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Annu. Rev. Anthropol.2001. 30:573-96
Copyright( 2001 by AnnualReviews. All rightsreserved
A BIOARCHAEOLOGICALPERSPECTIVE
ON THEHISTORYOF VIOLENCE
Phillip L. Walker
Departmentof Anthropology,Universityof California,SantaBarbara, California93106;
e-mail: walker@sscfucsb.edu
INTRODUCTION
DEFINITION OF VIOLENCE
INTERPRETING SKELETALINJURIES
--- -- ----- -
Figure 7 Area of subperiostealnew bone formationon the fibula of a child who was
chronicallybeaten and eventuallykilled by her parents.Plaques of new bone such as this
form throughcalcification of blood that accumulatesin traumatizedareas underthe con-
nective tissue sheath that covers bones. The well-defined marginsand porosities indicate
that the injurywas in the process of healing at the time of death.
A perimorteminjurythat
occurredbeforedeath
Inference: Inference:
Injurywas not immediatelyfatal, Possiblyassociated with
possible implicationsforefficacy the cause of death,
of medicalpractices suggests accidentalinjury
and social supportsystems or homicidalviolence
Figure 2 Flow diagramshowing the process throughwhich skeletal remains are assessed for
578 WALKER
the larger society outside of the sports arena (Walker 1997). This hypothesis
is supportedby coroner records from England that show a striking correlation
between the rise of moder boxing and an increase in the proportionof homi-
cides caused by hitting and kicking (Walker1997, p. 171). Thus offensive tech-
niques learned through viewing and participatingin violent sports may shape
in importantways the patternsof violence seen outside of this highly ritualized
context.
The majorconsequencestechnologicalchangecan havefor patternsof interper-
sonal violence are abundantlydocumentedin the moder traumaliterature.Many
people attributethe markedincreasein U.S. homicides duringthe late 1980s, es-
pecially among the young, to increasedavailabilityand use of firearms(MMWR
1996). This trendis paralleledby less-frequentuse of knives for homicides (Fox
1994). Such changes can sometimesbe abrupt.In Durban,South Africa, the ratio
of fatal stabwoundsto gunshotwoundsreversedwithinthe 5-yearperiodbetween
1987 and 1992. Between 1985 and 1995, stab wounds declined by 30% and gun-
shot wounds increased by more than 800% (Muckartet al 1995). Comparable,
technology-relatedchanges have recently been documentedin remote areas of
highlandPapuaNew Guinea,where an earlierpatternof directconfrontationwith
bushknivesand axes has been replaced,with devastatingresults,by increaseduse
of bows and arrowsand firearms(Mathew 1996).
The apparentpropensityof Britishdrinkersto use drinkingglasses as weapons
(Shepherdet al 1990, p. 76) underscoresthe role that culturalfactors can have
in determiningweapon choice and also, to some extent, the patterningof assault
injuries (Walker 1997). Another example is the apparenttendency of police to
avoid hittingthe faces of theirvictims because of the public sanctionssuch highly
visible injuries might stimulate (Aalund et al 1990). Culturalsensitivity of this
kind can also be seen among Chinese gang members,who preferknives to guns
in certain situations.When attackingother gang members,they use long knives
and make multiplelacerations,or "chops,"in the flesh of their victims insteadof
stabbingthem (Yip et al 1997). Often the intentionis to wound ratherthan kill.
The massive cranial traumaassociated with the recent adoption of the baseball
bat as a weapon of choice for certaintypes of urbanviolence is anotherexample
of a highly culturallycontingentviolence pattern(Berlet et al 1992, Groleauet al
1993, Ord & Benian 1995).
The social context of an assault clearly influences the weapon an assailant
selects. A Massachusettsstudy, for instance, shows that knives are more likely
to be used as weapons duringargumentswith acquaintancesand thatfirearmsare
morelikely to be used againststrangers(MMWR1995). My analysis(P.L. Walker,
unpublishedobservations)of U.S. homicidereports(Fox 1994) revealssignificant
differencesbetween ethnic groupsin the weapon selected for killing spouses that
cannot be readily explainedby weapon availability,given the household context
that is typical for such murders.Between 1976-1992, the weapon of choice for
Native Americanwomen who killed their spouses was a knife (46% of all such
homicides). Native Americanmen, in contrast,rarelykilled spouses with knives
(20%of all such homicides);they usuallyused firearms(40%).Among Americans
584 WALKER
PREHISTORICNATIVEAMERICANVIOLENCE
It could be arguedthatthese datasuggesting a long historyof mass killing, homi-
cide, and male-dominatedinterpersonalviolence in the Old Worldhave little rel-
evance to the question of the effects Europeancontact had on patternsof Native
Americanwarfareandviolence. Aftertheirarrivalin the New World,NativeAmer-
icans could have evolved their own, less-violent, culturallymediatedsystems for
disputeresolutionthatdivergedsignificantlyfrom the pathologicaltrajectoryfol-
lowed by Westernsocieties. Fortunately,there are many large, well-studied,New
Worldcollections directlyrelevantto this issue.
The 9000-year-oldKennewickfind, one of the earliestNative Americanskele-
tons,has a largeleaf-shapedprojectilepoint,probablypropelledby a spearthrower,
healed into the bone of his pelvis as well as a small, well-healed cranial frac-
ture (Chatters2000). Although it is conceivable that both of these injurieswere
accidental, interpersonalviolence is a much more likely interpretationof the
spear-throwerwound. Similar injuries, including embedded points and cranial
injuries,have been found in other early Native Americanremains (Dickel et al
1988; J. Chatters,personal communication).These data suggest that the first
Americansbroughtwith them patternsof violence similar to those documented
in contemporaneousOld World populations, and that those patternspersisted
despite low population densities and the availability of vast expanses of
uninhabitedland.
Archaicperiod(ca. 6000-500 BC)skeletalcollections from westernTennessee
provide additionalevidence of interpersonalviolence among early New World
populations.Embeddedprojectile points, cutmarks,and missing bones suggest
that homicide, scalping, decapitation,and forearm-trophytaking were common
practicesamongthese earlyhunter-gatherers (Smith 1997). Out of 439 interments
fromthe KentuckyLakeReservoirsample, 10 individuals,all males,showevidence
of warfare-relatedinterpersonalviolence, including 6 people, mostly from one
site, with embeddedprojectilepoints. At one cemetery,20.4% of the people show
evidenceof perimortemviolence. This figureincludessix people apparentlykilled
in a massacre,whose bodies were haphazardlythrowninto a mass grave.
The prevalenceof wounds inflictedby clubs, spears,and arrowsclearly shows
that levels of prehistoricNative American violence varied both regionally and
throughtime. This is consistentwith ethnographicevidence of markedtribaldif-
ferencesin warfarepatterns.Many of the tribesof centralCalifornia,for example,
practicedhighly ritualizedformsof combat,with specialweaponsandrulesremu-
neratinginjuredopponents,thatminimizedfatalities;others, such as the Mojave,
are well known ethnographicallyfor their cultural emphasis on lethal conflict
(Kroeber1925, McCorkle 1978, Stewart1947).
Bioarchaeologicalstudies of patternsof interpersonalviolence among native
Californiansclearly show thatsuch differenceshave considerabletime depth.The
low frequencyof cranialinjuriesin prehistoriccentralCalifornians(2.7%-3.5%
of adultsaffected)is differentfrom the extremelyhigh frequencyseen in roughly
THEHISTORY
OFVIOLENCE 589
Data from other fourteenth-centurysites show that this was a time of extreme
violence. Excavationsat CrowCreek,a largepalisadedvillage site on the Missouri
River, uncoveredthe remains of at least 486 victims of a mass killing dating to
AD 1325 (Willey & Emerson 1993). The bones of men, women, and childrenare
present,and nearly 95% of the intact skulls bear scalping marks.Many of these
victims were decapitatedanddismembered.The conclusionthatthis massacrewas
a resultof intervillagewarfareis reinforcedby ongoing researchthathas produced
evidence of similar massacresat two fourteenth-centuryvillages within striking
rangeof Crow Creek(Pringle 1998).
CONCLUSIONS
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THE HISTORYOF VIOLENCE 593