These essays explore the development of warfare in preindustrial, non-Western societies, addressing why some societies fight endemic wars while others do not and how frequent warfare affects the basic choices people make about where to live, whom to fight, on whom to confer power, and how to form social groups. Archaeological research dispels the myth of a peaceful past and demonstrates the sobering fact that war played a greater role in human prehistory than previously thought. These detailed regional case studies from leading archaeologists show the inextricable web of warfare and other social institutions and high-light their complex co-evolution in pre-state and early state societies. The volume includes chapters on the pre-Columbian cultures of North America of the last millennium, the origins of statehood in Mesoamerica and Neolithic China, a centuries-long sequence of warfare in Andean South America, warring peoples of Oceania, and East African cultures devastated by the slave trade. In addition, the contributors offer new insights into how to study warfare in the past and point toward new directions in this field.--

A history of warfare from Paleolithic times to today draws on new discoveries to evaluate the key impact of war on civilian societies, recounting specific past events while citing historical developments in the areas of military strategy and technology.

The Cold War was one of the twentieth century's defining events, with long-lasting political, social, and material implications. It created a global landscape of culturally and politically significant artifacts and sites that are critical to understanding and preserving the history of that conflict. The stories of these artifacts and sites remain mostly untold, however, because so many of the facilities operated in secret. In this volume, Todd Hanson examines the Cold War's secret sites through three theoretical frameworks: conflict archaeology, the archaeology of the recent past, and the archaeology of science. He presents case studies of investigations conducted at some famous--and some not so famous--historic sites that were pivotal to the conflict, including Bikini Atoll, the Nevada Test Site, and the Cuban sites of the Soviet Missile Crisis. Hanson illustrates how, by examining nuclear weapons testing sites, missile silos, peace camps, fallout shelters, and more, archaeology can help strip away the Cold War's myths, secrets, and political rhetoric in order to better understand the conflict's formative role in the making of the contemporary American landscape. Addressing modern ramifications of the Cold War, Hanson also looks at the preservation of atomic heritage sites, the phenomenon of atomic tourism, and the struggles of America's atomic veterans. As the Cold War retreats into the annals of history, and its monuments fade away, so too do the opportunities to gain deeper insight into the successes--and the failures--of the era. Hanson suggests topics for future archaeological research and reflects on the implications of failing to study or preserve North America's Cold War heritage. A volume in the series the American Experience in Archaeological Perspective, edited by Michael S. Nassaney

The Archaeology of Class War weaves together material culture, documents, oral histories, landscapes, and photographs to reveal aspects of the strike and life in early twentieth-century Colorado coalfields unlike any standard documentary history. Excavations at the site of the massacre and the nearby town of Berwind exposed tent platforms, latrines, trash dumps, and the cellars in which families huddled during the attack. Myriad artifacts--from canning jars to a doll's head--reveal the details of daily existence and bring the community to life.

Warfare is a constant in human history. Contributors to this book contend that agency and culture, inherited values and dispositions (such as religion and other cultural practices), beliefs, and institutions are always woven into the conduct of war. Using archaeological and ethnohistorical data from various parts of the world, the contributors explore the multiple avenues for the cultural study of warfare that these ideas make possible. Contributions focus on cultural aspects of warfare in Mesoamerica, South America, North America, and Southeast Asia.

This is the first summary of archaeological contributions to our understanding of the War of 1812 by examining recent excavations and field surveys on fortifications, encampments, landscapes, shipwrecks, and battles in the different regions of the United States and Canada.

From the earliest evidence of human aggression to the mordern era of sophisticated warfare, this book covers the archaeological aspects of war in the landscape using a multi-period thematic approach incorporating worldwide material. The book discusses the evidence for warfare from Ancient Sumeria to the fall of the Roman Empire in the west and then concentrates on the form and types of defences adopted by different cultures and communities from the level of family projection up to that of national defence, using the archaeology of Britain as a major source of vidence. Drawing on a wide variety of research including excavated evidence, historical sources and in some cases oral testimony, the authors analyse the importance of archaeology as a tool for interpretation and take a close look at the influence of terrain in some specially chosen military campaigns across the globe. The patterns of warfare which repeat themselves in the forms of arms races and technological advances from prehistory to the present are examined in terms of the cycles of aggressive and defensive measures, and case studies are used to exemplify how and why territorial frontiers were held or lost in different eriods. AUTHOR: Both authors have been involved in teaching historical and archaeological material at the University of Surrey on a Continuing Education degree course as well as undertaking their own research in the field. Paul Hill, formerly curator at Kingston Museum in Surrey, has a background of Anglo-Saxon weapongs and warfare and Julie Wileman has been researching into prehistoric warfare at UCL and has worked as Assistant Director and Finds Officer at a number of archaeological sites in Surrey.