Warfare and Early Agriculture in SE Europe and Midwestern North America: comparing Neolithic/Early Copper Age and Late Prehistoric Fortifications and Bell-shaped pits.

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Theorizing Warfare: Global Perspectives on Defense and Fortification" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

SE Europe during the Neolithic and Early Copper Age (5500-4000 cal. B.C.E), and Eastern North America during the Late Prehistoric period (1000-1650 A.C.E.), are marked by similar socioeconomic changes in tribal societies. There is evidence for new food production and exchange patterns, but also for increased conflict. Larger settlements with fortifications and bell-shaped food storage pits are viewed as correlates for elevated warfare and intensive agricultural practices in these regions. However, it is often assumed that the transition to agriculture is what led to more sedentary settlements, conflicts over farmland, and defensive fortifications. Fortifications have distinctive archaeological attributes not found in other enclosures. There is indisputable evidence for trauma and violent deaths in agricultural groups who fortified their settlements. However, there is little evidence that these fortifications were a deterrent to warfare. Bell-shaped pits also appeared during the transition, and the need for concealed food storage, and seasonal mobility must also be considered in interpretations of fortifications and defense in Neolithic, Early Copper Age, and Late Prehistoric settlements. Archaeological evidence from SE Europe and the Middle Ohio Valley of North American are compared, and ethnohistoric accounts of American Indian farming practices are examined in this study of warfare and agriculture.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• Theorizing Warfare: Global Perspectives on Defense and Fortification

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 50722