Warfare in prehistoric and early historic eastern North America

Abstract

Recent criticisms of the use of historically and ethnographically recorded conflicts as models for warfare in prehistoric times force archaeologists to reexamine assumptions about the frequency, severity, and effects of intergroup fighting. In eastern North America, skeletons of victims and palisaded settlements--the only information consistently available on intergroup hostilities--indicate that the prevalence of conflicts varied greatly over time and space. Occasionally the attacks, typically ambushes of smaU numbers of people, cumulatively resulted in numerous casualties. Variation in palisade strength is consistent with the organizational structure and warrior mobilization potential of late prehistoric societies in different parts of the Eastern Woodlands.KEY WORDS: eastern North America; prehistory; warfare; trauma; palisades. INTRODUCTIONWar and what it indicates about human nature have been the subjects of intense scholarly interest long before anthropology developed into a recognizable academic discipline. Over the past several centuries European contact with previously unknown peoples has fueled considerable speculation about the comparatively small societies that have dominated most of human existence where conditions are thought to have ranged from Hobbesian Warre to edenic harmony. To this day, these powerful but distinctly different images are readily accepted by the public, and they continue to color archaeological writing about distant times (Keeley, 1996).For prehistoric eastern North America, there is no agreement over the nature, intensity, and effects of intergroup conflicts, despite the considerable archaeological evidence that pertains to such issues. Signs of intentional trauma on skeletons 1Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802. 106Milner began to be reported with some regularity a century ago (Fowke, 1894;Langdon, 1881;McAdams, 1895McAdams, , 1908Snyder, 1908;Wilson, 1899Wilson, , 1901Young, 1910). Defensive structures marked by embankments where walls and bastions once stood also were recognized in the 19th century, although signs of wooden palisades only began to be regularly identified once large excavations became commonplace in the 1930s (Augustine, 1938a(Augustine, -c, 1940Barrett, 1933;Butler, 1939;Cadzow, 1935; Cresson, n.d.;Haywood, 1823;Jones, 1876;Myer, 1923Myer, , 1928Rolingson and Schwartz, 1966;Schoff, 1938;Thomas, 1894; Thruston, 1897;Walker and Adams, 1946;Webb, 1952;Webb and Wilder, 1951). Unfortunately, our understanding of how warfare was carried out, when and where it was most common, the conditions under which it occurred, and its effects on participants has not increased in proportion to the number of bones and walls that have been described. Usually skeletal trauma and defensive structures are merely noted as being present, not considered in broader contexts backed by solid archaeological data (for several exceptions see Clay, 1976;DePratter, 1991;Gramly, 1988;Lafferty, 1973;Larson, 1972;Milner, 1995;Ows...

Climate fluctuations and trajectories to complexity in the Neolithic: towards a theory

“…Economically and socio-politically destabilized societies would have drifted into phases of segmentation and political cycling. Violent conflicts could well have been the results of such destabilization phases (Milner 1999;Gronenborn 2007;Zhang et al 2007). With more stable -as a homage to processualism, here termed 'equilibrium' -conditions returning, societies would have re-organized This simple -indeed somewhat simplistic -model of a one-off, single-incidence fluctuation can nevertheless be taken as a basic module of what in reality are much more complex scenarios (e.g.…”

Beyond palisades: The nature and frequency of late prehistoric deliberate violent trauma in the Chickamauga Reservoir of East Tennessee

“…The osteological evidence for violent trauma in the Southeast is, as elsewhere, often anecdotal, case-driven, or simply buried in site reports. Despite admonitions of caution about broad characterizations of southeastern warfare (e.g., Milner, 1999;Steinen, 1992), there are a few osteoarchaeological publications which have become theoretically important supportive evidence for endemic intergroup violence in the Mississippian period. These include the report by Bridges (1996) on the middle Tennessee River Valley (Pickwick Reservoir) site of Koger's Island, Alabama, where 21% (23/108) of the skeletal sample is demonstrated or inferred to have died violently, and the report by Milner et al (1991) of deliberate trauma from the post-Mississippian Oneota site of Norris Farms #36 from west-central Illinois, where an equally high frequency of 16.3% (43/264) was reported.…”

“…With the growing appreciation of Mississippianperiod sociopolitical heterogeneity both geographically and temporally (Scarry, 1996;Blitz, 1999), and the suspicion that the current exemplary studies of intergroup violence are atypical (Milner, 1999), there is an imminent need to temper the broad characterization of warfare in the Southeast as endemic. This is particularly true since bioarchaeological contexts elsewhere suggest that the kinds (e.g., lethal, nonlethal) and frequency of intergroup deliberate violent trauma coassociate with particular ecological, demographic, and/or sociopolitical circumstances (e.g., Maschner, 1977;Martin, 1997;Robb, 1997;Walker, 1989).…”

Atribución Causal a Traumas Craneofaciales en Muestras Del Norte De Patagonia (República Argentina): Una Perspectiva Experimental

“…En general, es difícil interpretar a las armas en términos de guerra, dado que las utilizadas para ejercer violencia muchas veces también funcionan en actividades de la vida diaria (Lambert 2002;Milner 1999). Sin embargo, Lambert (2002) sugirió que el análisis de las mismas, en conjunto con otras líneas de evidencia, puede aportar al conocimiento del diseño y uso específico de los implementos utilizados para ejercer violencia interpersonal.…”