The Origins of War [[electronic resource] ] : Violence in Prehistory

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910145742403321
• Autore: Guilaine Jean
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Hoboken, : Wiley, 2008
• ISBN: 1-281-31054-9; 9786611310547; 0-470-77381-2; 0-470-77539-4
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (298 p.)
• Altri autori (Persone): ZammitJean
• Disciplina: 303.66
• Soggetti: Warfare, Prehistoric; Prehistoric Anthropology; Anthropology; Social Sciences; Electronic books.
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di contenuto: Contents; Preface; Acknowledgments; Introduction; Bloodshed at the Beginning of History; War: An Ongoing Feature of Literature and Religion; Archeology: Tracking Down History; War in Prehistory: From the Garrigues of Languedoc to the Temples of Malta; Corsica: Conquered and Reconquered; Violence and Aggression Before Humans; Warfare: Nature or Culture?; Exchange or Battle?; Was there a Paleolithic "War"?; Ritual Warfare and War between "Great Men"; Prehistoric Man: Neither Brutish Nor Docile; The Issue of Sacrifice; Is Prehistoric Violence "Readable"?; 1 Violence in Hunter-Gatherer Society; Neanderthal Man and CannibalismPrehistoric Cannibalism; Suspicious Disappearances in Charente (France); Cain's Predecessors; Violence in the Artwork of the Quaternary Era; Sicily: Torture in 10,000 bce?; From the Throwing-Stick to the Bow and Arrow; The First Bows; Conflict in Sudan; Coveted Land; Conflict during the Mesolithic; The Enemy: Mutilated and Tortured; 2 Agriculture: A Calming or Aggravating Influence?; The Neolithic in Europe: A Peaceful or Dangerous Conquest?; The Talheim Massacre; Disturbances during the Neolithic; ; Fontbregoua (France): Another Case of Cannibalism?; Cannibalistic Farmers?Neolithic Art, a Medium of Violence?; Battle Scenes in the Sierras of the Spanish Levant; Injuries and Capital Executions; Causes for Quarrel; Hunters and/or Farmers in Confrontation; The Strong and the Weak; 3 Humans as Targets: 4,000 to 8,000 Years Ago; The Contrasting Geography of Violence; A Progressive Intensification of Conflict?; War upon the Plateaus of Southern France?; The Difficulties of Making an Assessment; Effective Weapons of Death; Injury and Trepanation; Did Collective Burial Sites Sometimes Serve as Communal Graves?; Lessons from the San Juan Ante Portam Latinam Burial Site (Alava, Spain)Ballistic Accuracy; 4 The Warrior: An Ideological Construction; The Importance of the Male; Accompanying a Man in Death; A Full Quiver: For Hunting, for Fighting, or for Show; Arrows and Jewels: Masculine/Feminine; Menhir-Statues: The First Armed Steles; From Mount Bego to the Italian Alps; Masculinity/Femininity: Reversing the Symbols; Open Villages and Fortified Settlements; Proto-Warriors of the West; 5 The Concept of the Hero Emerges; Weapons and their Significance; The Warrior Becomes a Feature of Barbarian Europe; The Sword: King of WeaponsRamparts, Forts, and Citadels; The East: Chariots in Battle; The Development of a Cavalry; Tracing the Footsteps of Heroes; Steles: Marking Combatants for Posterity; Multiple Sacrifices; Mutilated Bodies Preserved in Peat Bogs; Conclusion; Appendices; 1: Evidence of Arrow-Inflicted Injuries from the Neolithic Age in France; 2: Chronological Distribution of the 44 Confirmed Sites; Notes; Bibliography; Works by Jean Guilaine; Index
• Sommario/riassunto: Stretching across continents and centuries, The Origins of War: Violence in Prehistory provides a fascinating examination of executions, torture, ritual sacrifices, and other acts of violence committed in the prehistoric world. Written as an accessible guide to the nature of life in prehistory and to the underpinnings of human violence. Combines symbolic interpretations of archaeological remains with a medical understanding of violent acts. Written by an eminent prehistorian and a respected medical doctor.