The evolution of lethal intergroup violence

2005/08/29 by Raymond C. Kelly · 3 citations
Environmental Science · Social Sciences · #Animal Ecology and Behavior Studies #Archaeology #Biological evolution #Biology #Demography #Evolutionary biology #Genetics #History #Life span #Periodization #Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology #Sociology #Trajectory #Wildlife Ecology and Conservation

paper · doi:10.1073/pnas.0505955102

openalex publication_date 2005/08/29 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/11

Abstract

Recent findings and analyses in evolutionary biology, archaeology, and ethnology provide a favorable conjuncture for examining the evolution of lethal intergroup violence among hominids during the 2.9-million-year Paleolithic time span. Here, I seek to identify and investigate the main turning points in this evolutionary trajectory and to delineate the periodization that follows from this inquiry.

Citations

• Standard Cross-Cultural Sample

Cited by

• Projectile weapon injuries in the Riparo Tagliente burial (Veneto, Italy) provide early evidence of Late Upper Paleolithic intergroup conflict
• A massacre of early Neolithic farmers in the high Pyrenees at Els Trocs, Spain
• Infantry [wikipedia]