Download or read book The Archaeology of Warfare written by Elizabeth N. Arkush and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.--
Download or read book The Archaeology of Class War written by Karin Larkin and published by University Press of Colorado. This book was released on 2009-11-15 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book The Archaeology of the Cold War written by Todd A. Hanson and published by University Press of Florida. This book was released on 2019-10-14 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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
Download or read book Warfare in Cultural Context written by Axel E. Nielsen and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 2009-10-15 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Warfare is a constant in human history. According to the contributors to this volume, archaeologists have assumed thatÑwithin certain socioenvironmental parametersÑwar is always essentially the same phenomenon and follows a common logic, breaking out under similar conditions and having analogous effects on the people involved. In pursuit of this idea, archaeologists have built models to account for the occurrence of war in various times and places. The models are then tested against prehistoric evidence to make the causes and conduct of war predictable and data-based. However, contributors argue, this model-and-evidence approach has given rise to multiple competing hypotheses and ambiguity rather than to full, coherent explanations of what turns out to be surprisingly complex acts of war. The chapters in Warfare in Cultural Context 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. This revealing book focuses on the ways that specific people construed their interests and life projects, and their problems and possibilities, and consequently chose among alternative courses of action. 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. Case studies include warfare among the Maya, Inca, southwestern Pueblos, Mississippian cultures, and the Enga of Papua New Guinea.
Download or read book Archaeology of the War of 1812 written by Michael Lucas and published by Left Coast Press. This book was released on 2014-08-15 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Landscapes of War written by Paul Hill and published by Arcadia Publishing (SC). This book was released on 2002 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book The Historical Archaeology of Military Sites written by Clarence Raymond Geier and published by Texas A&M University Press. This book was released on 2010-12-15 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The recent work of anthropologists, historians, and historical archaeologists has changed the very essence of military history. While once preoccupied with great battles and the generals who commanded the armies and employed the tactics, military history has begun to emphasize the importance of the “common man” for interpreting events. As a result, military historians have begun to see military forces and the people serving in them from different perspectives. The Historical Archaeology of Military Sites has encouraged efforts to understand armies as human communities and to address the lives of those who composed them. Tying a group of combatants to the successes and failures of their military commanders leads to a failure to understand such groups as distinct social units and, in some instances, self-supporting societies: structured around a defined social and political hierarchy; regulated by law; needing to be supplied and nurtured; and often at odds with the human community whose lands they occupied, be they those of friend or foe. The Historical Archaeology of Military Sites will afford students, professionals dealing with military sites, and the interested public examples of the latest techniques and proven field methods to aid understanding and conservation of these vital pieces of the world’s heritage.
Download or read book The Archaeology of Violence written by Sarah Ralph and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2013-01-17 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Archaeology of Violence is an interdisciplinary consideration of the role of violence in social-cultural and sociopolitical contexts. The volume draws on the work of archaeologists, anthropologists, classicists, and art historians, all of whom have an interest in understanding the role of violence in their respective specialist fields in the Mediterranean and Europe. The focus is on three themes: contexts of violence, politics and identities of violence, and sanctified violence. In contrast to many past studies of violence, often defined by their subject specialism, or by a specific temporal or geographic focus, this book draws on a wide range of both temporal and spatial examples and offers new perspectives on the study of violence and its role in social and political change. Rather than simply equating violence with warfare, as has been done in many archaeological cases, the volume contends that the focus on warfare has been to the detriment of our understanding of other forms of "non-warfare" violence and has the potential to affect the ways in which violence is recognized and discussed by scholars, and ultimately has repercussions for understanding its role in society.
Download or read book Prehistoric Warfare and Violence written by Andrea Dolfini and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-07-20 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first book to explore prehistoric warfare and violence by integrating qualitative research methods with quantitative, scientific techniques of analysis such as paleopathology, morphometry, wear analysis, and experimental archaeology. It investigates early warfare and violence from the standpoint of four broad interdisciplinary themes: skeletal markers of violence and weapon training; conflict in prehistoric rock-art; the material culture of conflict; and intergroup violence in archaeological discourse. The book has a wide-ranging chronological and geographic scope, from early Neolithic to late Iron Age and from Western Europe to East Asia. It includes world-renowned sites and artefact collections such as the Tollense Valley Bronze Age battlefield (Germany), the UNESCO World Heritage Site at Tanum (Sweden), and the British Museum collection of bronze weaponry from the late Shang period (China). Original case studies are presented in each section by a diverse international authorship. The study of warfare and violence in prehistoric and pre-literate societies has been at the forefront of archaeological debate since the publication of Keeley’s provocative monograph ‘War Before Civilization’ (Oxford 1996). The problem has been approached from a number of standpoints including anthropological and behavioural studies of interpersonal violence, osteological examinations of sharp lesions and blunt-force traumas, wear analysis of ancient weaponry, and field experiments with replica weapons and armour. This research, however, is often confined within the boundaries of the various disciplines and specialist fields. In particular, a gap can often be detected between the research approaches grounded in the humanities and social sciences and those based on the archaeological sciences. The consequence is that, to this day, the subject is dominated by a number of undemonstrated assumptions regarding the nature of warfare, combat, and violence in non-literate societies. Moreover, important methodological questions remain unanswered: can we securely distinguish between violence-related and accidental trauma on skeletal remains? To what extent can wear analysis shed light on long-forgotten fighting styles? Can we design meaningful combat tests based on historic martial arts? And can the study of rock-art unlock the social realities of prehistoric warfare? By breaking the mould of entrenched subject boundaries, this edited volume promotes interdisciplinary debate in the study of prehistoric warfare and violence by presenting a number of innovative approaches that integrate qualitative and quantitative methods of research and analysis.
Download or read book Historical Archaeology of the Revolutionary War Encampments of Washington s Army written by Cosimo Sgarlata and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume presents recent archaeological and ethnohistorical research on the encampments, trails, and support structures of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. These sites illuminate the daily lives of soldiers, officers, and camp followers away from the more well-known military campaigns and battles. The research featured here includes previously unpublished findings from the winter encampments at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, as well as work from sites in Redding, Connecticut, and Morristown, New Jersey. Topics range from excavations of a special dining cabin constructed for General George Washington to ballistic analysis of a target range established by General von Steuben. Contributors use experimental archaeology to learn how soldiers constructed their log hut quarters, and they reconstruct Rochambeau's marching route through Connecticut on his way to help Washington defeat the British at Yorktown. They also describe the underrecognized roles of African descendants, Native peoples, and women who lived and worked at the camps. Showing how archaeology can contribute insights into the American Revolution beyond what historical records convey, this volume calls for protection of and further research into non-conflict sites that were crucial to this formative struggle in the history of the United States. Contributors: Cosimo Sgarlata - Joseph Balicki - Joseph R. Blondino - Douglas Campana - Wade P. Catts - Daniel Cruson - Mathew Grubel - Mary Harper - Diane Hassan - David G. Orr - Julia Steele - Laurie Weinstein
Download or read book The Archaeology of Ships of War written by Mensun Bound and published by Anthony Nelson. This book was released on 1995 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of two books based on the proceedings of the First International Conference on The Archaeology of Ships of War held at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, from the 31st October to the 1st November 1992.
Download or read book War Before Civilization written by Lawrence H. Keeley and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1997-12-18 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book The Art of Warfare in Biblical Lands written by Yigael Yadin and published by . This book was released on 1963 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Weapons, strategy, and tactics from pre-historic times to the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C.
Download or read book The Archaeology of War written by Archaeology Magazine and published by Red Brick Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book A Shadow of War written by Claudia Theune and published by . This book was released on 2017-08-30 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents archaeological research from places of war, violence, protest and oppression of the 20th and the 21st century; sites where the material relics give a deep insight to fateful events - a shadow of war. Alongside renewed interest in National Socialism and the Holocaust, archaeological interest started in former concentration camps of the Nazi dictatorship. The focus was on the central places of the camps, such as the gas chambers, the crematoria, or execution sites, as well as prisoners' barracks and the parade ground. In many cases, these sites revealed forgotten and vanished structures, where archaeological excavations can offer the possibility for commemorating the victims. The research has since widened and includes other sites of Nazi dictatorship and the Second World War, as well as the First World War, the Cold War and locations of civil wars and civilian protest against state authorities and against companies and corporations in many parts of the world. In order to come to a comprehensive understanding contemporary archaeology must take a global perspective. Archaeological finds often shed light on daily life, revealing survival conditions in the internment camps; the lives of people and their fighting and dying on battlefields and in trenches. Likewise, the relics of politically active people in protest camps give an impression of their commitment in civilian protest. Sometimes material remains can help to tell an alternative or balancing narrative to the state's official recorded history. The enormous volume and diverse range of material culture presents challenges and opportunities. Through careful archaeological investigation, we can present different and new perspectives that are not recorded clearly in existing written, pictorial or oral archives. The merging and examination of all sources together is what enables us to understand the complexity of the history. This book will also present future directions in contemporary archaeology that will help bring the study focus beyond sites and assemblages of war and protest.
Download or read book Prehistoric Warfare in the American Southwest written by Steven A. LeBlanc and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book The Archaeology of French and Indian War Frontier Forts written by Lawrence E. Babits and published by . This book was released on 2015-03-30 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores how European forts were adapted for the special needs of the North American frontier.