War paths, peace paths : an archaeology of cooperation and conflict in native eastern North America / David H. Dye.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dye, David H.

Series:

Issues in Eastern Woodlands archaeology

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Woodland Indians--Warfare.

Woodland Indians.

Woodland Indians--History.

Diplomacy--East (U.S.)--History.

Diplomacy.

History.

Military art and science.

East (U.S.)--History.

East (U.S.).

Physical Description:

xx, 217 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Lanham : AltaMira Press, [2009]

Summary:

Archaeologists, ethnohistorians, osteologists, and cultural anthropologists have only recently begun to seriously address the issue of Native American war and peace in the eastern United States. New methods for identifying prehistoric cooperation and conflict in the archaeological record are now helping to advance our knowledge of their existence and importance. Focusing on four major issues in prehistoric warfare studies - settlement patterns, skeletal trauma, weaponry, and iconography - David H. Dye presents a new interpretation of ancient war and peace east of the Mississippi. He considers evidence for raiding and more organized forms of warfare, accounts of native warfare witnessed by sixteenty-century Europeans, and the various causes of warfare, such as revenge, competition for resources, and ideology. War Paths. Peace Paths offers an innovative analysis of cooperation and conflict in the prehistoric eastern United States.

Contents:

Chapter 1 Cooperation and Conflict in Native Eastern North America 1

Chapter 2 Archaeology and the Study of Violence and Cooperation 19

Sidebar: The Origin of War: Is War Making Integral to Our Ancestry? 31

Chapter 3 Family-Level Foragers and the Resolution of Homicides 35

Sidebar: Paleoindian Foragers and Pleistocene Extinctions 36

Chapter 4 Complex Hunter-Gatherers and the Origin of Feuding 51

Sidebar: The Poverty Point Site and Complex Hunter-Gatherers 60

Chapter 5 The Rise of Agriculture and the Elaboration of Feuding 69

Sidebar: Shamans: Warriors and Diplomats 86

Chapter 6 Cooperation and Conflict in Late Woodland Societies 89

Sidebar: Hilltop Enclosures: Ritual or Defense? 91

Chapter 7 Cooperation and Conflict in the Northeast 105

Sidebar: Iroquois Ambassadors 117

Chapter 8 Cooperation and Conflict in the Upper Midwest 125

Sidebar: Matrilocal Warriors 134

Chapter 9 Cooperation and Conflict in the Lower Midwest and Southeast 141

Sidebar: Heroic Warriors 152

Chapter 10 The Paths of War and Peace in Eastern North America 167.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 179-206) and index.

ISBN:

9780759107458

0759107459

9780759107465

0759107467

9780759113121

0759113122

OCLC:

241304564