ABSTRACT
If human burials were our only window onto the past, what story would they tell? Skeletal injuries constitute the most direct and unambiguous evidence for violence in the past. Whereas weapons or defenses may simply be statements of prestige or status and written sources are characteristically biased and incomplete, human remains offer clear and unequivocal evidence of physical aggression reaching as far back as we have burials to examine.
Warfare is often described as ‘senseless’ and as having no place in society. Consequently, its place in social relations and societal change remains obscure. The studies in The Routledge Handbook of the Bioarchaeology of Human Conflict present an overview of the nature and development of human conflict from prehistory to recent times as evidenced by the remains of past people themselves in order to explore the social contexts in which such injuries were inflicted. A broadly chronological approach is taken from prehistory through to recent conflicts, however this book is not simply a catalogue of injuries illustrating weapon development or a narrative detailing ‘progress’ in warfare but rather provides a framework in which to explore both continuity and change based on a range of important themes which hold continuing relevance throughout human development.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part |62 pages
Context is Everything
chapter |24 pages
Sticks and Stones
part |135 pages
Since Time Immemorial?
chapter |19 pages
Representing Violence in Anatolia and the Near East During the Transition to Agriculture
chapter |24 pages
‘Soft Heads’
chapter |15 pages
Socialized Violence
part |81 pages
Hierarchies and Violence
chapter |24 pages
The Osteology of Decapitation Burials From Roman Britain
chapter |14 pages
Interpreting Violence
chapter |12 pages
Violence and the Crusades
chapter |19 pages
Courteous Knights and Cruel Avengers
part |169 pages
New World Orders
chapter |22 pages
Violence and Warfare in the Prehistoric San Francisco Bay Area
chapter |25 pages
Violent Injury and Death in a Prehistoric Farming Community of Southwestern Colorado
chapter |16 pages
Many Faces of Death
chapter |16 pages
‘Place of Strong Men’
chapter |26 pages
A History Of Violence In The Lambayeque Valley
chapter |37 pages
Conflict on the Northern Northwest Coast
part |242 pages
Modern World Emergence