Using Trauma Distributions, Victim Profiles, and Differential Scavenging to Infer Characteristics of Prehistoric Warfare: A Case Study from the Peruvian Late Intermediate Period (AD 1000–1450)

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Non-state warfare has the potential to effect myriad aspects of people’s lives. The last several decades of archaeological research have revealed that conflict has shaped much our evolutionary history and regional population trajectories. Despite the importance of prehistoric warfare, it remains a substantial challenge to elucidate the basic characteristics of conflict. Frequency, predictability, and mortality all play critical roles in influencing the impacts of warfare. An understanding of the basic nature of warfare in particular regions can permit more formal expectations regarding how conflict effects human populations. It may also allow a more in-depth understanding of the behavioral pathways by which conflict leads to compromised health and changing social systems. Osteology can provide methodological inferences into warfare’s character by revealing who the victims of conflict are, the ways in which they were harmed, and the possible locations where victims were killed. This poster showcases five osteological tests to reveal the salient characteristics of non-state warfare using a Late Intermediate period population from the Nasca highlands of Peru as a case study.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24343