Sample sites

The Unko-in site is the former graveyard of the Unko-in temple at Fukagawa, Tokyo (S1 Table) [28]. The excavation was conducted in 1955, and more than 200 skeletons were excavated. In terms of the chronological age of the materials, they were dated to the latter half of the Edo period (from the 18th to the 19th century), as determined from the accompanying cultural finds and historical documents about the temple [29,30]. The people buried at the temple were townspeople of Edo City, as inferred from their graves and the posthumous Buddhist names (kaimyo in Japanese) written on them [31]. The skeletons are housed at the University Museum, the University of Tokyo (UMUT).