Violence and warfare among hunter-gatherers

392 Pages·2014·14.6 MB·English

by  Allen

VIOLENCE AND WARFARE AMONG
HUNTER-GATHERERS

VIOLENCE AND WARFARE AMONG
HUNTER-GATHERERS
Mark W. Allen
Terry L. Jones
Editors
Walnut Creek, California
LEFT COAST PRESS, INC.
1630 North Main Street, #400
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
http://www.LCoastPress.com
Copyright © 2014 by Left Coast Press, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
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ISBN 978-1-61132-939-1 hardback
ISBN 978-1-61132-941-4 institutional eBook
ISBN 978-1-61132-942-1 consumer eBook
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Violence and Warfare among Hunter-Gatherers / edited by Mark W. Allen and Terry
L. Jones.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-61132-939-1 (hardback)
ISBN 978-1-61132-941-4 (institutional eBook)
ISBN 978-1-61132-942-1 (consumer eBook)
1. Hunting and gathering societies. 2. Warfare, Prehistoric. I. Allen, Mark W.,
author, editor of compilation. II. Jones, Terry L., author, editor of compilation.
GN388.V56 2014
306.3´64—dc23
2014005346
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48–1992.
Contents
List of Illustrations 7
Preface 11
PART I: A Neglected Anthropology: Hunter-Gatherer Violence
and Warfare
1. Hunter-Gatherer Conflict: The Last Bastion of the Pacified Past? 15
Mark W. Allen
2. Forager Warfare and Our Evolutionary Past 26
Steven A. LeBlanc
PART II: Violence and Warfare among Mobile Foragers
3. Violence and Warfare in the European Mesolithic and Paleolithic 49
Virginia Hutton Estabrook
4. Wild-Type Colonizers and High Levels of Violence among
Paleoamericans 70
James C. Chatters
5. Hunter-Gatherer Violence and Warfare in Australia 97
Mark W. Allen
6. Conflict and Territoriality in Aboriginal Australia: Evidence from
Biology and Ethnography 112
Colin Pardoe
7. Conflict and Interpersonal Violence in Holocene Hunter-Gatherer
Populations from Southern South America 133
Florencia Gordón
8. Warfare and Expansion: An Ethnohistoric Perspective on
the Numic Spread 149
Mark Q. Sutton
9. Wait and Parry: Archaeological Evidence for Hunter-Gatherer
Defensive Behavior in the Interior Northwest 168
Kenneth C. Reid
10. Scales of Violence across the North American Arctic 182
John Darwent and Christyann M. Darwent
11. The Spectre of Conflict on Isla Cedros, Baja California, Mexico 204
Matthew R. Des Lauriers
PART III: Violence and Warfare among Semisedentary
Hunter-Gatherers
12. Foragers and War in Contact-Era New Guinea 223
Paul (“Jim”) Roscoe
13. Middle and Late Archaic Trophy Taking in Indiana 241
Christopher W. Schmidt and Amber E. Osterholt
14. The Bioarchaeological Record of Craniofacial Trauma in Central
California 257
Marin A. Pilloud, Al W. Schwitalla, and Terry L. Jones
15. Archaic Violence in Western North America: The Bioarchaeological
Record of Dismemberment, Human Bone Artifacts, and Trophy
Skulls from Central California 273
Al W. Schwitalla, Terry L. Jones, Randy S. Wiberg, Marin A. Pilloud,
Brian F. Codding, and Eric C. Strother
16. Stable Isotope Perspectives on Hunter-Gatherer Violence:
Who’s Fighting Whom? 296
Jelmer W. Eerkens, Eric J. Bartelink, Karen S. Gardner,
and Traci L. Carlson
17. The Technology of Violence and Cultural Evolution in the Santa
Barbara Channel Region 314
James M. Brill
18. Updating the Warrior Cache: Timing the Evidence for Warfare at
Prince Rupert Harbour 333
Jerome S. Cybulski
PART IV: Synthesis and Conclusion
19. The Prehistory of Violence and Warfare among Hunter-Gatherers 353
Terry L. Jones and Mark W. Allen
Index 372
About the Editors and Contributors 385
Illustrations
Figures
4.1 Patterns of traumatic defects in the skeletons of Paleoamerican
males and females 76
4.2 Examples of traumatic defects in Paleoamerican skeletons 77
4.3 The pattern of violent trauma in Late Prehistoric hunter-gatherers
from the Columbia Plateau 81
4.4 Mortality distribution of Paleoamerican males and females 84
4.5 Sexual dimorphism in Paleoamerican female and male skulls 87
6.1 The Central Murray River region 113
6.2 Parrying fractures by regional group Australia-wide, sides
combined 123
6.3 Cranial depression fractures by group 126
7.1 Patagonian region and northeastern Patagonia study area 135
7.2 Traumatic variables with types of artificial cranial deformation 140
8.1 Location of Numic-language and other groups in the late 1800s 151
9.1 Johnson Bar South, a probable battlefield cemetery in Hells
Canyon, Idaho 176
10.1 The North American Arctic 184
10.2 Slat-armor piece carved from caribou antler recovered from
Cape Espenberg, Alaska 189
10.3 Large knife or dagger (savik) carved of polar bear bone used
in close-contact fighting 190
11.1 Baja California and Isla Cedros 205
11.2 Punta Norte Village aerial view 207
11.3 Aerial view of village at Campo Quintero 208
12.1 Variation of intercentroid distance with density for polities
of sizes 25 and 50 230
13.1 Indiana sites: Bluegrass, Kramer Mound, Meyer, 12Hr6,
12Fl73, and Firehouse 242
13.2 Cache of forelimbs from site 12Fl73 246
13.3 Scalping marks on cranial fragment from Kramer Mound 247
13.4 Mandible from B.42 at the Meyer Site 248
14.1 Location of sites used in study by geographic region 259
14.2 Adult male with antemortem depressed cranial fracture to
the right parietal 260
14.3 Adult male exhibiting multiple perimortem depressed cranial
fractures 261
14.4 Distribution of craniofacial trauma divided by age and sex 262
14.5 Correspondence analysis of craniofacial trauma location and sex 263
14.6 Distribution of craniofacial trauma by region and sex 265
15.1 Archaeological sites in the Central California Bioarchaeological
Database 275
15.2 Butchering marks as evidence of scalping from CA-MRN-67 280
15.3 Modified right and left ulnae from CA-SOL-364 280
15.4 Burial 44, an adult male, in situ, with a trophy skull at
CA-ALA-42 281
15.5 A young adult female interred as an isolated skull and
deliberately oriented on a rock platform in association with
other individuals that exhibited evidence of perimortem trauma 282
15.6 Burial 137, adult male, interred with a trophy skull at
CA-CCO-548 282
15.7 Sites with skeletal evidence for trophy taking in central
California 285
15.8 Trends through time in trophy-taking–related features/artifacts
in central California 291
16.1 Location of three central California case studies 299
16.2 Mass burial pit from CA-YOL-117, reconstructed from 1964
field sketch 300
16.3 Comparison of Sr and O stable isotopes from CA-YOL-117
and CA-ALA-554 samples 302
16.4 d13C and d15N in bone collagen for pit burials (“nonlocals”)
and “locals,” and expected ranges for central California
environmental zones 302
16.5 Seven males from CA-ALA-554 and intrusive housepit 303
16.6 Excavation photo of B141, B142, B143, and B144 from
CA-SCL-38 306
17.1 Study sites 316
17.2 Continuum of innovation 318
17.3 Point measurements 324
17.4 Total CV percentages with weight removed for each Malaga
Cove sample divided by time 328
17.5 Sex distribution of people with projectile wounds 329
18.1 Archaeological sites in the Prince Rupert Harbour region 335
18.2 Two of three headless individuals found at the Lachane site 339
18.3 Calibrated calendar ages for six Prince Rupert
Harbour middens 344
Tables
3.1 Mesolithic injuries potentially attributable to violence 53
3.2 Middle Paleolithic trauma possibly related to interpersonal
violence 59
3.3 Middle Paleolithic trauma possibly related to violence 60
3.4 Mesolithic trauma possibly related to violence 61
3.5 Number of instances of injury by degree of severity 64
3.6 Counts of projectile/blade versus blunt force injuries 65
3.7 Number of instances of antemortem injury possibly related to
violence by degree of severity 65
4.1 Paleoamerican skeletons in this study 72
4.2 Traumatic injuries in Paleoamerican males and females 75
4.3 Frequency of evidence for interpersonal violence in skeletal
populations of North America 80
6.1 Parrying fractures by side, sex, and group 124
6.2 Incidence of depression fractures by sex 125
6.3 Regional contrasts in head dents by sex 127
7.1 Age and sex distribution of the analyzed sample 139
7.2 Trauma distribution by area, sex, and age 141
10.1 Incidences of male violence recorded by Knud Rasmussen in
the settlement of Kunajuk on the Ellice River (Kuunnuaq) 186
12.1 Fry’s “simple” nomadic forager file 229
12.2 The hunter-gatherers of contact-era New Guinea 229
13.1 Dates from Indiana sites 242
14.1 Demographic profile of the skeletal sample 258
14.2 Distribution of antemortem craniofacial trauma by sex 262
14.3 Distribution of perimortem craniofacial trauma by sex 262
14.4 Distribution of craniofacial trauma by location and sex 263
14.5 Distribution of fracture types 264
14.6 Temporal distribution of craniofacial trauma 265
14.7 Temporal and regional distribution of craniofacial trauma 266
14.8 Dimensions of antemortem depressed fractures by element
in central California 266
14.9 Dimensions of antemortem depressed fractures by element
in southern California 267
14.10 One-way ANOVA of dimensions of antemortem depressed
fractures between southern and central California 267