Contests the highly romanticized picture of the ancient Puebloans as peaceful, sedentary corn farmers and suggests that people of the region fought for their survival.

Most people today, including many archaeologists, view the Pueblo people of the Southwest as historically peaceful, sedentary corn farmers. In Prehistoric Warfare in the American Southwest Steven LeBlanc demonstrates how the prevailing picture of the ancient Puebloans is highly romanticized. Taking a pan-Southwestern view of the entire prehistoric and early historic time range and considering archaeological and ethnohistorical evidence and oral traditions, he presents a different picture. Objectively sought, evidence of war and its consequences is abundant. The people of the region fought for their survival and evolved their societies to meet the demands of conflict.

The myth of the peace-loving "noble savage" is persistent and pernicious. Indeed, for the last fifty years, most popular and scholarly works have agreed that prehistoric warfare was rare, harmless, unimportant, and, like smallpox, a disease of civilized societies alone. Prehistoric warfare, according to this view, was little more than a ritualized game, where casualties were limited and the effects of aggression relatively mild. Lawrence Keeley's groundbreaking War Before Civilization offers a devastating rebuttal to such comfortable myths and debunks the notion that warfare was introduced to primitive societies through contact with civilization (an idea he denounces as "the pacification of the past"). Building on much fascinating archeological and historical research and offering an astute comparison of warfare in civilized and prehistoric societies, from modern European states to the Plains Indians of North America, War Before Civilization convincingly demonstrates that prehistoric warfare was in fact more deadly, more frequent, and more ruthless than modern war. To support this point, Keeley provides a wide-ranging look at warfare and brutality in the prehistoric world. He reveals, for instance, that prehistorical tactics favoring raids and ambushes, as opposed to formal battles, often yielded a high death-rate; that adult males falling into the hands of their enemies were almost universally killed; and that surprise raids seldom spared even women and children. Keeley cites evidence of ancient massacres in many areas of the world, including the discovery in South Dakota of a prehistoric mass grave containing the remains of over 500 scalped and mutilated men, women, and children (a slaughter that took place a century and a half before the arrival of Columbus). In addition, Keeley surveys the prevalence of looting, destruction, and trophy-taking in all kinds of warfare and again finds little moral distinction between ancient warriors and civilized armies. Finally, and perhaps most controversially, he examines the evidence of cannibalism among some preliterate peoples. Keeley is a seasoned writer and his book is packed with vivid, eye-opening details (for instance, that the homicide rate of prehistoric Illinois villagers may have exceeded that of the modern United States by some 70 times). But he also goes beyond grisly facts to address the larger moral and philosophical issues raised by his work. What are the causes of war? Are human beings inherently violent? How can we ensure peace in our own time? Challenging some of our most dearly held beliefs, Keeley's conclusions are bound to stir controversy.

Deadly Landscapes presents a series of cases that advance the rigorous examination of war in the archaeological record. The studies encompass examples from the Hohokam, Sinagua, Mogollon, and Anasazi regions, plus a pan-regional study of iconography covering the Colorado Plateau and the Rio Grande Valley. All of the cases focus on the narrow time frame from AD 1200 to the early-1400s, during which evidence for warfare is most pervasive. Contributors to this volume present varying definitions of warfare and use differing types of data to test for the presence of warfare. These detailed case studies give clear demonstration of a pattern of significant warfare in the late prehistoric period that will alter our understanding of ancient Southwestern cultures.

This book is about post-Pleistocene adaptive change among the aboriginal cultures of the mountains and deserts of Arizona and New Mexico. Conceived essentially as a natural science alternative to the prevailing culture history paradigm, it offers both a general theoretical framework for interpreting the archaeological record of the American South-West and a persuasive evolutionary model for the shift from a hunter-gatherer economy to horticulture at the Mogollon/Anasazi interface. Technical, architectural and settlement adaptations are examined and the rise of matrilineality, ethnic groupings and clans are modelled using ecological and ethnographic data and the innovative idea of anticipated cultural response. In the last part of the book, Dr Hunter-Anderson evaluates the 'fit' between her model and the archaeological record and argues vigorously for research into the evolution of ethnicity in the adaptive context of regional competition.

"How and why did styles, materials, conflicts, and religious ideas spread across prehistoric landscapes? The Archaeology of Regional Interaction investigates these questions, using the rich resource of the American Southwest and covering periods from the Folsom to the nineteenth century. Editor Michelle Hegmon has compiled superbly researched essays into a comprehensive examination of regional interaction that has proved itself a pivotal archaeological text. The Archaeology of Regional Interaction surpasses most regional studies, which only focus on settlement patterns or exchange, and considers other forms of interaction, such as intermarriage and the spread of religious practices. Contributors focus especially on understanding the social processes that underlie archaeological evidence of interaction. The essays in this volume examine what regional systems involve, in terms of political and economic relations, and how they can be identified. One essay by Steven LeBlanc provides a sweeping analysis of conflict, a form of regional interaction that has received relatively little attention in the Southwest until recently. A series of chapters devoted to expanding the coverage beyond the borders of the traditional Southwest examines the surrounding areas, including Nevada and Utah, northern Mexico, and the Plains. The volume also provides a unique treatment of religion—including manifestations such as Flower World Iconography, Medicine Societies, and ceremonial textiles—as a form of regional interrelation."--

Spontaneous acts of violence born of human emotions like anger or greed are probably universal, but social violenceÑviolence resulting from social relationships within and between groups of peopleÑis a much more complex issue with implications beyond archaeology. Recent research has generated multiple interpretations about the forms, intensity, and underlying causes of social violence in the ancient Southwest. Deborah L. Nichols and Patricia L. Crown have gathered nine contributions from a variety of disciplines to examine social violence in the prehispanic American Southwest. Not only offering specific case studies but also delving into theoretical aspects, this volume looks at archaeological interpretations, multidisciplinary approaches, and the implications of archaeological research for Native peoples and how they are impacted by what archaeologists say about their past. Specific chapters address the impacts of raiding and warfare, the possible origins of ritual violence, the evidence for social violence manifested in human skeletal remains, the implications of witchcraft persecution, and an examination of the reasons behind apparent anthropophagy. There is little question that social violence occurred in the American Southwest. These contributions support the need for further discussion and investigation into its causes and the broader implications for archaeology and anthropology. CONTENTS 1. Introduction Patricia Crown and Deborah Nichols 2. Dismembering the Trope: Imagining Cannibalism in the Ancient Pueblo World Randall H. McGuire and Ruth Van Dyke 3. An Outbreak of Violence and Raiding in the Central Mesa Verde Region in the 12th Century AD Brian R. Billman 4. Chaco Horrificus? Wendy Bustard 5. Inscribed in the Body, Written in Bones: The Consequences of Social Violence at La Plata Debra L. Martin, Nancy Akins, Bradley Crenshaw, and Pamela K. Stone 6. Veneration or Violence: A Study of Variations in Patterns of Human Bone Modification at La Quemada Ventura R. PŽrez, Ben A. Nelson, and Debra L. Martin 7. Witches, Practice, and the Context of Pueblo Cannibalism William H. Walker 8. Explanation vs. Sensation: The Discourse of Cannibalism at AwatÕovi Peter Whiteley 9. Devouring Ourselves George J. Armelagos References Cited About the Contributors Index

Collection of articles providing new research on warfare in ancient Maya and other Mesoamerican societies based on archaeological, ethnohistorical, and linguistic evidence