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Moreno-Ibáñez MÁ, Saladié P, Ramírez-Pedraza I, Díez-Canseco C, Fernández-Marchena JL, Soriano E, Carbonell E, Tornero C. Death in the high mountains: Evidence of interpersonal violence during Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age at Roc de les Orenetes (Eastern Pyrenees, Spain). AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2024; 184:e24909. [PMID: 38415956 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.24909] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2023] [Revised: 01/10/2024] [Accepted: 01/22/2024] [Indexed: 02/29/2024]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES To test a hypothesis on interpersonal violence events during the transition between Chalcolithic and Bronze Age in the Eastern Pyrenees, to contextualize it in Western Europe during that period, and to assess if these marks can be differentiated from secondary funerary treatment. MATERIALS AND METHODS Metric and non-metric methods were used to estimate the age-at-death and sex of the skeletal remains. Perimortem injuries were observed and analyzed with stereomicroscopy and confocal microscopy. RESULTS Among the minimum of 51 individuals documented, at least six people showed evidence of perimortem trauma. All age groups and both sexes are represented in the skeletal sample, but those with violent injuries are predominantly males. Twenty-six bones had 49 injuries, 48 of which involved sharp force trauma on postcranial elements, and one example of blunt force trauma on a cranium. The wounds were mostly located on the upper extremities and ribs, anterior and posterior. Several antemortem lesions were also documented in the assemblage. DISCUSSION The perimortem lesions, together with direct dating, suggest that more than one episode of interpersonal violence took place between the Late Chalcolithic and the Early Bronze Age in northeastern Spain. The features of the sharp force trauma indicate that different weapons were used, including sharp metal objects and lithic projectiles. The Roc de les Orenetes assemblage represents a scenario of recurrent lethal confrontation in a high mountain geographic context, representing the evidence of inferred interpersonal violence located at the highest altitude settings in the Pyrenees, at 1836 meters above sea level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miguel Ángel Moreno-Ibáñez
- Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA), Zona Educacional 4, Campus Sescelades URV (Edifici W3), Tarragona, Spain
- Departament d'Història i Història de l'Art, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain
| | - Palmira Saladié
- Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA), Zona Educacional 4, Campus Sescelades URV (Edifici W3), Tarragona, Spain
- Departament d'Història i Història de l'Art, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain
- Departamento de Paleobiología, Unit associated to CSIC, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid, Spain
| | - Iván Ramírez-Pedraza
- Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA), Zona Educacional 4, Campus Sescelades URV (Edifici W3), Tarragona, Spain
- Departament d'Història i Història de l'Art, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain
| | - Celia Díez-Canseco
- Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA), Zona Educacional 4, Campus Sescelades URV (Edifici W3), Tarragona, Spain
- Departament d'Història i Història de l'Art, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain
| | - Juan Luis Fernández-Marchena
- Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA), Zona Educacional 4, Campus Sescelades URV (Edifici W3), Tarragona, Spain
- Departament d'Història i Història de l'Art, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain
- Departament de Prehistòria, Arqueologia i Història Antigua, Universitat de València, València, Spain
| | - Eni Soriano
- Departament of Prehistory, Facultat de Filosofia i Lletres, Edifici B, Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), Bellaterra, Spain
| | - Eudald Carbonell
- Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA), Zona Educacional 4, Campus Sescelades URV (Edifici W3), Tarragona, Spain
- Departament d'Història i Història de l'Art, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain
| | - Carlos Tornero
- Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA), Zona Educacional 4, Campus Sescelades URV (Edifici W3), Tarragona, Spain
- Departament of Prehistory, Facultat de Filosofia i Lletres, Edifici B, Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), Bellaterra, Spain
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Fernández-Crespo T, Ordoño J, Etxeberria F, Herrasti L, Armendariz Á, Vegas JI, Schulting RJ. Large-scale violence in Late Neolithic Western Europe based on expanded skeletal evidence from San Juan ante Portam Latinam. Sci Rep 2023; 13:17103. [PMID: 37919365 PMCID: PMC10622514 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-43026-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2023] [Accepted: 09/18/2023] [Indexed: 11/04/2023] Open
Abstract
This paper explores the nature and extent of conflict in Late Neolithic Europe based on expanded skeletal evidence for violence from the San Juan ante Portam Latinam rockshelter in present-day Spain (ca. 3380-3000 cal. BC). The systematic osteological re-examination has identified 65 unhealed and 89 healed traumas-of which 77 were previously undocumented-consistent with aggression. They affect 23.1% of the 338 individuals represented. Adolescent and adult males are particularly affected (44.9% of the 107 identified), comprising 97.6% of unhealed trauma and 81.7% of healed trauma recorded in individuals whose sex could be estimated and showing higher frequencies of injuries per individual than other demographic subgroups. Results suggest that many individuals, essentially men, were exposed to violence and eventually killed in battle and raids, since warriorship is mainly restricted to this demographic in many societies. The proportion of casualties is likely to have been far greater than indicated by the 10.1% individuals exhibiting unhealed trauma, given the presence of isolated cases of unhealed postcranial trauma and of arrowheads potentially having impacted into soft tissues. This, together with skeletal indicators of poor health and the possible socioeconomic outcomes evidenced in the region, suggest wider social impacts, which may relate to a more sophisticated and formalized way of warfare than previously appreciated in the European Neolithic record.
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Affiliation(s)
- Teresa Fernández-Crespo
- Departamento de Prehistoria, Arqueología, Antropología Social y Ciencias y Técnicas Historiográficas, Universidad de Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain.
- Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
- Laboratoire Méditerranéen de Préhistoire Europe Afrique - UMR 7269, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Aix-Marseille Université, Maison Méditerranéenne des Sciences de l'Homme, Aix-en-Provence, France.
| | - Javier Ordoño
- Department of Archaeology and New Technologies, Arkikus, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
| | - Francisco Etxeberria
- Departamento de Medicina Legal y Forense, Universidad del País Vasco (UPV/EHU), Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain
- Departamento de Antropología, Sociedad de Ciencias Aranzadi, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain
| | - Lourdes Herrasti
- Departamento de Antropología, Sociedad de Ciencias Aranzadi, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain
| | - Ángel Armendariz
- Instituto Internacional de Investigaciones Prehistóricas de Cantabria (IIIPC), Universidad de Cantabria, Santander, Spain
| | - José I Vegas
- Instituto Alavés de Arqueología, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
| | - Rick J Schulting
- Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
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3
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Kondor D, Bennett JS, Gronenborn D, Antunes N, Hoyer D, Turchin P. Explaining population booms and busts in Mid-Holocene Europe. Sci Rep 2023; 13:9310. [PMID: 37291136 PMCID: PMC10250413 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-35920-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2023] [Accepted: 05/25/2023] [Indexed: 06/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Archaeological evidence suggests that the population dynamics of Mid-Holocene (Late Mesolithic to Initial Bronze Age, ca. 7000-3000 BCE) Europe are characterized by recurrent booms and busts of regional settlement and occupation density. These boom-bust patterns are documented in the temporal distribution of 14C dates and in archaeological settlement data from regional studies. We test two competing hypotheses attempting to explain these dynamics: climate forcing and social dynamics leading to inter-group conflict. Using the framework of spatially-explicit agent-based models, we translated these hypotheses into a suite of explicit computational models, derived quantitative predictions for population fluctuations, and compared these predictions to data. We demonstrate that climate variation during the European Mid-Holocene is unable to explain the quantitative features (average periodicities and amplitudes) of observed boom-bust dynamics. In contrast, scenarios with social dynamics encompassing density-dependent conflict produce population patterns with time scales and amplitudes similar to those observed in the data. These results suggest that social processes, including violent conflict, played a crucial role in the shaping of population dynamics of European Mid-Holocene societies.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - Daniel Hoyer
- Evolution Institute, Tampa, FL, USA
- George Brown College, Toronto, Canada
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4
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Dunbar R. Why did doctrinal religions first appear in the Northern Subtropical Zone? EVOLUTIONARY HUMAN SCIENCES 2023; 5:e15. [PMID: 37587936 PMCID: PMC10427489 DOI: 10.1017/ehs.2023.13] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2023] [Revised: 05/01/2023] [Accepted: 05/02/2023] [Indexed: 08/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Doctrinal religions that involve recognised gods, more formal theologies, moral codes, dedicated religious spaces and professional priesthoods emerged in two phases during the Neolithic. Almost all of these appeared in a narrow latitudinal band (the northern Subtropical Zone). I suggest that these developments were the result of a need to facilitate community bonding in response to scalar stresses that developed as community sizes increased dramatically beyond those typical of hunter-gatherer societies. Conditions for population growth (as indexed by rainfall patterns and the difference between pathogen load and the length of the growing season) were uniquely optimised in this zone, creating an environment of ecological release in which populations could grow unusually rapidly. The relationship between latitude, religion and language in contemporary societies suggests that the peculiar characteristics of the northern (but not the southern) Subtropical Zone were especially favourable for the evolution of large scale religions as a way of enforcing community cohesion.
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Affiliation(s)
- R.I.M. Dunbar
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Oxford OX2 6GG, UK
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5
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Knüsel CJ, Thibeault A, Villotte S. A cranial injury from the earliest Gravettian at the Cro-Magnon rock shelter (Vézère Valley, Dordogne, southwest France). J Hum Evol 2023; 177:103329. [PMID: 36870149 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2023.103329] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2022] [Revised: 01/24/2023] [Accepted: 01/24/2023] [Indexed: 03/06/2023]
Abstract
Discovered over 150 years ago, the early Upper Paleolithic human remains from the Cro-Magnon rock shelter have an iconic status, but because of skeletal commingling after discovery, their bio-profiles remain incomplete and contentious. The defect on the frontal bone of the cranium known as Cro-Magnon 2 has been interpreted as both an antemortem injury and a postmortem (i.e., taphonomic) artifact previously. This contribution considers the cranium in order to clarify the status of the defect on the frontal bone and to situate these remains among others of Pleistocene date with similar types of lesions. The diagnostic criteria used to assess the cranium are drawn from recent publications of actualistic experimental studies of cranial trauma and from those associated with cranial trauma due to violence in forensic anthropological and bioarchaeological contexts. The appearance of the defect and comparison with more recent documented cases from the preantibiotic era suggest that the defect is a result of antemortem trauma with survival for a short period. The location of the lesion on the cranium provides growing evidence for interpersonal aggression in these early modern human groups, and the place of burial also provides insight into related mortuary behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Adrien Thibeault
- UMR 5199 PACEA, Université de Bordeaux, CNRS, 33600 Pessac, France
| | - Sébastien Villotte
- UMR7206 Éco-Anthropologie, CNRS, MNHN, Université Paris Cité, 75116 Paris, France; Operational Directory Earth and History of Life, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, 1000 Brussels, Belgium; Unité de Recherches Art, Archéologie Patrimoine, Université de Liège, B-4000 Liège, Belgium
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6
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Nicolosi T, Mariotti V, Talamo S, Miari M, Minarini L, Nenzioni G, Lenzi F, Pietrobelli A, Sorrentino R, Benazzi S, Belcastro MG. On the traces of lost identities: chronological, anthropological and taphonomic analyses of the Late Neolithic/Early Eneolithic fragmented and commingled human remains from the Farneto rock shelter (Bologna, northern Italy). ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL SCIENCES 2023; 15:36. [PMID: 36874257 PMCID: PMC9974402 DOI: 10.1007/s12520-023-01727-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2022] [Accepted: 01/31/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
UNLABELLED The present study examines the prehistoric human skeletal remains retrieved starting from the 1920s in the deposit of the Farneto rock shelter, situated in the area of the 'Parco dei Gessi Bolognesi e Calanchi dell'Abbadessa' (San Lazzaro di Savena, Bologna, northern Italy). An exact dating and a reliable interpretation of the assemblage had not been reached so far because of the lack of contextual data useful for dating purposes, the inaccurate recovery procedures of the remains and their state of preservation. In fact, the skeletal remains from the Farneto rock shelter are highly fragmented and commingled, whereas reliable information about their original position and their recovery procedures are not available. Despite these difficulties, radiocarbon analyses allowed the precise dating of the remains to a final phase of the Neolithic and an early phase of the Eneolithic period in Emilia Romagna (northern Italy). The study of the assemblage enabled to clarify the use of the context for funerary purposes. Moreover, the anthropological and taphonomic analyses of the skeletal remains shed light on the biological profile of the individuals and on some events that occurred after their death. In particular, the analysis of perimortem lesions highlighted the existence of intentional interventions related to corpse treatment, referable to dismembering/disarticulation and scarnification, i.e. cleaning of bones from soft tissues. Finally, the comparison with other Italian and European Neo/Eneolithic funerary contexts enabled a better understanding of these complex ritual practices. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12520-023-01727-2.
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Affiliation(s)
- Teresa Nicolosi
- Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
- Department of Cultural Heritage, Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Valentina Mariotti
- Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Sahra Talamo
- Department of Chemistry ‘Giacomo Ciamician’, Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Monica Miari
- Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio per la città metropolitana di Bologna e le province di Modena, Reggio Emilia e Ferrara, Bologna, Italy
| | | | - Gabriele Nenzioni
- Museo della Preistoria ‘Luigi Donini’, San Lazzaro di Savena, Bologna, Italy
| | - Fiamma Lenzi
- Museo della Preistoria ‘Luigi Donini’, San Lazzaro di Savena, Bologna, Italy
| | - Annalisa Pietrobelli
- Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Rita Sorrentino
- Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
- Department of Cultural Heritage, Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Stefano Benazzi
- Department of Cultural Heritage, Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Maria Giovanna Belcastro
- Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
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7
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Fibiger L, Ahlström T, Meyer C, Smith M. Conflict, violence, and warfare among early farmers in Northwestern Europe. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2209481119. [PMID: 36649427 PMCID: PMC9942812 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2209481119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2022] [Accepted: 10/19/2022] [Indexed: 01/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Bioarchaeological evidence of interpersonal violence and early warfare presents important insights into conflict in past societies. This evidence is critical for understanding the motivations for violence and its effects on opposing and competing individuals and groups across time and space. Selecting the Neolithic of northwestern Europe as an area for study, the present paper examines the variation and societal context for the violence recorded in the human skeletal remains from this region as one of the most important elements of human welfare. Compiling data from various sources, it becomes apparent that violence was endemic in Neolithic Europe, sometimes reaching levels of intergroup hostilities that ended in the utter destruction of entire communities. While the precise comparative quantification of healed and unhealed trauma remains a fundamental problem, patterns emerge that see conflict likely fostered by increasing competition between settled and growing communities, e.g., for access to arable land for food production. The further development of contextual information is paramount in order to address hypotheses on the motivations, origins, and evolution of violence as based on the study of human remains, the most direct indicator for actual small- and large-scale violence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Linda Fibiger
- School of History, Classics and Archaeology, University of Edinburgh, EdinburghEH8 9AG, Scotland
| | - Torbjörn Ahlström
- Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Lund University, LundSE-221 00, Sweden
| | - Christian Meyer
- OsteoARC - OsteoArchaeological Research Centre, Goslar38644, Germany
| | - Martin Smith
- Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, Forensic and Biological Anthropology, Bournemouth University, Poole BH12 5DD, United Kingdom
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8
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Dunbar RIM. Managing the stresses of group-living in the transition to village life. EVOLUTIONARY HUMAN SCIENCES 2022; 4:e40. [PMID: 37588930 PMCID: PMC10426039 DOI: 10.1017/ehs.2022.39] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2022] [Revised: 07/16/2022] [Accepted: 08/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
Abstract
Group living is stressful for all mammals, and these stresses limit the size of their social groups. Humans live in very large groups by mammal standards, so how have they solved this problem? I use homicide rates as an index of within-community stress for humans living in small-scale ethnographic societies, and show that the frequency of homicide increases linearly with living-group size in hunter-gatherers. This is not, however, the case for cultivators living in permanent settlements, where there appears to be a 'glass ceiling' below which homicide rates oscillate. This glass ceiling correlates with the adoption of social institutions that allow tensions to be managed. The results suggest (a) that the transition to a settled lifestyle in the Neolithic may have been more challenging than is usually assumed and (b) that the increases in settlement size that followed the first villages necessitated the introduction of a series of social institutions designed to manage within-community discord.
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Affiliation(s)
- R. I. M. Dunbar
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Oxford OX2 6GG, UK
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9
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Buikstra JE, DeWitte SN, Agarwal SC, Baker BJ, Bartelink EJ, Berger E, Blevins KE, Bolhofner K, Boutin AT, Brickley MB, Buzon MR, de la Cova C, Goldstein L, Gowland R, Grauer AL, Gregoricka LA, Halcrow SE, Hall SA, Hillson S, Kakaliouras AM, Klaus HD, Knudson KJ, Knüsel CJ, Larsen CS, Martin DL, Milner GR, Novak M, Nystrom KC, Pacheco-Forés SI, Prowse TL, Robbins Schug G, Roberts CA, Rothwell JE, Santos AL, Stojanowski C, Stone AC, Stull KE, Temple DH, Torres CM, Toyne JM, Tung TA, Ullinger J, Wiltschke-Schrotta K, Zakrzewski SR. Twenty-first century bioarchaeology: Taking stock and moving forward. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2022; 178 Suppl 74:54-114. [PMID: 36790761 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.24494] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2021] [Revised: 01/20/2022] [Accepted: 01/29/2022] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
This article presents outcomes from a Workshop entitled "Bioarchaeology: Taking Stock and Moving Forward," which was held at Arizona State University (ASU) on March 6-8, 2020. Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the School of Human Evolution and Social Change (ASU), and the Center for Bioarchaeological Research (CBR, ASU), the Workshop's overall goal was to explore reasons why research proposals submitted by bioarchaeologists, both graduate students and established scholars, fared disproportionately poorly within recent NSF Anthropology Program competitions and to offer advice for increasing success. Therefore, this Workshop comprised 43 international scholars and four advanced graduate students with a history of successful grant acquisition, primarily from the United States. Ultimately, we focused on two related aims: (1) best practices for improving research designs and training and (2) evaluating topics of contemporary significance that reverberate through history and beyond as promising trajectories for bioarchaeological research. Among the former were contextual grounding, research question/hypothesis generation, statistical procedures appropriate for small samples and mixed qualitative/quantitative data, the salience of Bayesian methods, and training program content. Topical foci included ethics, social inequality, identity (including intersectionality), climate change, migration, violence, epidemic disease, adaptability/plasticity, the osteological paradox, and the developmental origins of health and disease. Given the profound changes required globally to address decolonization in the 21st century, this concern also entered many formal and informal discussions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jane E Buikstra
- Center for Bioarchaeological Research, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | - Sharon N DeWitte
- Department of Anthropology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, USA
| | - Sabrina C Agarwal
- Department of Anthropology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Brenda J Baker
- Center for Bioarchaeological Research, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | - Eric J Bartelink
- Department of Anthropology, California State University, Chico, California, USA
| | - Elizabeth Berger
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Riverside, California, USA
| | | | - Katelyn Bolhofner
- School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences, New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, Arizona State University, Phoenix, Arizona, USA
| | - Alexis T Boutin
- Department of Anthropology, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, California, USA
| | - Megan B Brickley
- Department of Anthropology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
| | - Michele R Buzon
- Department of Anthropology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA
| | - Carlina de la Cova
- Department of Anthropology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, USA
| | - Lynne Goldstein
- Department of Anthropology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA
| | | | - Anne L Grauer
- Department of Anthropology, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | - Lesley A Gregoricka
- Department of Sociology, Anthropology, & Social Work, University of South Alabama, Mobile, Alabama, USA
| | - Siân E Halcrow
- Department of Anatomy, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
| | - Sarah A Hall
- Center for Bioarchaeological Research, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | - Simon Hillson
- Institute of Archaeology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Ann M Kakaliouras
- Department of Anthropology, Whittier College, Whittier, California, USA
| | - Haagen D Klaus
- Department of Sociology and Anthropology, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, USA
| | - Kelly J Knudson
- Center for Bioarchaeological Research, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | - Christopher J Knüsel
- Préhistoire à l'Actuel: Culture, Environnement et Anthropologie, University of Bordeaux, CNRS, MC, PACEA, UMR5199, F-33615, Pessac, France
| | | | - Debra L Martin
- Department of Anthropology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
| | - George R Milner
- Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Mario Novak
- Center for Applied Bioanthropology, Institute for Anthropological Research, Zagreb, Croatia
| | - Kenneth C Nystrom
- Department of Anthropology, State University of New York at New Paltz, New Paltz, New York, USA
| | | | - Tracy L Prowse
- Department of Anthropology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
| | - Gwen Robbins Schug
- Environmental Health Program, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, North Carolina, USA
| | | | - Jessica E Rothwell
- Center for Bioarchaeological Research, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | - Ana Luisa Santos
- Research Centre for Anthropology and Health (CIAS), Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
| | - Christopher Stojanowski
- Center for Bioarchaeological Research, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | - Anne C Stone
- Center for Bioarchaeological Research, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | - Kyra E Stull
- Department of Anthropology, University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, Nevada, USA
| | - Daniel H Temple
- Department of Sociology and Anthropology, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, USA
| | - Christina M Torres
- Department of Anthropology and Heritage Studies, University of California, Merced, USA, and Instituto de Arqueología y Antropología, Universidad Católica del Norte, Antofagasta, Chile
| | - J Marla Toyne
- Department of Anthropology, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, USA
| | - Tiffiny A Tung
- Department of Anthropology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
| | - Jaime Ullinger
- Bioanthropology Research Institute, Quinnipiac University, Hamden, Connecticut, USA
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Kirkland K, Crimston CR, Jetten J, Rudnev M, Acevedo-Triana C, Amiot CE, Ausmees L, Baguma P, Barry O, Becker M, Bilewicz M, Boonyasiriwat W, Castelain T, Costantini G, Dimdins G, Espinosa A, Finchilescu G, Fischer R, Friese M, Gastardo-Conaco MC, Gómez Á, González R, Goto N, Halama P, Jiga-Boy GM, Kuppens P, Loughnan S, Markovik M, Mastor KA, McLatchie N, Novak LM, Onyekachi BN, Peker M, Rizwan M, Schaller M, Suh EM, Talaifar S, Tong EMW, Torres A, Turner RN, Van Lange PAM, Vauclair CM, Vinogradov A, Wang Z, Yeung VWL, Bastian B. Moral Expansiveness Around the World: The Role of Societal Factors Across 36 Countries. SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PERSONALITY SCIENCE 2022. [DOI: 10.1177/19485506221101767] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
What are the things that we think matter morally, and how do societal factors influence this? To date, research has explored several individual-level and historical factors that influence the size of our ‘moral circles.' There has, however, been less attention focused on which societal factors play a role. We present the first multi-national exploration of moral expansiveness—that is, the size of people’s moral circles across countries. We found low generalized trust, greater perceptions of a breakdown in the social fabric of society, and greater perceived economic inequality were associated with smaller moral circles. Generalized trust also helped explain the effects of perceived inequality on lower levels of moral inclusiveness. Other inequality indicators (i.e., Gini coefficients) were, however, unrelated to moral expansiveness. These findings suggest that societal factors, especially those associated with generalized trust, may influence the size of our moral circles.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Ángel Gómez
- Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), Madrid, Spain
| | | | | | - Peter Halama
- Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Mark Schaller
- The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | | | | | | | - Ana Torres
- Universidade Federal da Paraíba, João Pessoa, Brazil
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11
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Konner M. Is History the Same as Evolution? No. Is it Independent of Evolution? Certainly Not. EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY 2022; 20:14747049211069137. [PMID: 35253457 PMCID: PMC10523472 DOI: 10.1177/14747049211069137] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2021] [Revised: 12/08/2021] [Accepted: 12/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
History is full of violence and oppression within and between groups, and although group conflicts enhance within-group cooperation (mediated by oxytocin, which promotes parochial altruism) the hierarchy within groups ensures that spoils accrue very unevenly. Darwin suggested, and we now know, that sexual selection is as powerful as selection by mortality, and the main purpose of survival is reproduction. Male reproductive skew is greater than that among females in all societies, but the difference became much greater after the hunting-gathering era, and the rise of so-called "civilization" was everywhere a process of predatory expansion, producing kingdoms and empires where top males achieved astounding heights of reproductive success. This was shown by historical and ethnographic data now strongly confirmed by genomic science. Psychological research confirms that group identity, out-group stigmatization, leadership characterized by charisma, the will to power, narcissism, sociopathy, and cruelty, and followership characterized by hypnotic obedience, loss of individuality, and cruelty are integral parts of human nature. We can thank at least ten or twelve millennia of microevolutionary processes such as those described above, all more prominent in males than females. Followers in wars have faced a difficult risk-benefit analysis, but if they survived and won they too could increase their reproductive success through the rape and other sexual exploitation that have accompanied almost all wars. For modern leaders, social monogamy and contraception have separated autocracy from reproductive success, but only partly, and current worldwide autocratic trends still depend on the evolved will to power, obedience, and cruelty.
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Affiliation(s)
- Melvin Konner
- Department of Anthropology, Program in Neuroscience & Behavioral Biology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
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12
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Lin KY, Schank JC. Small group size promotes more egalitarian societies as modeled by the hawk-dove game. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0279545. [PMID: 36574418 PMCID: PMC9794044 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0279545] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2022] [Accepted: 12/09/2022] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
The social organization of groups varies greatly across primate species, ranging from egalitarian to despotic. Moreover, the typical or average size of groups varies greatly across primate species. Yet we know little about how group size affects social organization across primate species. Here we used the hawk-dove game (HDG) to model the evolution of social organization as a function of maximum group size and used the evolved frequency of hawks as a measure of egalitarian/despotism in societies. That is, the lower the frequency of hawks, the more egalitarian a society is, and the higher the frequency of hawks, the more despotic it is. To do this, we built an agent-based model in which agents live in groups and play the HDG with fellow group members to obtain resources to reproduce offspring. Offspring inherit the strategy of their parent (hawk or dove) with a low mutation rate. When groups reach a specified maximum size, they are randomly divided into two groups. We show that the evolved frequency of hawks is dramatically lower for relatively small maximum group sizes than predicted analytically for the HDG. We discuss the relevance of group size for understanding and modeling primate social systems, including the transition from hunter-gather societies to agricultural societies of the Neolithic era. We conclude that group size should be included in our theoretical understanding of the organization of primate social systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kai-Yin Lin
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States of America
| | - Jeffrey C. Schank
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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13
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Janković I, Balen J, Potrebica H, Ahern JCM, Novak M. Mass violence in Copper Age Europe: The massacre burial site from Potočani, Croatia. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2021; 176:474-485. [PMID: 34418068 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.24396] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2020] [Revised: 07/19/2021] [Accepted: 08/02/2021] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES To provide a comprehensive analysis of perimortem cranial injuries found on human remains from the Eneolithic (ca. 4200 BCE) mass grave discovered at Potočani, Croatia, to test if the assemblage is a result of a deliberate violent episode on a massive scale. MATERIALS AND METHODS Standard bioarchaeological analysis, including inventory of the preserved elements, minimum number of individuals, sex determination, age at death, as well as pattern and distribution of trauma, was recorded. RESULTS A minimum of 41 people are present in the sample. Both sexes and almost all age groups are represented, with a prevalence of children and young adults. Four blunt force antemortem injuries are registered in three adult males and one subadult while perimortem injuries are recorded on 13 crania with a total of 28 injuries. The distribution of perimortem injuries is not patterned with age, sex, or siding, and their location is on lateral, posterior, or superior parts of the crania. No "defensive wounds" or other type of injuries are observed on postcranial elements. DISCUSSION The injuries, manner of disposal of the bodies, radiocarbon dates, and other available data strongly suggest that the Potočani sample represents a single episode of execution during which the Potočani people were unable to defend themselves. The Potočani massacre is the oldest such example in southeastern Europe and provides additional evidence that indiscriminate violence on a massive scale is not a product of modern societies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ivor Janković
- Centre for Applied Bioanthropology, Institute for Anthropological Research, Zagreb, Croatia.,Department of Anthropology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, USA
| | - Jacqueline Balen
- Prehistoric Department, Archaeological Museum in Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
| | - Hrvoje Potrebica
- Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
| | - James C M Ahern
- Department of Anthropology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, USA
| | - Mario Novak
- Centre for Applied Bioanthropology, Institute for Anthropological Research, Zagreb, Croatia
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14
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Colleter R, Bataille CP, Dabernat H, Pichot D, Hamon P, Duchesne S, Labaune-Jean F, Jean S, Le Cloirec G, Milano S, Trost M, Steinbrenner S, Marchal M, Guilbeau-Frugier C, Telmon N, Crubézy É, Jaouen K. The last battle of Anne of Brittany: Solving mass grave through an interdisciplinary approach (paleopathology, biological anthropology, history, multiple isotopes and radiocarbon dating). PLoS One 2021; 16:e0248086. [PMID: 33951047 PMCID: PMC8099129 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0248086] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2021] [Accepted: 04/06/2021] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Mass graves are usually key historical markers with strong incentive for archeological investigations. The identification of individuals buried in mass graves has long benefitted from traditional historical, archaeological, anthropological and paleopathological techniques. The addition of novel methods including genetic, genomic and isotopic geochemistry have renewed interest in solving unidentified mass graves. In this study, we demonstrate that the combined use of these techniques allows the identification of the individuals found in two Breton historical mass graves, where one method alone would not have revealed the importance of this discovery. The skeletons likely belong to soldiers from the two enemy armies who fought during a major event of Breton history: the siege of Rennes in 1491, which ended by the wedding of the Duchess of Brittany with the King of France and signaled the end of the independence of the region. Our study highlights the value of interdisciplinary approaches with a particular emphasis on increasingly accurate isotopic markers. The development of the sulfur isoscape and testing of the triple isotope geographic assignment are detailed in a companion paper [13].
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Affiliation(s)
- Rozenn Colleter
- INRAP (Institut National de Recherches Archéologiques Préventives), Cesson-Sévigné, France
- CNRS, CAGT, UMR 5288, Université Paul Sabatier, 31000, Toulouse, France
| | - Clément P. Bataille
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada
- Department of Biology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada
| | - Henri Dabernat
- CNRS, CAGT, UMR 5288, Université Paul Sabatier, 31000, Toulouse, France
| | | | | | - Sylvie Duchesne
- INRAP (Institut National de Recherches Archéologiques Préventives), Cesson-Sévigné, France
- CNRS, CAGT, UMR 5288, Université Paul Sabatier, 31000, Toulouse, France
| | - Françoise Labaune-Jean
- INRAP (Institut National de Recherches Archéologiques Préventives), Cesson-Sévigné, France
- CNRS, CReAAH, UMR 6566, Rennes, France
| | - Stéphane Jean
- INRAP (Institut National de Recherches Archéologiques Préventives), Cesson-Sévigné, France
| | - Gaétan Le Cloirec
- INRAP (Institut National de Recherches Archéologiques Préventives), Cesson-Sévigné, France
- CNRS, CReAAH, UMR 6566, Rennes, France
| | - Stefania Milano
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Department of Human Evolution, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Manuel Trost
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Department of Human Evolution, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Sven Steinbrenner
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Department of Human Evolution, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Marine Marchal
- CNRS, CAGT, UMR 5288, Université Paul Sabatier, 31000, Toulouse, France
| | - Céline Guilbeau-Frugier
- I2MC, Université de Toulouse, INSERM U1048, 31432, Toulouse, France
- Department of Forensic Medicine, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Toulouse, Université de Toulouse, Toulouse, France
- Faculté de Médecine Rangueil, CMEAB, Université de Toulouse, Toulouse, France
| | - Norbert Telmon
- CNRS, CAGT, UMR 5288, Université Paul Sabatier, 31000, Toulouse, France
- Department of Forensic Medicine, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Toulouse, Université de Toulouse, Toulouse, France
| | - Éric Crubézy
- CNRS, CAGT, UMR 5288, Université Paul Sabatier, 31000, Toulouse, France
| | - Klervia Jaouen
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Department of Human Evolution, Leipzig, Germany
- CNRS, GET UMR 5563, Observatoire Midi Pyrénées, Toulouse, France
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15
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Masclans A, Hamon C, Jeunesse C, Bickle P. A sexual division of labour at the start of agriculture? A multi-proxy comparison through grave good stone tool technological and use-wear analysis. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0249130. [PMID: 33852570 PMCID: PMC8046253 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0249130] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2020] [Accepted: 03/11/2021] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
This work demonstrates the importance of integrating sexual division of labour into the research of the transition to the Neolithic and its social implications. During the spread of the Neolithic in Europe, when migration led to the dispersal of domesticated plants and animals, novel tasks and tools, appear in the archaeological record. By examining the use-wear traces from over 400 stone tools from funerary contexts of the earliest Neolithic in central Europe we provide insights into what tasks could have been carried out by women and men. The results of this analysis are then examined for statistically significant correlations with the osteological, isotopic and other grave good data, informing on sexed-based differences in diet, mobility and symbolism. Our data demonstrate males were buried with stone tools used for woodwork, and butchery, hunting or interpersonal violence, while women with those for the working of animal skins, expanding the range of tasks known to have been carried out. The results also show variation along an east-west cline from Slovakia to eastern France, suggesting that the sexual division of labour (or at least its representation in death) changed as farming spread westwards.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alba Masclans
- Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, Institució Milà i Fontanals, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Barcelona, Spain
- * E-mail:
| | - Caroline Hamon
- UMR 8215 Trajectoires, French National Centre for Scientific Research, Nanterre, France
| | | | - Penny Bickle
- Department of Archaeology, University of York, York, United Kingdom
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16
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Dyble M. The evolution of altruism through war is highly sensitive to population structure and to civilian and fighter mortality. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:e2011142118. [PMID: 33836563 PMCID: PMC7980410 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2011142118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The importance of warfare in the evolution of human social behavior remains highly debated. One hypothesis is that intense warfare between groups favored altruism within groups, a hypothesis given some support by computational modeling and, in particular, the work of Choi and Bowles [J.-K. Choi, S. Bowles, Science 318, 636-640 (2007)]. The results of computational models are, however, sensitive to chosen parameter values and a deeper assessment of the plausibility of the parochial altruism hypothesis requires exploring this model in more detail. Here, I use a recently developed method to reexamine Choi and Bowles' model under a much broader range of conditions to those used in the original paper. Although the evolution of altruism is robust to perturbations in most of the default parameters, it is highly sensitive to group size and migration and to the lethality of war. The results show that the degree of genetic differentiation between groups (FST ) produced by Choi and Bowles' original model is much greater than empirical estimates of FST between hunter-gatherer groups. When FST in the model is close to empirically observed values, altruism does not evolve. These results cast doubt on the importance of war in the evolution of human sociality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark Dyble
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, WC1H 0BW London, United Kingdom
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17
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Novak M, Olalde I, Ringbauer H, Rohland N, Ahern J, Balen J, Janković I, Potrebica H, Pinhasi R, Reich D. Genome-wide analysis of nearly all the victims of a 6200 year old massacre. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0247332. [PMID: 33690651 PMCID: PMC7946188 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0247332] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2020] [Accepted: 02/04/2021] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Paleogenomic and bioanthropological studies of ancient massacres have highlighted sites where the victims were male and plausibly died all in battle, or were executed members of the same family as might be expected from a killing intentionally directed at subsets of a community, or where the massacred individuals were plausibly members of a migrant community in conflict with previously established groups, or where there was evidence that the killing was part of a religious ritual. Here we provide evidence of killing on a massive scale in prehistory that was not directed to a specific family, based on genome-wide ancient DNA for 38 of the 41 documented victims of a 6,200 year old massacre in Potočani, Croatia and combining our results with bioanthropological data. We highlight three results: (i) the majority of individuals were unrelated and instead were a sample of what was clearly a large farming population, (ii) the ancestry of the individuals was homogenous which makes it unlikely that the massacre was linked to the arrival of new genetic ancestry, and (iii) there were approximately equal numbers of males and females. Combined with the bioanthropological evidence that the victims were of a wide range of ages, these results show that large-scale indiscriminate killing is a horror that is not just a feature of the modern and historic periods, but was also a significant process in pre-state societies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mario Novak
- Centre for Applied Bioanthropology, Institute for Anthropological Research, Zagreb, Croatia
- * E-mail: (MN); (RP); (DR)
| | - Iñigo Olalde
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology, CSIC - Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Harald Ringbauer
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Nadin Rohland
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - James Ahern
- Department of Anthropology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, United States of America
| | | | - Ivor Janković
- Centre for Applied Bioanthropology, Institute for Anthropological Research, Zagreb, Croatia
- Department of Anthropology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, United States of America
| | - Hrvoje Potrebica
- Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
| | - Ron Pinhasi
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
- * E-mail: (MN); (RP); (DR)
| | - David Reich
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
- * E-mail: (MN); (RP); (DR)
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18
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Moreno-Ibáñez MÁ, Saladié P, Morales JI, Cebrià A, Fullola JM. Was it an axe or an adze? A cranial trauma case study from the Late Neolithic - Chalcolithic site of Cova Foradada (Calafell, Spain). INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PALEOPATHOLOGY 2021; 32:23-30. [PMID: 33276204 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpp.2020.11.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2020] [Revised: 11/03/2020] [Accepted: 11/17/2020] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To reconstruct the etiology of a perimortem injury observed on a Neolithic - Chalcolithic cranium (5060 - 4400 yrs cal. BP). MATERIALS A cranium of an old adult male individual belonging to a collective burial from Cova Foradada site (Calafell, Tarragona, Spain). METHODS The cranium was analyzed macroscopically and microscopically using micro-CT scan. RESULTS The fracture on the right parietal bone presents characteristics of perimortem trauma. The morphology of the point of impact allows for the interpretation of this fracture as a result of impact by an object with a straight and sharp edge. In addition, the same cranium presents two healed antemortem injuries. CONCLUSIONS The object that most likely caused the cranial fracture was a stone adze. The blow occurred from behind the individual, possibly by a right-handed attacker. SIGNIFICANCE The potential to link cranial fractures with specific tools increases our understanding of interpersonal violence during the Neolithic. LIMITATIONS It is not possible to infer if this cranial injury was related to a large-scale intergroup confrontation or an intragroup violent event. SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH To investigate additional similar sites in the northeastern Iberian Peninsula to better characterize the fracture pattern caused by stone axes and adzes as well as other objects used as weapons during the Neolithic - Chalcolithic ages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miguel Ángel Moreno-Ibáñez
- Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES), Zona Educacional, 4 (Edifici W3), Campus Sescelades, 43007, Tarragona, Spain; Àrea de Prehistòria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), Avinguda de Catalunya, 35, 43002, Tarragona, Spain.
| | - Palmira Saladié
- Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES), Zona Educacional, 4 (Edifici W3), Campus Sescelades, 43007, Tarragona, Spain; Àrea de Prehistòria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), Avinguda de Catalunya, 35, 43002, Tarragona, Spain; Unit Associated to CSIC, Departamento de Paleobiología. Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, C/ José Gutierrez Abascal, 2, 28006, Madrid, Spain.
| | - Juan I Morales
- SERP, Departament d'Historia i Arqueologia, Universitat de Barcelona. C/ Montealegre 6-8 (Edifici Raval), 08001, Barcelona, Spain.
| | - Artur Cebrià
- SERP, Departament d'Historia i Arqueologia, Universitat de Barcelona. C/ Montealegre 6-8 (Edifici Raval), 08001, Barcelona, Spain.
| | - Josep Maria Fullola
- SERP, Departament d'Historia i Arqueologia, Universitat de Barcelona. C/ Montealegre 6-8 (Edifici Raval), 08001, Barcelona, Spain.
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19
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Milella M, Caspari G, Kapinus Y, Sadykov T, Blochin J, Malyutina A, Keller M, Schlager S, Szidat S, Alterauge A, Lösch S. Troubles in Tuva: Patterns of perimortem trauma in a nomadic community from Southern Siberia (second to fourth c. CE). AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2020; 174:3-19. [PMID: 32935864 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.24142] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2020] [Revised: 07/13/2020] [Accepted: 08/11/2020] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Warfare is assumed to be one of the defining cultural characteristics of steppe nomads in Eastern Eurasia. For the first-centuries CE, a period of political turmoil in Northern China and Southern Siberia, relatively few data are, however, available about the degree and variability of violence in these communities. Here, we provide new data on violence among steppe nomads during the first-centuries CE by analyzing the type, anatomical distribution, and demographic distribution of perimortem trauma at Tunnug1 (Tuva, Southern Siberia-second to fourth c. CE). MATERIALS AND METHODS Perimortem traumas were assessed on 87 individuals representing both sexes and different age classes. The timing of the lesions was assessed based on morphological criteria, including the absence and presence of bone reactive processes and the relative plasticity of the bone at the moment of impact. The distribution by age, sex, and anatomical location of trauma was analyzed by means of logistic models, Fisher's exact tests, and 3D visualizations. RESULTS A total of 130 perimortem traumas, including chop marks, slice marks, penetrating lesions, and blunt traumas were identified on 22 individuals. Chop marks were mostly at the level of the skull and vertebrae and were likely caused by bladed weapons. Slice marks were found on the cervical vertebrae and cranium and may be the result of throat slitting and scalping by means of smaller bladed implements. Traumas were more frequent in males, and their presence is not correlated with age. DISCUSSION This study adds new data to the few available regarding violence among steppe nomadic cultures and provides new insights about the effects of political instability on the life of the people inhabiting Eastern Eurasia during the early centuries CE.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marco Milella
- Department of Physical Anthropology, Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Gino Caspari
- Department of Archaeology, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.,Institute of Archaeological Sciences, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Yulija Kapinus
- Volga-Ural Center for Paleoanthropological Research SSSPU, Samara, Russia
| | - Timur Sadykov
- Institute for the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia
| | - Jegor Blochin
- Institute for the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia
| | - Anna Malyutina
- Institute for the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia
| | - Marcel Keller
- Estonian Biocentre, Institute of Genomics, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
| | - Stefan Schlager
- Biological Anthropology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Sönke Szidat
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.,Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research (OCCR), University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Amelie Alterauge
- Department of Physical Anthropology, Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Sandra Lösch
- Department of Physical Anthropology, Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
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20
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Varalli A, Villotte S, Dori I, Sparacello V. New Insights into Activity-Related Functional Bone Adaptations and Alterations in Neolithic Liguria (Northwestern Italy). ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2020. [DOI: 10.3166/bmsap-2020-0072] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
This study offers a combined analysis of longbone mechanical properties (cross-sectional geometry, CSG), upper-limb enthesopathies (entheseal changes, ECs), and external auditory exostoses (EAEs) among Neolithic people from Liguria (Italy). Previous CSG studies have suggested a high degree of mobility in mountainous terrain and sexual dimorphism in the upper limbs, with males being more oriented toward unimanual activities and females performing strenuous bimanual tasks. The aims of the study were to: 1) increase the sample size of the CSG analysis via the acquisition of surface 3D models, 2) provide a solid chronological framework through direct dating in order to allow for subsampling of individuals dated to the Impresso-Cardial Complex (ICC, c. 5800–5000 BCE) and the Square-Mouthed Pottery culture (c. 5000–4300 BCE), 3) integrate the results of CSG analysis with information on ECs of the humeral epicondyles, and 4) assess possible marine activities through analysis of EAEs. Results from the CSG analysis confirmed those of previous studies, with no significant diachronic change. ECs in the humeral medial epicondyle parallelled CSG adaptations: males tended to display more changes, especially unilaterally. Only one individual from the ICC period showed bilateral EAE, suggesting that marine activities were not prevalent. This study adds to our knowledge on activity patterns in the Neolithic in Liguria, and shows that integrating structural adaptations with information from specific entheseal alterations and exostoses can improve reconstructions of past habitual activities.
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Janković I, Marijanović B, Čavka M, Carić M, Novak M. A case of probable interpersonal violence from the Early Neolithic site at Smilčić, Croatia. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF OSTEOARCHAEOLOGY 2020; 30:395-400. [DOI: 10.1002/oa.2859] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2019] [Accepted: 01/23/2020] [Indexed: 09/02/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Ivor Janković
- Laboratory for Evolutionary Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Institute for Anthropological Research Zagreb Croatia
| | | | - Mislav Čavka
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology University Hospital Centre Zagreb Zagreb Croatia
- Social Medicine and Organisation of Healthcare, School of Medicine University of Zagreb Zagreb Croatia
| | - Mario Carić
- Laboratory for Evolutionary Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Institute for Anthropological Research Zagreb Croatia
| | - Mario Novak
- Laboratory for Evolutionary Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Institute for Anthropological Research Zagreb Croatia
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Orellana-González E, Sparacello VS, Bocaege E, Varalli A, Moggi-Cecchi J, Dori I. Insights on patterns of developmental disturbances from the analysis of linear enamel hypoplasia in a Neolithic sample from Liguria (northwestern Italy). INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PALEOPATHOLOGY 2020; 28:123-136. [PMID: 31901428 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpp.2019.12.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2019] [Revised: 12/11/2019] [Accepted: 12/15/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To assess developmental disturbances through the analysis of linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH) frequency and to infer environmental stress and life history within Neolithic communities from Liguria (Italy). MATERIALS 43 unworn/minimally worn permanent anterior teeth of 13 individuals recovered from nearby caves and dated to c. 4800-4400 cal. BCE. METHODS LEH defects were identified with high-resolution macrophotos of dental replicas, age at LEH was calculated via perikymata counts. LEH defects matched between two or more teeth were considered as systemic disturbances. LEH frequency by age classes was analyzed via GLZ and Friedman ANOVA. RESULTS Number of matched defects per individual range between 2-12. The mean LEH per individual was highest in the 2.5-2.99 age category, with a significant increase relative to earlier growth stages, followed by a decline. CONCLUSION LEH may reflect life-history in the local ecology of Neolithic Liguria, where several individuals with osteoarticular tuberculosis have been recorded. Disease burden may have triggered developmental disturbances around the time of weaning. Age at first defect was negatively correlated with age at death and positively with the total number of defects, suggesting that early stress may have affected survivorship. SIGNIFICANCE The study contributes to the reconstruction of ecological pressures among Neolithic people of Liguria, and informs on environmental challenges during the Neolithic adaptive expansion. LIMITATIONS The visual examination of macrophotos is prone to observer error; mid-crown tends to display more visible LEH due to tooth architecture. SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH Apply different quantitative methods to examine severity and duration of disturbances.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Emmy Bocaege
- Skeletal Biology Research Centre, School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK
| | - Alessandra Varalli
- Univ. Bordeaux, CNRS, MC, PACEA, UMR 5199, 33615 Pessac, France; Department of Archaeology, Durham University, UK
| | - Jacopo Moggi-Cecchi
- Department of Biology, Laboratory of Anthropology, University of Florence, via del Proconsolo 12, 50122 Florence, Italy
| | - Irene Dori
- Univ. Bordeaux, CNRS, MC, PACEA, UMR 5199, 33615 Pessac, France; Department of Biology, Laboratory of Anthropology, University of Florence, via del Proconsolo 12, 50122 Florence, Italy; Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio per le province di Verona, Rovigo e Vicenza, Piazza S. Fermo 3, 37121 Verona, Italy.
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23
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Alt KW, Tejedor Rodríguez C, Nicklisch N, Roth D, Szécsényi Nagy A, Knipper C, Lindauer S, Held P, de Lagrán ÍGM, Schulz G, Schuerch T, Thieringer F, Brantner P, Brandt G, Israel N, Arcusa Magallón H, Meyer C, Mende BG, Enzmann F, Dresely V, Ramsthaler F, Guillén JIR, Scheurer E, López Montalvo E, Garrido Pena R, Pichler SL, Guerra MAR. A massacre of early Neolithic farmers in the high Pyrenees at Els Trocs, Spain. Sci Rep 2020; 10:2131. [PMID: 32034181 PMCID: PMC7005801 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-58483-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/18/2019] [Accepted: 01/14/2020] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Violence seems deeply rooted in human nature and an endemic potential for such is today frequently associated with differing ethnic, religious or socio-economic backgrounds. Ethnic nepotism is believed to be one of the main causes of inter-group violence in multi-ethnic societies. At the site of Els Trocs in the Spanish Pyrenees, rivalling groups of either migrating early farmers or farmers and indigenous hunter-gatherers collided violently around 5300 BCE. This clash apparently resulted in a massacre of the Els Trocs farmers. The overkill reaction was possibly triggered by xenophobia or massive disputes over resources or privileges. In the present, violence and xenophobia are controlled and sanctioned through social codes of conduct and institutions. So that, rather than representing an insurmountable evolutionary inheritance, violence and ethnic nepotism can be overcome and a sustainable future achieved through mutual respect, tolerance and openness to multi-ethnic societies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kurt W Alt
- Center of Natural and Cultural Human History, Danube Private University, Krems, Austria. .,Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland. .,Integrative Prehistory and Archaeological Science, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
| | - Cristina Tejedor Rodríguez
- Juan de la Cierva-Formación Programme. Institute of Heritage Sciences, Spanish National Research Council (Incpit-CSIC) Spain, Valladolid, Spain
| | - Nicole Nicklisch
- Center of Natural and Cultural Human History, Danube Private University, Krems, Austria.,State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology, Halle State Museum of Prehistory, Halle, Germany
| | - David Roth
- Integrative Prehistory and Archaeological Science, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Anna Szécsényi Nagy
- Institute of Archaeology, Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Corina Knipper
- Curt-Engelhorn-Zentrum Archaeometrie gGmbH, Mannheim, Germany
| | | | - Petra Held
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Íñigo García Martínez de Lagrán
- Juan de la Cierva-Incorporación Programme, Department of Prehistory and Archaeology, Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, University of Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain
| | - Georg Schulz
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Thomas Schuerch
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Florian Thieringer
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Philipp Brantner
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Guido Brandt
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Nicole Israel
- Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute for Medical Microbiology, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
| | | | - Christian Meyer
- OsteoARC - OsteoArchaeological Research Center, Goslar, Germany
| | - Balazs G Mende
- Institute of Archaeology, Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Frieder Enzmann
- Computer Tomography Lab of the Institute of Hydrogeochemistry, University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Veit Dresely
- State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology, Halle State Museum of Prehistory, Halle, Germany
| | - Frank Ramsthaler
- Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Saarland, Homburg, Germany
| | | | - Eva Scheurer
- Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Esther López Montalvo
- Chargée de recherche CNRS, Laboratoire TRACES UMR 5608, Université de Toulouse II-Jean Jaurès, Toulouse, France
| | - Rafael Garrido Pena
- Department of Prehistory and Archaeology, Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, Atonomous University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Sandra L Pichler
- Integrative Prehistory and Archaeological Science, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Manuel A Rojo Guerra
- Department of Prehistory and Archaeology, Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, Valladolid University, Valladolid, Spain
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Sánchez-Barba Muñoz LP, Vijande Vila E, Rubio Salvador Á, Alemán Aguilera I, Díaz-Zorita Bonilla M, Moreno Márquez A, Domínguez-Bella S, Ramos Muñoz J, Botella López MC. Possible interpersonal violence in the Neolithic necropolis of Campo de Hockey (San Fernando, Cádiz, Spain). INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PALEOPATHOLOGY 2019; 27:38-45. [PMID: 31557721 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpp.2019.08.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2018] [Revised: 08/21/2019] [Accepted: 08/22/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To interpret traumatic cranial lesions on two individuals buried at the Neolithic necropolis of Campo de Hockey, Spain. MATERIALS Skeletal remains and grave goods associated with two individuals recovered in good condition from a single grave. METHODS Crania were macroscopically and radiographically analysed. RESULTS Of all the individuals recovered from this site, only two present perimortem skull injuries. Fractures were located on the right side of the skulls, one on the frontal bone and the other on the parietal bone. CONCLUSIONS The individuals present signs of interpersonal violence. In both cases, the injuries are perimortem and may have contributed to the deaths of the individuals. SIGNIFICANCE The identification of interpersonal violence in the two individuals buried in the tomb, alongside the archaeological context of the burials, provides unique insight into Neolithic burial practices in the Iberian Peninsula and the role that paleopathology can play in the recognition of social complexity. LIMITATIONS The skeletal remains of the two individuals were fragmented, rendering the identification of perimortem lesions difficult. SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH New imaging techniques, including CT-scan, will provide more detailed analyses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lydia P Sánchez-Barba Muñoz
- Laboratory of Anthropology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Granada, Av. de la Investigación 11, 18016 Granada, Spain.
| | - Eduardo Vijande Vila
- Area of Prehistory, Faculty of Letters, University of Cádiz, Av. Doctor Gómez Ulla s/n, 11001 Cádiz, Spain.
| | - Ángel Rubio Salvador
- Laboratory of Anthropology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Granada, Av. de la Investigación 11, 18016 Granada, Spain.
| | - Inmaculada Alemán Aguilera
- Laboratory of Anthropology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Granada, Av. de la Investigación 11, 18016 Granada, Spain.
| | - Marta Díaz-Zorita Bonilla
- Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte und Archäologie des Mittelalters, University of Tübingen, Germany.
| | - Adolfo Moreno Márquez
- Area of Prehistory, Faculty of Letters, University of Cádiz, Av. Doctor Gómez Ulla s/n, 11001 Cádiz, Spain.
| | - Salvador Domínguez-Bella
- Unit of Geoarchaeology and Archaeometry Applied to the Historic-Artistic and Monumental Heritage (UGEA-PHAM), Department of Earth Science, Faculty of Sciences, University of Cádiz, Av. República Árabe Saharaui s/n, Puerto Real, 11510 Cádiz, Spain.
| | - José Ramos Muñoz
- Area of Prehistory, Faculty of Letters, University of Cádiz, Av. Doctor Gómez Ulla s/n, 11001 Cádiz, Spain.
| | - Miguel C Botella López
- Laboratory of Anthropology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Granada, Av. de la Investigación 11, 18016 Granada, Spain.
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Santana J, Rodríguez-Santos FJ, Camalich-Massieu MD, Martín-Socas D, Fregel R. Aggressive or funerary cannibalism? Skull-cup and human bone manipulation in Cueva de El Toro (Early Neolithic, southern Iberia). AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2019; 169:31-54. [PMID: 30802307 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.23805] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2018] [Revised: 02/05/2019] [Accepted: 02/06/2019] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE We analyze the processing sequence involved in the manufacture of a skull-cup and the manipulation of human bones from the Early Neolithic of Cueva de El Toro (Málaga, Spain). MATERIALS AND METHODS The Early Neolithic material studied includes human remains found in two separate assemblages. Assemblage A consists of one skull-cup, a non-manipulated adult human mandible, and four ceramic vessels. Assemblage B contains manipulated and non-manipulated human remains that appeared mingled with domestic waste. Using a taphonomic approach, we evaluate the skull-cup processing and the anthropogenic alteration of human bones. RESULTS The skull-cup was processed by careful paring away of skin, fragmentation of the facial skeleton and base of the skull, and controlled percussion of the edges of the calotte to achieve a regular shape. It was later boiled for some time in a container that caused pot polish in a specific area. The other human bones appeared scattered throughout the living area, mixed with other remains of domestic activity. Some of these bones show cut marks, percussion damage for marrow extraction, and tooth/chewing marks. DISCUSSION Evidence from Cueva de El Toro suggests that cannibalism was conducted in the domestic sphere, likely following ritualized practices where the skull-cup could have played a part. Interpretation of this evidence suggests two hypotheses: (a) aggressive cannibalism relates to extreme inter-group violence; and (b) funerary cannibalism is a facet of multi-stage burial practices. Similar evidence has been found in other Neolithic sites of this region and suggests that cannibalism and skull-cups were elements widespread in these communities. These practices may be linked to significant transformations associated with the end of the Early Neolithic in southern Iberia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan Santana
- Department of Archaeology, Durham University, Durham, United Kingdom
| | | | | | - Dimas Martín-Socas
- Departamento de Geografía e Historia. Área de Prehistoria, Universidad de La Laguna, San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Spain
| | - Rosa Fregel
- Departamento de Bioquímica, Microbiología, Biología Celular y Genética. Área de Genética, Universidad de La Laguna, San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Spain
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Kissel M, Kim NC. The emergence of human warfare: Current perspectives. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2018; 168 Suppl 67:141-163. [PMID: 30575025 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.23751] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2018] [Revised: 10/08/2018] [Accepted: 10/21/2018] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
The origins of warfare have long been of interest for researchers across disciplines. Did our earliest ancestors engage in forms of organized violence that are appropriately viewed as approximations, forms of, or analogs for more recent forms of warfare? Assessed in this article are contrasting views that see warfare as being either a product of more recent human societies or a phenomenon with a much deeper chronology. The article provides an overview of current debates, theories, and methodological approaches, citing literature and data from archaeological, ethnographic, genetic, primatological, and paleoanthropological studies. Synthetic anthropological treatments are needed, especially in efforts to inform debates among nonacademic audiences, because the discipline's approaches are ideally suited to study the origins of warfare. Emphasized is the need to consider possible forms of violence and intergroup aggression within Pleistocene contexts, despite the methodological challenges associated with fragmentary, equivocal, or scarce data. Finally, the review concludes with an argument about the implications of the currently available data. We propose that socially cooperative violence, or "emergent warfare," became possible with the onset of symbolic thought and complex cognition. Viewing emergent warfare as a byproduct of the human capacity for symbolic thought explains how the same capacities for communication and sociality allowed for elaborate peacemaking, conflict resolution, and avoidance. Cultural institutions around war and peace are both made possible by these changes. Accordingly, we suggest that studies on warfare's origins should be tied to research on the advent of cooperation, sociality, and communication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marc Kissel
- Department of Anthropology, Appalachian State University College of Arts and Sciences, Boone, North Carolina
| | - Nam C Kim
- Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin
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Fieder M, Huber S. Political Attitude and Fertility: Is There a Selection for the Political Extreme? Front Psychol 2018; 9:2343. [PMID: 30542312 PMCID: PMC6277747 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02343] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2018] [Accepted: 11/08/2018] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
There is growing evidence that human ideology as well as social and political attitudes also have a genetic basis. In case of some genetic predisposition of political attitude, an association with fertility would be a hint of potential selection on political ideology. We therefore investigated on the basis of men and women that have completed, respectively, almost completed reproduction, of three different data sets (the World Value Survey 1981-2014 covering a wide range of countries and developmental levels, n = 152,380, the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe of 2005, n = 65,912, and the General Social Survey of the United States 1972-2014, n ∼ 6200) whether political attitude is associated with number of children. Overall, in the world wide survey, both extreme political attitudes, albeit more pronounced for right/conservative than for left/liberal attitude, are associated with higher average offspring number compared to intermediate attitudes. If countries are analyzed separately, however, the picture is inconsistent, and in most countries, the association is non-significant. In the European and the US-survey, only the political right is associated with above average number of children. The time series of US data from 1972 to 2014 shows that at least in the US-sample, this pattern emerged during the 1990s: in the 1970s and 1980s, also in the US-sample both political extremes had a reproductive advantage, which vanished for left wing individuals during the 1990s. From an evolutionary perspective, we are not able to draw final conclusions as the association between political attitude and reproduction varies across countries and time. Nonetheless, the overall pattern suggests that in human evolutionary history, both left and right political attitudes may have conveyed fitness benefits so that both attitudes have been kept in the population.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martin Fieder
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
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Micheletti AJC, Ruxton GD, Gardner A. Why war is a man's game. Proc Biol Sci 2018; 285:rspb.2018.0975. [PMID: 30111597 PMCID: PMC6111185 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2018.0975] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2018] [Accepted: 07/20/2018] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Interest in the evolutionary origins and drivers of warfare in ancient and contemporary small-scale human societies has greatly increased in the last decade, and has been particularly spurred by exciting archaeological discoveries that suggest our ancestors led more violent lives than previously documented. However, the striking observation that warfare is an almost-exclusively male activity remains unexplained. Three general hypotheses have been proposed, concerning greater male effectiveness in warfare, lower male costs, and patrilocality. But while each of these factors might explain why warfare is more common in men, they do not convincingly explain why women almost never participate. Here, we develop a mathematical model to formally assess these hypotheses. Surprisingly, we find that exclusively male warfare may evolve even in the absence of any such sex differences, though sex biases in these parameters can make this evolutionary outcome more likely. The qualitative observation that participation in warfare is almost exclusive to one sex is ultimately explained by the fundamentally sex-specific nature of Darwinian competition—in fitness terms, men compete with men and women with women. These results reveal a potentially key role for ancestral conditions in shaping our species' patterns of sexual division of labour and violence-related adaptations and behavioural disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Graeme D Ruxton
- School of Biology, University of St Andrews, Dyers Brae, St Andrews KY16 9TH, UK
| | - Andy Gardner
- School of Biology, University of St Andrews, Dyers Brae, St Andrews KY16 9TH, UK
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Meyer C, Knipper C, Nicklisch N, Münster A, Kürbis O, Dresely V, Meller H, Alt KW. Early Neolithic executions indicated by clustered cranial trauma in the mass grave of Halberstadt. Nat Commun 2018; 9:2472. [PMID: 29941965 PMCID: PMC6018543 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-04773-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2016] [Accepted: 05/24/2018] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The later phase of the Central European Early Neolithic witnessed a rise in collective lethal violence to a level undocumented up to this date. This is evidenced by repeated massacres of settled communities of the Linearbandkeramik (ca. 5600–4900 cal bc), the first full farming culture in this area. Skeletal remains of several dozen victims of this prehistoric warfare are known from different sites in Germany and Austria. Here we show that the mass grave of Halberstadt, Germany, a new mass fatality site from the same period, reveals further and so far unknown facets of Early Neolithic collective lethal violence. A highly selected, almost exclusively adult male and non-local population sample was killed by targeted blows to the back of the head, indicating a practice of systematic execution under largely controlled conditions followed by careless disposal of the bodies. This discovery significantly increases current knowledge about warfare-related violent behaviour in Early Neolithic Central Europe. Prehistoric warfare and massacres of Linearbandkeramik (LBK) communities are evidenced by mass graves from the Early Neolithic of Central Europe. Here, Meyer et al. describe a newly discovered mass grave from Germany revealing the execution of a predominantly adult male group of non-local individuals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christian Meyer
- State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt/State Museum of Prehistory, Richard-Wagner-Str. 9, 06114, Halle (Saale), Germany. .,OsteoARC, OsteoArchaeological Research Center, Rammelsberger Str. 26, 38644, Goslar, Germany. .,Institute of Anthropology, University of Mainz, Saarstr. 21, 55099, Mainz, Germany.
| | - Corina Knipper
- Curt Engelhorn Centre Archaeometry gGmbH, D6 3, 68159, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Nicole Nicklisch
- State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt/State Museum of Prehistory, Richard-Wagner-Str. 9, 06114, Halle (Saale), Germany.,Center of Natural and Cultural Human History, Danube Private University, Steiner Landstr. 124, 3500, Krems, Austria
| | - Angelina Münster
- Institute of Anthropology, University of Mainz, Saarstr. 21, 55099, Mainz, Germany
| | - Olaf Kürbis
- State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt/State Museum of Prehistory, Richard-Wagner-Str. 9, 06114, Halle (Saale), Germany
| | - Veit Dresely
- State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt/State Museum of Prehistory, Richard-Wagner-Str. 9, 06114, Halle (Saale), Germany
| | - Harald Meller
- State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt/State Museum of Prehistory, Richard-Wagner-Str. 9, 06114, Halle (Saale), Germany
| | - Kurt W Alt
- State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt/State Museum of Prehistory, Richard-Wagner-Str. 9, 06114, Halle (Saale), Germany.,Center of Natural and Cultural Human History, Danube Private University, Steiner Landstr. 124, 3500, Krems, Austria.,Integrative Prehistory and Archaeological Science, University of Basel, Spalenring 145, 4055, Basel, Switzerland
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Borić D, Hanks B, Šljivar D, Kočić M, Bulatović J, Griffiths S, Doonan R, Jacanović D. Enclosing the Neolithic World: A Vinča Culture Enclosed and Fortified Settlement in the Balkans. CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY 2018. [DOI: 10.1086/697534] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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31
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Fernández-Crespo T, Schulting RJ, Ordoño J, Duering A, Etxeberria F, Herrasti L, Armendariz Á, Vegas JI, Bronk Ramsey C. New radiocarbon dating and demographic insights into San Juan ante Portam Latinam, a possible Late Neolithic war grave in North-Central Iberia. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2018. [PMID: 29543322 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.23465] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES San Juan ante Portam Latinam is one of a small number of European Neolithic sites meeting many of the archaeological criteria expected for a mass grave, and furthermore presents evidence for violent conflict. This study aims to differentiate between what is potentially a single episode of deposition, versus deposition over some centuries, or, alternatively, that resulting from a combination of catastrophic and attritional mortality. The criteria developed are intended to have wider applicability to other such proposed events. MATERIAL AND METHODS Ten new AMS 14 C determinations on human bone from the site, together with previously available dates, are analyzed through Bayesian modeling to refine the site's chronology. This is used together with the population's demographic profile as the basis for agent-based demographic modeling. RESULTS The new radiocarbon results, while improving the site's chronology, fail to resolve the question whether the burial represents a single event, or deposition over decades or centuries-primarily because the dates fall within the late fourth millennium BC plateau in the calibration curve. The demographic modeling indicates that the population's age and sex distribution fits neither a single catastrophic event nor a fully attritional mortality profile, but instead may partake of elements of both. DISCUSSION It is proposed that San Juan ante Portam Latinam was used as burial place for the mainly adolescent and adult male dead of a particular or multiple violent engagements (e.g., battles), while previously or subsequently seeing use for attritional burial by other members of one or more surrounding communities dead over the course of a few generations. The overall bias towards males, particularly to the extent that many may represent conflict mortality, has implications for the structure of the surviving community, the members of which may have experienced increased vulnerability in the face of neighboring aggressors.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Rick J Schulting
- School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3TG, United Kingdom
| | - Javier Ordoño
- Departamento de Geografía, Prehistoria y Arqueología, Universidad del País Vasco (UPV/EHU), Vitoria-Gasteiz 01006, Spain
| | - Andreas Duering
- School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3TG, United Kingdom
| | - Francisco Etxeberria
- Departamento de Medicina Legal y Forense, Universidad del País Vasco (UPV/EHU), Donostia-San Sebastián 20014, Spain.,Departamento de Antropología, Sociedad de Ciencias Aranzadi, Donostia-San Sebastián 20014, Spain
| | - Lourdes Herrasti
- Departamento de Antropología, Sociedad de Ciencias Aranzadi, Donostia-San Sebastián 20014, Spain
| | - Ángel Armendariz
- Instituto Internacional de Investigaciones Prehistóricas de Cantabria (IIIPC), Universidad de Cantabria, Santander 39005, Spain
| | - José I Vegas
- Instituto Alavés de Arqueología, Pedro de Asúa 2, Vitoria-Gasteiz 01008, Spain
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A model for warfare in stratified small-scale societies: The effect of within-group inequality. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0188970. [PMID: 29228014 PMCID: PMC5724843 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0188970] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2017] [Accepted: 11/16/2017] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
In order to predict the features of non-raiding human warfare in small-scale, socially stratified societies, we study a coalitionary model of war that assumes that individuals participate voluntarily because their decisions serve to maximize fitness. Individual males join the coalition if war results in a net economic and thus fitness benefit. Within the model, viable offensive war ensues if the attacking coalition of males can overpower the defending coalition. We assume that the two groups will eventually fuse after a victory, with ranks arranged according to the fighting abilities of all males and that the new group will adopt the winning group’s skew in fitness payoffs. We ask whether asymmetries in skew, group size and the amount of resources controlled by a group affect the likelihood of successful war. The model shows, other things being equal, that (i) egalitarian groups are more likely to defeat their more despotic enemies, even when these are stronger, (ii) defection to enemy groups will be rare, unless the attacked group is far more despotic than the attacking one, and (iii) genocidal war is likely under a variety of conditions, in particular when the group under attack is more egalitarian. This simple optimality model accords with several empirically observed correlations in human warfare. Its success underlines the important role of egalitarianism in warfare.
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Abstract
The proportions of individuals involved in intergroup coalitional conflict, measured by war group size (W), conflict casualties (C), and overall group conflict deaths (G), have declined with respect to growing populations, implying that states are less violent than small-scale societies. We argue that these trends are better explained by scaling laws shared by both past and contemporary societies regardless of social organization, where group population (P) directly determines W and indirectly determines C and G. W is shown to be a power law function of P with scaling exponent X [demographic conflict investment (DCI)]. C is shown to be a power law function of W with scaling exponent Y [conflict lethality (CL)]. G is shown to be a power law function of P with scaling exponent Z [group conflict mortality (GCM)]. Results show that, while W/P and G/P decrease as expected with increasing P, C/W increases with growing W. Small-scale societies show higher but more variance in DCI and CL than contemporary states. We find no significant differences in DCI or CL between small-scale societies and contemporary states undergoing drafts or conflict, after accounting for variance and scale. We calculate relative measures of DCI and CL applicable to all societies that can be tracked over time for one or multiple actors. In light of the recent global emergence of populist, nationalist, and sectarian violence, our comparison-focused approach to DCI and CL will enable better models and analysis of the landscapes of violence in the 21st century.
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Nicklisch N, Ramsthaler F, Meller H, Friederich S, Alt KW. The face of war: Trauma analysis of a mass grave from the Battle of Lützen (1632). PLoS One 2017; 12:e0178252. [PMID: 28542491 PMCID: PMC5439951 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0178252] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2016] [Accepted: 05/10/2017] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Contemporary accounts of battles are often incomplete or even erroneous because they reflect the—often biased—viewpoints of the authors. Battlefield archaeology faces the task of compiling an historical analysis of a battle and of gathering all the available facts. Besides cultural historical evidence and artefacts, the human remains of those who have fallen in battle also provide invaluable information. In studying mass graves from a military context, the injury types and patterns are significant. They allow us to reconstruct the circumstances surrounding the soldiers’ deaths and provide information on the hostilities that occurred on the battlefield. One such mass grave was discovered in 2011 at Lützen, Saxony-Anhalt (Germany). Based on its geographical location and on the results obtained from archaeological examinations carried out in the area, the grave could be dated to the Thirty Years War (1618–1648). Further archaeological research confirmed that the dead had been soldiers from the Battle of Lützen (1632). The mass grave was block-lifted and then comprehensively examined at the State Museum of Prehistory in Halle (Saale). As well as osteological examinations to determine age, sex, height, state of health, i.e. diseases or injuries, imaging methods were also employed and histological and isotopic analyses carried out. The focus of this study was on the injuries sustained by the soldiers both prior to and during the battle. The results revealed that the 47 deceased had been between the ages of 15 and 50 when they died. Numerous healed injuries showed that the men had often been involved in violent encounters. Approximately three in every four soldiers had injuries that could have been fatal. Wounds inflicted by handguns, particularly to the skull, were predominant. The integrative analysis of the archaeological and anthropological data allowed us to conclude that the majority had been killed during a cavalry attack.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicole Nicklisch
- State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt – State Museum of Prehistory, Halle (Saale), Germany
- Danube Private University, Krems-Stein, Austria
- * E-mail: ,
| | - Frank Ramsthaler
- Institute of Legal Medicine, Saarland University, Homburg (Saar), Germany
| | - Harald Meller
- State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt – State Museum of Prehistory, Halle (Saale), Germany
| | - Susanne Friederich
- State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt – State Museum of Prehistory, Halle (Saale), Germany
| | - Kurt W. Alt
- State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt – State Museum of Prehistory, Halle (Saale), Germany
- Danube Private University, Krems-Stein, Austria
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Large-scale effects of migration and conflict in pre-agricultural groups: Insights from a dynamic model. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0172262. [PMID: 28273114 PMCID: PMC5342208 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0172262] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2016] [Accepted: 02/02/2017] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
The debate on the causes of conflict in human societies has deep roots. In particular, the extent of conflict in hunter-gatherer groups remains unclear. Some authors suggest that large-scale violence only arose with the spreading of agriculture and the building of complex societies. To shed light on this issue, we developed a model based on operatorial techniques simulating population-resource dynamics within a two-dimensional lattice, with humans and natural resources interacting in each cell of the lattice. The model outcomes under different conditions were compared with recently available demographic data for prehistoric South America. Only under conditions that include migration among cells and conflict was the model able to consistently reproduce the empirical data at a continental scale. We argue that the interplay between resource competition, migration, and conflict drove the population dynamics of South America after the colonization phase and before the introduction of agriculture. The relation between population and resources indeed emerged as a key factor leading to migration and conflict once the carrying capacity of the environment has been reached.
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Palmstierna M, Frangou A, Wallette A, Dunbar R. Family counts: deciding when to murder among the Icelandic Vikings. EVOL HUM BEHAV 2017; 38:175-180. [PMID: 29333057 PMCID: PMC5754317 DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2016.09.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/02/2022]
Abstract
In small scale societies, lethal attacks on another individual usually invite revenge by the victim's family. We might expect those who perpetrate such attacks to do so only when their own support network (mainly family) is larger than that of the potential victim so as to minimise the risk of retaliation. Using data from Icelandic family sagas, we show that this prediction holds whether we consider biological kin or affinal kin (in-laws): on average, killers had twice as many relatives as their victims. These findings reinforce the importance of kin as a source of implicit protection even when they are not physically present. The results also support Hughes' (1988) claim that affines are biological kin because of the shared genetic interests they have in the offspring generation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Markel Palmstierna
- Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Oxford, 64 Banbury Rd, Oxford, OX3 6PN, UK
| | - Anna Frangou
- Department of Statistics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Anna Wallette
- Department of History, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Robin Dunbar
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, South Parks Rd, Oxford, OX1 3UD, UK
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Micheletti AJC, Ruxton GD, Gardner A. Intrafamily and intragenomic conflicts in human warfare. Proc Biol Sci 2017; 284:20162699. [PMID: 28228515 PMCID: PMC5326533 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2016.2699] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/06/2016] [Accepted: 01/30/2017] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Recent years have seen an explosion of multidisciplinary interest in ancient human warfare. Theory has emphasized a key role for kin-selected cooperation, modulated by sex-specific demography, in explaining intergroup violence. However, conflicts of interest remain a relatively underexplored factor in the evolutionary-ecological study of warfare, with little consideration given to which parties influence the decision to go to war and how their motivations may differ. We develop a mathematical model to investigate the interplay between sex-specific demography and human warfare, showing that: the ecology of warfare drives the evolution of sex-biased dispersal; sex-biased dispersal modulates intrafamily and intragenomic conflicts in relation to warfare; intragenomic conflict drives parent-of-origin-specific patterns of gene expression-i.e. 'genomic imprinting'-in relation to warfare phenotypes; and an ecological perspective of conflicts at the levels of the gene, individual, and social group yields novel predictions as to pathologies associated with mutations and epimutations at loci underpinning human violence.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Graeme D Ruxton
- School of Biology, University of St Andrews, Dyers Brae, St Andrews KY16 9TH, UK
| | - Andy Gardner
- School of Biology, University of St Andrews, Dyers Brae, St Andrews KY16 9TH, UK
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Denaire A, Lefranc P, Wahl J, Bronk Ramsey C, Dunbar E, Goslar T, Bayliss A, Beavan N, Bickle P, Whittle A. The Cultural Project: Formal Chronological Modelling of the Early and Middle Neolithic Sequence in Lower Alsace. JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL METHOD AND THEORY 2017; 24:1072-1149. [PMID: 29266111 PMCID: PMC5732602 DOI: 10.1007/s10816-016-9307-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
Abstract
Starting from questions about the nature of cultural diversity, this paper examines the pace and tempo of change and the relative importance of continuity and discontinuity. To unravel the cultural project of the past, we apply chronological modelling of radiocarbon dates within a Bayesian statistical framework, to interrogate the Neolithic cultural sequence in Lower Alsace, in the upper Rhine valley, in broad terms from the later sixth to the end of the fifth millennium cal BC. Detailed formal estimates are provided for the long succession of cultural groups, from the early Neolithic Linear Pottery culture (LBK) to the Bischheim Occidental du Rhin Supérieur (BORS) groups at the end of the Middle Neolithic, using seriation and typology of pottery as the starting point in modelling. The rate of ceramic change, as well as frequent shifts in the nature, location and density of settlements, are documented in detail, down to lifetime and generational timescales. This reveals a Neolithic world in Lower Alsace busy with comings and goings, tinkerings and adjustments, and relocations and realignments. A significant hiatus is identified between the end of the LBK and the start of the Hinkelstein group, in the early part of the fifth millennium cal BC. On the basis of modelling of existing dates for other parts of the Rhineland, this appears to be a wider phenomenon, and possible explanations are discussed; full reoccupation of the landscape is only seen in the Grossgartach phase. Radical shifts are also proposed at the end of the Middle Neolithic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anthony Denaire
- UMR 7044, Université de Strasbourg/ANTEA-Archéologie, 11 rue de Zurich, 68400 Habsheim, France
| | - Philippe Lefranc
- UMR 7044, Université de Strasbourg/INRAP, 10 rue d’Altkirch, 6700 Strasbourg, France
| | - Joachim Wahl
- State Office for Cultural Heritage Management Baden-Württemberg, Osteology, Stromeyersdorfstraße 3, 78467 Constance, Germany
| | - Christopher Bronk Ramsey
- Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, Dyson Perrins Building, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3QY UK
| | - Elaine Dunbar
- SUERC Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory, Scottish Enterprise Technology Park, Rankine Avenue, East Kilbride, G75 0QF UK
| | - Tomasz Goslar
- Poznań Radiocarbon Laboratory, Adam Mickiewicz University, Rubież 46, 61-612 Poznań, Poland
| | - Alex Bayliss
- Scientific Dating, Historic England, 1 Waterhouse Square, 138-42, Holborn, London EC1N 2ST UK
- University of Stirling, FK9 4LA Stirling, UK
| | - Nancy Beavan
- Department of Archaeology and Conservation, Cardiff University, John Percival Building, Colum Drive, Cardiff, CF10 3EU UK
| | - Penny Bickle
- Department of Archaeology, University of York, King’s Manor, York, Yo1 7EP UK
| | - Alasdair Whittle
- Department of Archaeology and Conservation, Cardiff University, John Percival Building, Colum Drive, Cardiff, CF10 3EU UK
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Nakao H, Tamura K, Arimatsu Y, Nakagawa T, Matsumoto N, Matsugi T. Violence in the prehistoric period of Japan: the spatio-temporal pattern of skeletal evidence for violence in the Jomon period. Biol Lett 2016; 12:20160028. [PMID: 27029838 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2016.0028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2016] [Accepted: 03/07/2016] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Whether man is predisposed to lethal violence, ranging from homicide to warfare, and how that may have impacted human evolution, are among the most controversial topics of debate on human evolution. Although recent studies on the evolution of warfare have been based on various archaeological and ethnographic data, they have reported mixed results: it is unclear whether or not warfare among prehistoric hunter-gatherers was common enough to be a component of human nature and a selective pressure for the evolution of human behaviour. This paper reports the mortality attributable to violence, and the spatio-temporal pattern of violence thus shown among ancient hunter-gatherers using skeletal evidence in prehistoric Japan (the Jomon period: 13 000 cal BC-800 cal BC). Our results suggest that the mortality due to violence was low and spatio-temporally highly restricted in the Jomon period, which implies that violence including warfare in prehistoric Japan was not common.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hisashi Nakao
- Department of Global and Science Studies, Yamaguchi University, 1677-1 Yoshida, Yamaguchi 753-8511, Japan
| | - Kohei Tamura
- Department of Engineering Mathematics, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Yui Arimatsu
- Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
| | - Tomomi Nakagawa
- Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Okayama University, Okayama, Japan
| | - Naoko Matsumoto
- Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Okayama University, Okayama, Japan
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