Bull. Natl. Mus. Nat. Sci., Ser. D, 46, pp. 13–19, December 25, 2020

Material report: A partially mummiﬁed human remain excavated fromthe Shiroganecho nishi site, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
Kazuhiro Sakaue and Mari Kajigayama
Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Nature and Science
4–1–1 Amakubo, Tsukuba City, Ibaraki Pref. 305–0005, Tokyo, Japan
E-mail: k-sakaue@kahaku.go.jp

Abstract This report aims to record the human skeletal remain with partial preservation ofhuman soft tissue excavated from an archeological site (the Shiroganecho nishi site) of the Edoera. This individual was estimated to be a middle-aged male in the Samurai class according to hismorphological characteristics of his skeletal remain and his burial system and accessories. The
remaining soft tissues were restricted to the skin and muscles of the face, right ribs, lower vertebra,
and right lower leg, except for the right eyeball. When excavated, these soft tissues remained wetand ﬂexible, with movement in the joints. Thus, the reason as to why these soft tissues haveremained in such a condition must not be due to mummiﬁcation but rather adipoceration. Computed tomography images revealed that his right eye ball was well preserved and artiﬁcial teeth
made of stones within his mouth.
KeyWords: Mummy, Edo era, anthropology, CT analysis, artiﬁcial teeth

Introduction

Material and Methods

In Japan, human skeletal remains that adhere
to soft tissues are rarely found in historical sites.
While the precise reason that soft tissues remainpreserved under certain conditions is unclear, theadipocere phenomenon may play a role as skin issometimes white and soapy, with maintained
ﬂexibility and articulation, and sometimes
soaked in groundwater upon discovery. Unfortunately, such preserved soft tissue ﬁndings tend to
be brieﬂy reported in archeological site reports
only in Japanese (for example, the sample of ʻNo.
300ʼ excavated from the Yanakamisakicho site:
Kajigayama, 2000), and have never been
researched and published in the ﬁeld of physicalanthropology in Japan.
The aim of this report was to record the humanskeletal remain with partial preservation ofhuman soft tissue excavated from an archeological site in Japan.

This individual was excavated from the Shiroganecho nishi site, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, in 2019.
This area was the cemetery of the Buddhist temple “Tentokuin” in the Edo era. During the excavation, ten pits for graves were found, which
comprised eight human skeletal remains, one dog
skeletal remains, and one human skeletal remain
with partial preservation of soft tissue.
The individual described in this report isreferred to as “No. 3”, and was found in a partially fragmental ceramic pot, “Kamekan”, that
had been broken by a tomb stone that might havebeen a cover stone of a basement (Figure 1).
Thus, this burial pit might have been disturbed
by construction work between the burial of theEdo era and modern excavation. Some burial
accessories, including two wooden imitation
swords for ceremony, some porcelain sake cups,and sake bottles, were recovered from the site.
The preservation of this individual is shown in
Figure 2–3. Almost all parts of the skeletal© 2020 National Museum of Nature and Science14K. Sakaue and M. Kajigayama

Fig. 1. Photographs of the excavation of the ceramic pot, “Kamekan”, containing the human remains of No. 3.
The ﬁgure on the right shows the grave stone that fell into the ceramic pot. The ﬁgure on the left shows theappearance of this individual after removing the grave stone.

Fig. 2.

Photographs of the skull.

Mummy found in Shinjyuku-ku, TokyoFig. 3.

Photographs of the postcranial bones.

15

16K. Sakaue and M. Kajigayama
Table 1.
Martin No.
Humerus
1
5
6
6/5
7a
Radius
1
4
5
5/4
5(5)
Ulna
1
1112
11/123(a)
Femur
1
6
7
6/7
5
Tibia
1a8
9
9/8
10aFibula
123
3/2
4

Mesurements of postcranial bones of ʻNo.3ʼ
Measurements

RightLeft

maxiumu length
maximum diameter of midshaft
minimun diameter of midshaft
index
midshaft circumference

301.5
21.8
17.9
82.2
64.0

298.0
21.5
17.5
81.4
63.5

maxiumu length
maximum transverse shaft diameter
minimum sagittal shaft diameterindex
midshaft circumference

231.0
16.7
11.9
71.3
44.5

225.5
16.7
11.7
70.1
43.5

maxiumu length
dorso ventral shaft diametertransverse shaft diameterindex
midshaft circumference

244.0
12.9
16.8
76.8
48.0

243.0
12.9
16.2
79.8
47.0

maxiumu length
anterior-posterior diameter of midshaft
medio-lateral diameter of midshaft
index
midshaft circumference

435.0
27.9
25.7
108.5
83.5

maxiumu length
sagittal diameter of midshaft
transverse diameter of midshaft
index
circumference at nutrient foramen

360.0
30.3
22.0
72.8
93.5

maxiumu length
maximum diameter of midshaft
minimun diameter of midshaft
index
midshaft circumference

347.5
12.4
11.5
92.3
38.0

Fig. 4. Bilateral asymmetry of the ﬁrst rib.
The distal end of the right ﬁrst rib might havebeen fractured during his lifetime.

Fig. 5. Anterior-lateral view of the proximal partsof left tibia and left ﬁbula.
The circle indicates the compression fracture
and the double arrows indicate the linear fracture.

Mummy found in Shinjyuku-ku, TokyoFig. 6. Superior view of the left second to ﬁfth
metatarsal bones.
Double arrows indicate the continuous contourof broken parts of these metatarsal bones.

17

Fig. 8. Computer graphics reconstructed from CT
images.
This image shows an inferior view of the skull.
The circle indicates a high density artifact.

Fig. 7. A CT image of the orbital cavity.
The circle indicates the right eyeball of thisindividual.

remains were recognizable, except that the cranial vault was partially broken and some cervicalvertebra and foot bones were missing. Soft tissues were identiﬁed on almost all bones, and alarge number of them were adhered to the skull,right ribs, spinal column from the 7th thoracic
vertebra to the sacrum, and the right lower leg.
Seven hand nails also remained.

Fig. 9. Inferior view of the oral cavity before
removing the leaves and biological tissues(upper panel) and after removing them (lowerpanel).
The circle indicates the artiﬁcial teeth covered
with leaves and tissues.

18K. Sakaue and M. Kajigayama

Fig. 10. Upper teeth and artiﬁcial teeth found in the oral cavity.
The upper panels show the buccal view of the eleven isolated teeth and the denture. The middle left panel
shows the articulation of the right second incisor with this denture, and the middle right panel shows the articulation of the left second incisor and left canine with this denture. The lower panels show the ﬁtting of thisdenture with the alveolar margin of maxilla.

When excavated, the soft tissues remained wetand ﬂexible, and showed joint mobility. The reason as to why these soft tissues were preserved insuch a manner is likely not due to mummiﬁcation
but rather adipoceration. In order to preserve
these soft tissues for later research, they wererinsed gently and air-dried with an electric fanfor two months.
The partial breakage of bones and the existence of soft tissues restricted the linear measurements of bones. Thirty variables of the postcranial bones were measured (Table 1).
The remaining soft tissues were superﬁcial,
except for the right orbital and oral cavities Theskull was examined using high-resolution computed tomography (CT; InspeXio SMZ-225CT
FPD HR, Shimadzu Corporation) to obtain additional information and provide a digital record
for the future. The 3D images were renderedusing the Radiant DICOM viewer software(Medixant, Poznan, Poland).
Results and Discussion
The burial system with a ceramic pot andburial accessories indicated that this individual
belonged to the Samurai class during the late Edoera (Tanigawa, 2004; Sakaue, 2012).
The sex was estimated to be male, because ofthe narrow shape of the greater sciatic notch andrelatively massive supraorbital ridges. The ageat-death was estimated to be between 30 and 49,
because the morphology of the pubic symphysis
indicated Phase 4 of the Suchey-Brooks system(Brooks and Suchey, 1990; Sakaue, 2006). The
estimated stature was 162.3 cm with the formulaof Fujii (Fujii, 1960).
The right ﬁrst rib of this individual was shorter
than the left one (Figure 4). The distal end of theright side was rounded, and the costal cartilage

Mummy found in Shinjyuku-ku, Tokyo

was ossiﬁed and connected to the manubrium of
the sternum. This seems to be the hypoplasia of
the right ﬁrst rib during his lifetime. There aresome breakages in the skull and lower leg bonesof this individual. An annular bone defect with apolished margin was apparent in the cranial
value, and the color of this defect was as brownas that of the bone surface. A compression fracture with a diameter of approximately 1 cm wasobserved on the lateral surface of the proximal
diaphysis of the left tibia, and there was a linear
fracture in the proximal epiphysis of the left ﬁbula (Figure 5). These fractures can be regarded ashaving the same impact on the proximal and lateral parts of the left lower leg. The left second toﬁfth metatarsal bones were preserved with only
the proximal parts remaining and the distal ends
worn away. In these articulations, the contours of
the broken parts of the second to ﬁfth metatarsal
bones seem to be continuous (Figure 6). These
damages seem to have occurred when he wasaround his death or just after death, as his body
had kept articulation in the left lower leg andright foot. However, it is diﬃcult to estimate thetiming of these damages because this adipocerated body must have maintained its humidity
long after his death. As one of the grave stones
had fallen into the burial pot, it is plausible thatsome disturbance of the burial condition could
have occurred after his burial and resulted in thebreakages of these bones. This is why the preservation of soft tissues was restricted. Before thiscontamination, the body may have been fully
adipocerated.
The CT images revealed that the right eyeballand surrounding muscles were preserved wellenough to visualize the optic nerve, sclera, andlens (Figure 7). There were artiﬁcial teeth within
the oral cavity, as well as leaves and biologicaltissues (skin, muscles, and teeth) (Figure 8 and9). The artiﬁcial teeth were made of stone, which
may be made of agalmatolite because thewooden plate dentures during the Edo era weresometimes decorated with artiﬁcial teeth of agalmatolite (Hasegawa, 2010). The upper margin of19

this denture was ﬁtted with the alveolar marginof the maxilla (Figure 10, lower panel). The
remaining eleven upper teeth were isolated (Figure 10, upper panel), and the right and left second incisors were shaved in their medial parts toﬁt the lateral aspects of the denture (Figure 10,middle panel). These ﬁndings indicate that thedenture was designed only for this individual.
This paper reports the partially mummiﬁed
human remains of an individual from the Edoera. In Japan, over 15 natural mummies (afteradipoceration) have been excavated from archeological sites and stored in universities and museums. However, detailed studies have never been
published, except for a few brief reports on excavations. If the opportunity is allowed, the publication of detailed reports on such ﬁndings will be
beneﬁcial to scientists in the ﬁeld.
References
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