The Jomon Were Not Multiple Migrations: Whole-Mitogenome Evidence for a Single Initial Settlement Followed by Insular Divergence

A team led by Hiroki Oota at the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Science reports in Anthropological Science a whole-mitogenome study of the Jomon that offers a new account of how these early island people formed.

The researchers pooled whole mitogenomes from 17 Jomon sites, including 13 newly sequenced individuals from the Ichihara site in Chiba. Bayesian skyline analysis shows the Jomon population grew substantially between about 13,000 and 8,000 years ago, especially in eastern Japan.

Crucially, the study argues that the genetic difference between eastern and western Jomon people did not arise from separate migration routes reaching the archipelago at different times. Instead, a single ancestral population arrived, then diverged within the islands through isolation, environment, and cultural difference. The conclusion shifts the focus from “multiple crossings” toward the ecological and cultural drivers of regional divergence within the Jomon world.

Source: Koki Yoshida, Yoshiki Wakiyama, Yuka Nakamura, Guido Valverde et al.; corresponding Hiroki Oota. Anthropological Science, 2026-01-30.