Description
Book SynopsisArchaeologists, ethnohistorians, osteologists, and cultural anthropologists have only recently begun to address seriously the issue of Native American war and peace in the eastern United States. New methods for identifying prehistoric cooperation and conflict in the archaeological record are now helping to advance our knowledge of their existence and importance. Focusing on four major issues in prehistoric warfare studiessettlement patterns, skeletal trauma, weaponry, and iconographyDavid H. Dye presents a new interpretation of ancient war and peace east of the Mississippi. He considers evidence for raiding and more organized forms of warfare, accounts of native warfare witnessed by sixteenth-century Europeans, and the various causes of warfare, such as revenge, competition for resources, and ideology. War Paths, Peace Paths offers an innovative analysis of cooperation and conflict in the prehistoric eastern United States.
Trade ReviewA very informative text on the evolution of warfare in eastern North America. Recommended. * CHOICE, December 2009 *
War Paths, Peace Paths skillfully traces all three trends in Native culture as violence and peace evolved over the millennia. * American Archaeology *
Table of ContentsChapter 1. Cooperation and Conflict in Native Eastern North America Chapter 2. Archaeology and the Study of Violence and Cooperation Sidebar: The Origin of War - Is War Making Integral to Our Ancestry? Chapter 3. Family-Level Foragers and the Resolution of Homicides Sidebar: Paleoindian Foragers and Pleistocene Extinctions Chapter 4. Complex Hunter-Gatherers and the Origin of Feuding Sidebar: The Poverty Point Site and Complex Hunter-Gatherers Chapter 5. The Rise of Agriculture and the Elaboration of Feuding Sidebar: Shamans, Warriors, and Diplomats Chapter 6. Cooperation and Conflict in Late Woodland Societies Sidebar: Hill Top Enclosures: Ritual or Defense? Chapter 7. Cooperation and Conflict in the Northeast Sidebar: Iroquois Ambassadors Chapter 8. Cooperation and Conflict in the Upper Midwest Sidebar: Matrilocal Warriors Chapter 9. Cooperation and Conflict in the Lower Midwest and Southeast Sidebar: Heroic Warriors Chapter 10. Paths of War and Peace in Eastern North America
