2003/04/01 by I. J. N. Thorpe, I. J. Thorpe · 1 citation
Social Sciences · Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology #Archaeology and ancient environmental studies #Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies
paper · doi:10.1080/0043824032000079198
The main theories of the origin of warfare - from evolutionary psychology, materialism, and historical contingency - are examined. Their implications and their use of anthropological evidence, especially for the Yanomamö of the Amazon, are explored, then their relationship to the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic archaeological record. The early prehistoric evidence for conflict and warfare, mainly from Europe, is considered, from individual injuries, mostly from club wounds to the skull and death by arrowshot, to mass killings which could have destroyed a group. The enormous regional variation in this evidence is set against universal theories which imply uniformity and are thus found wanting.