCE · Indus civilisation
Made in Garama · I millennium BCE–I millennium CE · Garamantes
Nile towards Nubia · ca. 3300–2800 BCE · Ancient Egypt
The unfinished gesture · 1947 · Batwa / Twa histories
Travelling objects · Mainly Roman period · Garamantes
Trumpet from Numantia · No individual dating published on this record · Iberians
Urns from Adichanallur · Iron Age · samples towards 665 and 467 BCE · Vedic and later Indian worlds
Vessels without a language · Urewe, broad regional range ca. 800 BCE–650 CE · Bantu-speaking worlds

A closer look

About 1 min to read · 1 section. Further reading and sources · free access. Editorial review recorded: September 5, 2026.

One genome does not represent an entire cemetery

A study published in 2024 sequenced the nuclear genome of one individual from Doigahama and compared it with ancient and present-day populations. It identified affinities related to Jōmon, East Asia and northeast Siberia; among external populations, the Korean comparison proved especially close. The authors employed admixture models to investigate migrations from the peninsula. The individual result does not convert ancestry into nationality, language or shared identity among all Yayoi inhabitants.

Research · Kim et al. · Genetic analysis of a Yayoi individual from DoigahamaAccess recorded: September 5, 2026.

Where it is held

Doigahama Site Anthropological Museum

Component of the group · Site museum

Site museum dedicated to the anthropological remains of Doigahama.

The holding institution is documented; public display may change. Check its official record before visiting.

Sources and references

National Museum of Nature and Science · Skeletons in the Sand Dunes
Shimonoseki City · Doigahama Site Anthropological Museum
Kim et al. · Genetic analysis of a Yayoi individual from Doigahama

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History and context

Evidence and interpretation

Catalogue facts

Three hundred lives in the sand

Cemetery R-37

Osmankayası and Ilıca

Kabusanza, ca. 400

A closer look

One genome does not represent an entire cemetery

Where it is held

Doigahama Site Anthropological Museum

Sources and references

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