ABSTRACT
Primitive warfare is a ritual practiced for its own sake; "civilized" warfare is an adaptation of that pattern to serve as a political instrument. The Maring people of the New Guinea mountains continued their traditional practices of war into the 1950s, when the Australian government more or less put an end to these practices. These are among the best-reported of all primitive wars, and their elaborate ritualization has drawn much attention from anthropologists. Sociobiology offered a powerful and persuasive synthesis, incorporating the latest research in biology and anthropology. The martial-values complex may seem an adequate explanation of the phenomenon of primitive warfare, but some anthropologists look for more, and their views should be considered. They hold that the common articulated motives for primitive war—revenge and prestige, honor and glory—are not to be taken at face value, as they are chiefly pretexts for materialistic motives arising from the competition for territory and economic resources.
