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Este Blogue tem como objectivo a discussão da violência em geral e da guerra na Pré-História em particular. A Arqueologia da Península Ibérica tem aqui especial relevo. Esperamos cruzar dados de diferentes campos do conhecimento com destaque para a Antropologia Social. As críticas construtivas são bem vindas neste espaço, que se espera, de conhecimento.

Guerra Primitiva\Pré-Histórica
Violência interpessoal colectiva entre duas ou mais comunidades políticas distintas, com o uso de armas tendo como objectivo causar fatalidades, por um motivo colectivo sem hipótese de compensação.


Tuesday 28 September 2010

Fields of Conflict Conference 2011 in Osnabrück and Kalkriese

Dear All
Detailed information about the 6th Fields of Conflict Conference in Osnabrück and Kalkriese, 15. - 18. April 2011, is now available:

http://www.fieldsofconflict2011.uni-osnabrueck.de
If you know anybody who might be interested in the conference, too, please forward this email.
We look forward to meeting many of you next year.

Regards
Susanne

Dr. Susanne Wilbers-Rost
Leitung Abteilung Archäologie)
Varusschlacht im Osnabrücker Land GmbH
Museum und Park Kalkriese
Venner Str. 69
49565 Bramsche
Germany

Tel. +49 (0)5468/9204-11
Fax +49 (0)5468/9204-45
Email wilbers-rost@kalkriese-varusschlacht.de
www.kalkriese-varusschlacht.de

from John Carman in Militarch

Monday 27 September 2010

Descoberta prova indiscutível de violência na pré-história brasileira

Fernanda Marques
in Agência Fiocruz de Notícias

A violência, que se tornou um problema social de grandes dimensões nos nossos dias, já estava presente na pré-história. Achados arqueológicos, como armas e esqueletos com lesões específicas, sustentam essa afirmação. Evidências inequívocas de violência praticada por nossos antepassados são raras, mas uma dessas provas indiscutíveis acaba de ser encontrada por pesquisadores da Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública Sergio Arouca (Ensp) da Fiocruz. Trata-se de um esqueleto com uma ponta de flecha encravada em uma vértebra da coluna lombar. A equipe da bioarqueóloga Andrea Lessa, do Departamento de Endemias Samuel Pessoa da Ensp, localizou esse osso no acervo do Museu do Homem do Sambaqui, em Florianópolis.

A origem do esqueleto é o sítio arqueológico da Armação do Sul (SC), cuja ocupação teve início há 2.600 anos. Este é o quinto osso com uma ponta de flecha encravada encontrado no Brasil. Os outros quatro também foram achados em Santa Catarina: dois em Joinville e dois em Florianópolis. Acredita-se que o osso localizado pelos pesquisadores da Ensp seja o mais antigo. As primeiras análises indicam que a violência foi praticada por outro grupo que vivia no litoral, e não por uma população do interior. “A ponta da flecha foi confeccionada em osso, o que era típico das populações litorâneas. Os grupos do interior produziam pontas líticas”, explica Andrea.

Em sua última ida ao Museu do Homem do Sambaqui, ela estudou cerca de 200 esqueletos ou partes de esqueletos, a maioria deles com datação próxima ao ano 1000 da nossa era. A principal linha de pesquisa da bioarqueóloga é sobre traumas agudos – acidentes e violências – em populações pré-históricas litorâneas do Brasil. O trabalho de Andrea ajuda a entender como era o cotidiano das populações antigas, sobretudo no que diz respeito à convivência e ao cotidiano.

Utilizando, basicamente, os acervos do Museu do Homem do Sambaqui e do Museu Nacional da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), ela estuda, principalmente, os povos que habitaram o litoral de Santa Catarina e do Rio de Janeiro, tanto os grupos mais recentes, de pescadores-coletores, como as populações construtoras de sambaquis – montes feitos com conchas e outros sedimentos sobre os quais as pessoas viviam. Os sambaquis existiram, mais ou menos, desde seis mil anos atrás até o ano 1000 da Era Cristã.

De modo geral, Andrea tem verificado que a freqüência de violência e acidentes entre esses povos não era alta. “Quanto aos acidentes, não existe um padrão de fratura que se repete nos esqueletos. Existem, sim, exemplares polifraturados, o que levanta a suspeita de que os episódios eram, em sua maioria, quedas durante as muitas caminhadas em terrenos acidentados, como os costões rochosos, paisagem típica dos litorais fluminense e catarinense”, diz.

Em seu mestrado e doutorado, feitos na Esnp, Andrea estudou povos que habitaram oásis no deserto do Atacama, no Chile. “A freqüência de violência entre essas populações antigas do Atacama é bem superior a que venho observando nas pesquisas sobre os grupos brasileiros dos sambaquis”, revela. A bioarqueóloga tem duas hipóteses preliminares para explicar a diferença: aspectos puramente ideológicos, que responderiam por uma forma de vida mais agressiva no deserto do Atacama, e os recursos naturais abundantes no nosso litoral.

“No Brasil, até hoje, apesar da progressiva degradação ambiental, ainda temos uma abundância de recursos. Na época dos sambaquis, certamente, a disputa por recursos naturais, sobretudo marinhos, não justificaria freqüentes embates violentos”, lembra. “No Atacama, a situação foi e é diferente. Estamos falando de um deserto, onde a escassez de água e alimento poderia ser a causa de conflitos”, argumenta

Cultural Cannibalism as a Paleoeconomic System in the European Lower Pleistocene

The Case of Level TD6 of Gran Dolina (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain)

Eudald Carbonell, Isabel Cáceres, Marina Lozano, Palmira Saladié, Jordi Rosell, Carlos Lorenzo, Josep Vallverdú, Rosa Huguet, Antoni Canals, and José María Bermúdez de Castro

Current Anthropology, 51:539–549, August 2010

Abstract
Human cannibalism is currently recorded in abundant archaeological assemblages of different chronologies. The TD6 level of Gran Dolina (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos), at more than 800 ka, is the oldest case known at present. The analysis of cranial and postcranial remains of Homo antecessor has established the presence of various alterations of anthropic origin (cut marks and bone breakage) related with exploitation of carcasses. The human remains do not show a specific distribution, and they appeared mixed with lithic tools and bones of other taxa. Both nonhuman and human remains show similar evidence of butchering processes. The stratigraphic evidence and the new increment of the collection of remains of Homo antecessor have led us to identify a succession of cannibalism events in a dilated temporal sequence. These data suggest that hunting strategies and human meat consumption were frequent and habitual actions. The numerous evidences of cannibalism, the number of individuals, their age profile, and the archaeostratigraphic distribution suggest that cannibalism in TD6 was nutritional. This practice, accepted and included in their social system, is more ancient cultural cannibalism than has been known until now.

Reconstrução Digital de Batalhas em SIG OpenSource - O caso das Invasões Francesas

Colóquio
29 de Setembro de 2010
17h00
Auditório da Sede da Ordem dos Engenheiros
Av. António Augusto de Aguiar - 3D, Lisboa
Organização: Conselho Regional Sul do Colégio de Engenharia Geográfica

Enquadramento
A elevada diversidade de campos do conhecimento que recorrem a Sistemas de Informação Geoespacial (SIG) para visualizar, integrar e explanar a complexidade de dados do conhecimento real de forma mais perceptível para os distintos utilizadores tem, ultimamente, contado com uma actividade menos conhecida - a reconstrução digital de batalhas. Esta aplicação e técnicas envolventes têm sido objecto de reconhecimento e fonte de inspiração para uma melhor compreensão de períodos históricos marcantes do passado, integrando e regenerando, em alguns casos, as suas fundações dos pontos de vista documental, histórico e militar.
Recentemente, e inserido nas múltiplas iniciativas desenvolvidas pela Comissão Coordenadora do Exército para as Comemorações dos 200 anos da Guerra Peninsular, foi desenvolvido um trabalho de investigação em que se procurou representar digitalmente os eventos, condicionantes, forças envolvidas e ambientes onde decorreram as principais batalhas das Invasões Francesas, incluindo os fortes das Linhas de Torres Vedras.
Com o intuito de transmitir conhecimentos e gerar a reflexão sobre estas matérias, envolvendo quer a comunidade científica, quer os utilizadores em geral, o Conselho Regional Sul do Colégio de Engenharia Geográfica promoverá, no próximo dia 29 de Setembro, um colóquio apresentado pelo Coronel Engenheiro Geógrafo Luís Nunes, subordinado ao tema "Reconstrução Digital de Batalhas em SIG OpenSource - O caso das Invasões Francesas".

Fortificação, guerra e poderes no Garb al-Andalus (dos inícios da islamização ao domínio norte-africano).

Dissertação de Doutorammanto de Fernando Branco Correia na Universidade de Évora.

Sunday 19 September 2010

Human Meat Just Another Meal for Early Europeans?

James Owen
for National Geographic News
Published August 31, 2010

Cannibalism helped meet protein needs, keep rivals in line, study suggests.

For some European cavemen, human meat wasn't a ritual delicacy or a food of last resort but an everyday meal, according to a new study of fossil bones found in Spain.

And, it seems, everyone in the area was doing it, making the discovery "the oldest example of cultural cannibalism known to date," the study says.

The 800,000-year-old butchered bones from the cave, called Gran Dolina, indicate cannibalism was rife among members of western Europe's first known human species, Homo antecessor.

The fossil bones, collected since 1994, reveal that "gastronomic cannibalism" was commonplace and habitual—both to meet nutritional needs and to kill off local competition, according to the study, published in the August issue of Current Anthropology.


(Also see "Neanderthals Turned to Cannibalism, Bone Cave Suggests.")

Cannibals Gave New Meaning to "Brain Food"

The cannibalism findings are based on leftover bones bearing telltale cut and impact marks, apparently from stone tools used to prepare the cave meals.

The butchered remains of at least 11 humans were found mixed up with those of bison, deer, wild sheep, and other animals, said study co-author José Maria Bermúdez de Castro.

As well as de-fleshing marks and evidence of bone smashing to get at the marrow inside, there are signs the victims also had their brains eaten.

Cuts and strikes on the temporal bone at the base of skull indicate decapitation, said Bermúdez de Castro, of the National Research Center on Human Evolution in Burgos, Spain.

"Probably then they cut the skull for extracting the brain," he added. "The brain is good for food."

(Related: "Druids Committed Human Sacrifice, Cannibalism?")

Human: It's What's for Dinner?

Because human and animal remains were tossed away together, the researchers speculate that cannibalism had no special ritual role linked to religious beliefs.

Nor was human meat an emergency food consumed only in lean times, Bermúdez de Castro said.

Cannibalized human bones were found in cave layers spanning a period of around a hundred thousand years, suggesting the practice was fairly consistent, according to the study.

Furthermore, the European cannibals should have had little reason for hunger.

The surrounding Sierra de Atapuerca region (regional map) would have been a "fantastic" habitat for early humans, with plenty of food and water as well as a mild climate, he said.

(See a picture of a "cannibal fork.")

Cannibals Preferred Fresh Meat?


Humans attracted to Sierra de Atapuerca would have fought over the fertile territory—and cannibalism would have been a good way of dealing with the competition, Bermúdez de Castro said.

But it might not have resulted in the fairest of fights—the 11 cannibalized individuals discovered so far were all children or adolescents.

Targeting youngsters who were less able to defend themselves "posed a lower risk for hunters" and "would have been effective in the strategy of controlling competitors," according to the study.

Cannibalism Widespread for Early Humans?

Paleontologist Silvia Bello agreed that "the distribution of [impact] and cut marks and the similarity of signs on humans and nonhuman remains make the hypothesis of cannibalism for this site likely."

The evidence that cannibalism "was a common, functional activity, not directly related to food stress or ritualistic behavior" is also convincing, said Bello, of the Natural History Museum in London.

However, she added, it's hard to be sure whether the cannibals were eating individuals from their own group or outsiders.

Anthropologist Peter Andrews also backs the team's interpretation, with caveats.

"It appears that cannibalism was widespread during much of human evolution, and it is likely that it may have been even more widespread than present evidence indicates, for some early work on [human ancestor] sites may have failed to identify the evidence for cannibalism," Andrews, formerly head of human-origins studies at the Natural History Museum, said in an email.

(See "Cannibalism Normal for Early Humans?")

Nevertheless, he added, "we still have no way of knowing whether cannibalism was habitual or restricted to periods of stress, for time scales in archaeological sites are usually not fine enough to distinguish them."

To truly be able to identify part-time vs. regular cannibalism, Andrews said, "you would need evidence on a time scale of less than one year."

Bones found in a Spanish cave show evidence of impact and cut marks.
Photograph courtesy Current Anthropology

Violent death of Bronze Age man examined by Manx Museum

In BBC
Investigations into the mysterious death of a Bronze Age man are helping to paint a picture of life on the Isle of Man over 3,000 years ago.

During excavations at Ronaldsway in 2008, three burial sites and the remains of a village were unearthed.

Archaeologists found that one skeleton bore the marks of a violent death.

Allison Fox from Manx National Heritage said: "We found cut marks to his fingers, ribs and knees, as if he'd been defending himself."

He sums up what was happening at the end of the Bronze Age.

"Society was changing, climate change was occurring and there was more competition."

The human remains were first uncovered during the extension of a runway in 2008.

Field Archaeologist Andrew Johnson said: "To find bodies in such good condition is very rare.

"The area is well drained and the underlying bedrock is limestone, which means the soil is less acidic and helps with the preservation of human bone."

The site was originally excavated in the 1930s and experts say the latest finds will help to re-interpret earlier digs and gain a greater understanding of the pre-historic landscape.

Flint tools, pottery and funeral pyres were also found at the site.

The exhibition opens on Saturday 18th September 2010.

He's probably not the only one who met a rather violent end around this period

Allison Fox

Field archaeologist Andrew Johnson sheds light on the mysterious death

Friday 10 September 2010

A History of Research on Warfare in Anthropology - Reply to Keith Otterbein.

Neil L. Whitehead
American Anthropologist 102(4):834-837

Keith Otterbein [AA 101,4] is to be congratulated for having initiated a much needed debate about the history of anthropological thinking on warfare and violence and for having provided a number of suggestions as to how we should understand the origins of such research. However, the purpose of this reply is to illustrate that there are a number of intellectual factors and some important published materials which Otterbein has overlooked and which critically affect the significance of the issues he discusses. In short his view of anthropological research on warfare is overly narrow and in particular excludes some widely read and debated works.
As a preliminary to a discussion of that research and its relevance to Otterbein=s arguments I should declare my own interest, both as a theorist alluded to by Otterbein, but also as a researcher in the anthropology of warfare since the 1980's who therefore might function, as Otterbein suggests [795], as an Ainformant@ as to the development of the field. In particular Otterbein is quite wrong to suppose that only the writing of Bruce Bower Ahas brought anthropological research on violence and war to the attention of the general public@ [794]. The volume I edited with my colleague Brian Ferguson War in the Tribal Zone has just gone to a second edition (1999) and in the new Preface we discuss in greater depth than is possible here a number of new lines of research that have opened up over the last decade as well as the impact of the Tribal Zone model in anthropology and related disciplines.
The original volume (1992) was reviewed very widely indeed and many of its central findings were communicated in both the newspaper media (see Whitehead & Ferguson 1993, Dallas Morning News - 11/29/93 , Baltimore Sun - 5/14/93, Wisconsin State Journal - 11/7/93) as well as other media forums, such as the Council for the Advancement of Science Writers. The point here being not to inflate the importance of that volume, merely to suggest that there are many more avenues between anthropology and the public than Otterbein allows. The same also may be said of the work of a number of a scholars working on violence and warfare, particularly Nancy Scheper-Hughes (1992 ), Bruce Kapferer (1988), Renato Rosaldo (1980), James Scott (1990) and Michael Taussig (1986).
In fact the work of the above scholars is but a small sample of the anthropological research on warfare and violence that Otterbein has overlooked. The practice of warfare is highly Aembedded@ in social-cultural systems and as such may permeate many other aspects of life. As a result it seems obvious that we also should be considering the literature on the cultural meaning of war and killing, as much as the materials on the political dynamics, economic consequences and sociological organization of raiding. Violence, such as head-hunting (George 1996, Hendricks 1993, Hoskins 1996, Taylor 1999) cannibalism (Basso 1995, Conklin 1995, Darling 1999, Viveiros de Castro 1992, Whitehead 1997, Zheng 1996), torture (Abler 1992, Clastres 1977, Sanday 1986), rape (Allen 1996, Das 1990) mutilation (Taylor 1999, Trexler 1995, Whitehead 1998b) and so forth, although not necessarily part of the immediate context of combat, is clearly, in the minds of its practitioners and victims, indissolubly linked to the practice of what we discern as Awarfare@ and as such a key area for the anthropological investigation of war. Moreover, such Atraditional@ forms of violence seem to be currently resurgent in various ethnic conflicts, and therefore the issues of how violence might mediate modernity and how that modernity is connected to intensifying globalization of cultural communication are themselves significant topics for study (Appadurai 1996, Geschiere 1997, Lan 1985, Strathern 1999, White 2000).
In consequence the limited notion of warfare that Otterbein employs affects the usefulness of the historical overview of anthropological research that he proposes. Certainly, any attempt at historical periodization is open to critique and although one might quibble with Otterbein=s characterization of the various periods of research in warfare I would certainly agree with his broader aim of countering Lawrence Keeley=s (1996) peculiar view of the discipline. Moreover, Otterbein=s point [794] that research on warfare reflects the wider cultural trends of the societies in which anthropology is practiced is well taken. However, Keeley is hardly the originator of a framework which counter poses Amyths@ of peaceful savagery against those of savage savagery, nor does it first appear in the nineteenth century, as Otterbein suggests [796]. Indeed, as Keeley recognizes, this ideological debate has its origins in the Enlightenment and earlier. The Leviathan of Thomas Hobbes (1656) and the Social Contract of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1976) have come to perfectly exemplify the competing frameworks through which Western cultures have viewed violence; that is as either expressive of a human propensity for a Anasty, brutish and short@ lifestyle in the context of a Awar of all men against all men@(Hobbes), or the tragedy of a lost Asavagery@ that was untutored in the arts of violent conflict before the advent of the modern (Rousseau). The way Otterbein connects anthropological research to wider public issues is quite appropriate but he fails to recognize the deep historical origins and ideological trappings to this debate. As a result Otterbein=s historical search for the origins of the Amyth of the peaceful savage@ amongst work of the 1930's to 1960's that tended to romanticize Atheir people@ [797] is misplaced - this debate is much, much older than that.
This limited historical horizon for the emergence of anthropological categories tends also to ignore the historicity of the practice of warfare itself. Otterbein discusses [797] the reports of apparently peaceful groups who nonetheless had traditions or Aembarrassing@ instances of violent behavior and suggests that an emergent Amyth of the peaceful savage@ effectively encouraged ethnographers to ignore or downplay violence amongst the peoples they studied. But rather than impugn those ethnographers perhaps we should consider whether the suppressed presence of violence was directly connected to the pacification campaigns of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. This would certainly be predicted, using the Tribal Zone model, as an aspect of encapsulation, and Bodley (1990) has clearly shown the prevalence of this kind of effect on indigenous warfare and violence through his case studies of the consequences of the extension of colonial administration into the last areas of autonomous tribal territories. The apparent ambiguity of the ethnographer towards the presence or absence of warfare and violence may actually reflect the ambiguous presence of violence amongst relatively recently Apacified@ peoples. The case of the Tiwi that Otterbein [799] discusses at length seems particularly ripe for reinterpretation along these lines, as Otterbein seems to appreciate [798]. This does not mean that we can ignore issues of how anthropologists represent the people they study [797] and decisions to emphasize certain kinds of violent behaviors, or not, rather than disputes of Afact@ are surely behind the kinds of controversy that have engulfed the ethnography of certain groups, such as the Yanomamo (Whitehead 1998b).
Otterbein [798] proposes, correctly I think, that the Aecological paradigm@ for explaining warfare supplanted other kinds of rationalization of deadly violence and that the issue of Apeacefulness versus bellicosity@ was then recast as Afunctionality versus dysfunctionality@. Apart from the obvious problems of historicizing any functionalist explanation it certainly was an important advance in understanding to re-cast the debate in a way which emphasized the Aembedded@ nature of that putative functionality, or indeed dysfunctionality. In which case, rather than see attempts to historicize @primitive@ warfare as attempts to deny the reality or presence of violence [799-800], we need to appreciate that there really was a Amilitary horizon@ (Turney-High 1991:21-38) in which the forms and rituals of Western warfare became globalized through the colonial process. I have no interest in Adenying@ that other war complexes could produce a significant number of deaths, even those societies organized on a relatively small scale, but it is important to realize that ideas of total and overwhelming victory, which have been a desiredata of Western military leaderships for over 2,000 years, are the source of that disjuncture between the Western way of war and almost all other cultural practices of conflict and killing (Hanson 1989, Keegan 1993). That non-Western cultures may assimilate to, or be annihilated by, encounter with the Western way of war is the key point made in the volume War in the Tribal Zone, but this is not intended to obscure the fact that human cultural variety allows for other purposes to combat which may well be mistakenly interpreted as a hesitant militarism or even peacefulness. For all these reasons Agenocidal warfare@ [800] is indeed organizationally and ideologically the privilege of state-systems.
These lacunae in Otterbein=s argumentation thus lead to a rather inadequate account of anthropological research since 1980. The supposed recurrence of past theories [800] - innate aggression hypotheses, diffusion-acculturation models and cultural evolution - is only plausible on the basis of an inadequate characterization of the debate. While the latest version of the Akiller ape@ (Ardrey 1966) hypothesis (Wrangham & Peterson 1997) does indeed presage a return to the socio-biology of the 1970's, Otterbein has made a clear error of interpretation in his reading of War in the Tribal Zone. It is not a diffusionist hypothesis simply because it does not claim that warfare originates with colonial encounter but rather that it may be intensified and redirected to new goals. We also suggest that Western modes of warfare are themselves altered in many respects by the experience of colonial combat. In other words this is not diffusion from a center but a mimetic and dialectic process played out on the edge of expansive colonial systems, as well as within collapsing imperial regimes (Ferguson & Whitehead 1999).
By the same token Otterbein=s [801] avian metaphor to describe various authors as falling into either the camp of the AHawks@ or ADoves@ crudely erases important distinctions and overlooks other commonalities amongst these authors. For example, although John Keegan is characterized as a AHawk@ it would be fair to suggest that it was he who made the first contribution to a more culturally grounded, humanistic, account of warfare in his classic The Face of Battle (1976) which focused on the experience of combat through the eyes of ordinary soldiers. Moreover, although I am depicted as a ADove@ Otterbein might care to consult A History of Warfare (1993: xi) where Keegan generously acknowledges our extensive discussions as being important in forming his view of the anthropological literature. In short the field is more complex than Otterbein allows and those anthropological materials ignored by Otterbein do not fit easily into his scheme of historiography. Although Otterbein briefly alludes to the work of Carolyn Nordstrom and Antonius Robben (1995) he completely overlooks the wider literature on the cultural production of warfare and violence (see also Daniel 1996, Hinton 1998, Malkki 1995, van der Port 1999). Such work broadly addresses key aspects of human violence that need to be integrated with the kinds of materials Otterbein does discuss.
Cultural systems of classification and practice are key to how acts of violence are committed; for an act of violence is a cultural performance. Violent performance discursively amplifies and extends the cultural force of violent acts so that violent acts themselves can generate a shared idiom of meaning for violent death that enfold both killer and killed. As a result of this the way in which persons are killed or mutilated is not arbitrary, haphazard, or simply a function of perceived instrumentality. The manner of killing and injury may be used to delineate ethnic difference and identity, to construct ideas of sexuality, or to assert of ideas of tradition and modernity (Appadurai 1996, Bataille 1986, Kakar 1996, Tambiah 1986, Trexler 1995). Therefore, while it is evident that the cultural meanings of violent acts vary cross-culturally and historically, it is far from clear how that variation affects the representation of others, how it affects the form of violent acts, or the ways in which violence itself might define cultural practice. It is these kinds of question that much of the recent anthropological literature is interested in answering - and that literature should have been part of Otterbein=s review.
References
Abler, Thomas
1992 Scalping, Torture, Cannibalism and Rape: An ethnohistorical analysis of conflicting cultural values in war. Anthropologica XXXIV:3-20.
Appadurai, A.
1996 Modernity at Large. Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. Minnesota University Press.
Ardrey, Robert
1969 African Genesis. New York : Dell.
Basso, E.
1995 The Last Cannibals: a South American Oral History. University of Texas Press.
Bataille, G.
1986 Erotism. Death and Sensuality. San Francisco: Harbor Lights.
Bodley, John
1990 Victims of progress. Mountain View: Mayfield.
Clastres, Pierre
1977 Society Against the State. New York: Urizen Books
Conklin, B.,
1995 Cannibalism in an Amazonian society. American Ethnologist 22(1):75-101.
Daniel, E. Valentine
1996 Charred lullabies : chapters in an anthropography of violence. N.J. : Princeton University Press.
Darling, J. A.
1999 Mass Inhumation and the Execution of Witches. American Anthropologist. 100:732-52.
Das, V. (ed.)
1990 Mirrors of Violence: Communities, Riots and Survivors in South Asia. Oxford University Press.
Ferguson, R. B. And Neil L. Whitehead (eds.)
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1996 Showing Signs of Violence: The Cultural Politics of a Headhunting Ritual. Berkeley:
California University Press
Geschiere, P.
1997 The Modernity of Witchcraft. Politics & the Occult in Postcolonial Africa. Virginia University Press.
Hanson, Victor D.
1989 The Western Way of War. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hendricks, J.
1993 To Drink of Death: the Narrative of a Shuar Warrior. Arizona University Press.
Hinton, Alexander
1998 A Head for an Eye; Revenge in the Cambodian Genocide. American Ethnologist 25(3):353-377.
Hoskins, Janet (ed.)
1996 Headhunting and the social imagination in Southeast Asia. Stanford University Press
Hobbes, Thomas
1656 The Leviathan. London.
Kakar, S.
1996 The Colors of Violence. Cultural Identities, Religion and Conflict. Chicago University Press. Kapferer , Bruce
1988 Legends of people, myths of state : violence, intolerance, and political culture in Sri Lanka and Australia. Washington: Smithsonian Press.
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1976 The Face of Battle. London: Jonathan Cape.
1993 A History of Warfare. London: Hutchinson.
Keeley, Lawrence H.
1996 War before Civilization.. New York: Oxford University Press.
Lan, David
1985 Guns and Rain: guerrillas & spirit mediums in Zimbabwe. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Malkki, L.
1995 Purity and Exile: Violence, Memory and National Cosmology among Hutu Refugees in Tanzania. Chicago University Press.
Nordstrom, Carolyn and Antonius Robben (eds)
1995 Fieldwork under Fire. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Rosaldo, Renato
1980 Ilongot headhunting, 1883-1974 : a study in society and history. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques
1976 The Social Contract. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Sanday, Peggy R.
1986 Divine Hunger. Cannibalism as a Cultural System. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Scheper-Hughes., Nancy
1992 Death without weeping : the violence of everyday life in Brazil. Berkeley : University of California Press.
Scott, J.
1990 Domination and the Arts of Resistance: Hidden Transcripts. Yale University Press.
Stewart, Pamela and Andrew Strathern,
1999 Feasting on My Enemy: Images of Violence and Change in the New Guinea Highlands. Ethnohistory 46(4):645-670.
Tambiah, S.
1986 Sri Lanka: Ethnic Fratricide and the Dismantling of Democracy. Chicago University Press.
Taussig, Michael
1986 Shamanism, colonialism, and the wild man : a study in terror and healing. Chicago : University of Chicago Press.
Turney-High, Harry H.
1991 Primitive War. Its practice and Concepts. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press (2nd edition).
Taylor, C.
1999 Sacrifice as Terror. The Rwandan Genocide of 1994. New York: Berg Press.
Trexler, R C.
1995 Sex and conquest : gendered violence, political order, and the European conquest of the Americas. Cornell University Press.
Van der Port, Mattijs

Vengeance is ours

Jared Diamond, Annals of Anthropology, “Vengeance Is Ours,” The New Yorker, April 21, 2008, p. 74

Keywords
Revenge Killings;Vengeance;New Guinea Highlands;Papua New Guinea;Tribes;Fighting;Uncles

ABSTRACT: ANNALS OF ANTHROPOLOGY about vengeance killings among the clans of the New Guinea Highlands. Tells of a highlander whose uncle was killed in a battle against a neighboring clan and to whom responsibility for arranging revenge fell. The Papua New Guinea Highlands have been of interest to anthropologists since the 1930s, when the Australians and the Dutch discovered tribespeople living in the Highlands. Describes the origins of a particular clan war. Explains nature of a “public fight,” which is fought in the open between large groups of warriors separated by a considerable distance. It’s often impossible to tell who’s responsible for a kill. For that reason, the target of revenge is not the actually killer but the organizer, or “owner,” of the fight. The highlander explained that people in his clan are taught from early childhood to hate their enemies and to prepare themselves for a life of fighting. His first attempt at revenge was a failure, so he hired men from other villages as allies for his next attempt. Mentions intermarriage between enemy clans. In a battle, each warrior faces dozens or hundreds of enemy warriors, many of whom he’s related to, and some of whom he’s not permitted to kill. The highlander stressed the clear thinking necessary for fighting well. Eventually, a battle arranged by him succeeded in achieving revenge against the man held responsible for his uncle’s death. The highlander was unapologetic and enthusiastic about this outcome, although he himself was now, of course, a target for revenge. Fortunately for him, several years later a shift in clan enmities and alliances ended the whole cycle of revenge killings and united both clans against a common enemy, a neighboring tribe. The highlander said, “I admit that the New Guinea Highland way to solve the problem posed by a killing isn’t good…we are always in effect living on the battlefield.” Nearly all human societies today have given up the personal pursuit of justice in favor of impersonal systems operated by state governments. Without state government, war between local groups is chronic. Explains the origin of state governments. The writer describes the experiences of his late father-in-law, Jozef, who passed up the opportunity for vengeance and lived to regret it. Jozef was a Polish Jew who was captured by the Soviets in 1939 and sent to a Siberian camp before becoming an officer in a Polish division of the Red Army. In the summer of 1945, he led an armed platoon to Klaj, Poland, to discover what had happened to his mother, his sister, and his niece. There he learned that an armed gang had shot them, but when he was face-to-face with the man who led the gang, he hesitated to shoot. Instead, he delivered him to the police, who investigated the crime and then, after about a year, released the murderer. Until his death, Jozef remained tormented by regret at his failure to take vengeance. We regularly ignore the fact that the thirst for vengeance is among the strongest of human emotions. The writer’s conversations in Papua New Guinea made him understand what humans have given up by leaving justice to the state.

LA POSESIÓN DE CARROS Y EL SIGNIFICADO DE SU COLOCACIÓN EN LA TUMBA: CONTRASTE ENTRE CULTURAS. EL CASO DE IBERIA.

Fernando Quesada Sanz

El presente artículo es una versión en español del trabajo publicado en italiano en A. Emiliozzi (ed.), Carri da guerra e principi etruschi. Roma, 1997, pp. 53-59.

Del Bronce Final al Orientalizante: El carro ligero de guerra en las 'Estelas del Suroeste' (¿ ss. IX-VII a.C.?).

El carro ligero de guerra, con tiro de dos caballos sujetos a un timón central, dos ruedas de radios, caja liviana con asideros laterales, y ocupado por una o dos personas que viajan de pie, aparece en la Península Ibérica en forma de representaciones esquemáticas grabadas sobre piedra en las llamadas 'Estelas del Suroeste'. Su introducción en Iberia se asocia a los primeros contactos orientales, quizá incluso en una fase precolonial. Estos carros nada tienen que ver con vehículos de transporte de caja cuadrada, conocidos en otras representaciones rupestres (Celestino 1985,51).

Las estelas grabadas con figuras humanas, armas, carros y otros objetos, son un fenómeno característico del cuadrante suroccidental de Iberia durante las fases avanzadas del Bronce Final y comienzos del Orientalizante (c. 1.050-c. 700/650 a.C.). Como nunca se han hallado cubriendo con certeza una sepultura, se discute su función estricta de señalizaciones de tumbas, aún admitiendo su sentido funerario (Galán, 1993). De lo que no cabe duda, sin embargo, es de que dichas piedras hincadas de gran tamaño reflejaban de manera ostentosa el poder de unas élites que empleaban una serie de materiales que reflejaban su poder, su riqueza y su estatus.

Estela de Ategua



Entre los objetos representados figuran los carros, que aparecen en los tipos más complejos de estelas, aquellas que incluyen, además de una panoplia simple (espada, escudo y lanza), figuras humanas y otros elementos de guerra o de prestigio. Las estelas con carro se distribuyen desde la margen sur del Tajo hasta el Guadalquivir (Galán 1993,49,Fig.12d), por tanto no sólo en el espacio más cercano al núcleo tartésico, sino también en las agrestes sierras más al norte. Suelen fecharse en los momentos más avanzados de este fenómeno, quizá incluso en el s. VIII y la transición al VII a.C., aunque recientes descubrimientos arrojan dudas sobre el cuadro aceptado de evolución y cronología (Murillo 1994). Cabría incluso plantearse si las estelas 'de carro' figuran realmente entre las más avanzadas o si quizá puedan pertenecer a fases más antiguas. En todo caso, como las estelas carecen de contexto arqueológico externo, se han fechado sobre la base de la identificación tipológica de los objetos representados muy esquematicamente en ellas, y por ello la datación es muy tentativa y sujeta a oscilaciones.

Conocemos carros en diecisiete estelas, dentro de un catálogo que llega ya a los 92 ejemplares (frente a 7 y 24 respectivamente conocidas en 1976, cf. Powell 1976:164).

No existe apenas evidencia arqueológica del ritual funerario en este periodo, por lo que no hay otros datos que los propios grabados para valorar el tipo y significado de los carros. En todos los casos el sistema de representación es la perspectiva abatida, en lugar de la visión lateral más característica del mundo mediterráneo. Este sistema es característico tanto del ámbito escandinavo como del sahariano, por citar puntos distantes. En realidad, del estilo representacional no deben deducirse automáticamente influencias culturales directas.

El detalle de los grabados varía mucho dentro de un gran esquematismo general. Las variaciones son atribuibles más a la diferente habilidad de los artesanos y a los tipos de piedra que a variaciones de tipo de carro (Quesada 1994; Celestino 1985). Con todo, pueden observarse bastantes datos interesantes: siempre se trata de vehículos tirados por dos cuadrúpedos -con seguridad caballos y no bóvidos-; no creemos (contra Powell 1976,168) que la posición abatida de los caballos indicara su sacrificio. Nunca aparecen tiros de tres o cuatro animales, al contrario de lo que ocurría desde principios del I milenio en Oriente, Chipre o el Sahara, donde trigas y cuadrigas son frecuentes (Quesada 1994, 180). Siempre son vehículos de dos ruedas, nunca de cuatro; el único caso dudoso (Solana de Cabañas) hace tiempo que se identificó como un error del grabador (contra Blasco, 1993:164). Cuando el grabador se molestó en indicarlo, las ruedas son de cuatro radios, nunca de más, y no parece probable que haya ruedas macizas (contra Celestino, 1985:48); esto es también inhabitual, porque desde siglos antes las ruedas de seis o más radios eran las comunes en el Mediterráneo, y sólo en el Egeo perduraron las de cuatro (Quesada, 1994). La caja es siempre de frente curvo, con grandes asideros; el eje aparece siempre bajo el centro de la caja como en Grecia, no en posición trasera, y el timón es siempre una barra simple.

En conjunto, todos los detalles tipológicos visibles en estos carros se alejan del modelo del Próximo Oriente, Chipre o el Sahara, y nos llevan a relacionarlos con los carros del mundo egeo de la Edad Oscura (Quesada, 1994, contra Blázquez, 1986 que defiende un origen fenicio sin argumentar sonbre la tipología de los propios vehículos).

Remates de eje de carro. Necrópolis de La Joya (Huelva)




Los detalles visibles en los grabados de mayor calidad (por ejemplo, que el timón llegue hasta la trasera de la caja) permiten llegar a la conclusión de que al menos algunos grabadores había visto carros reales y conocían su estructura, mientras que otros copiaron modelos anteriores sin entenderlos cabalmente, convirtiendo por ejemplo los grandes asideros traseros en un segundo e inexistente par de ruedas (estela de Zarza de Montánchez), o demostrando su desconocimiento de la estructura del vehículo (Monte Blanco).

Los carros en las estelas no deben ser entendidos aisladamente, sino como parte de un conjunto significativo que incluye armas, objetos de adorno como espejos y fíbulas, e incluso instrumentos musicales de cuerda, conformando un referente iconográfico complejo de carácter aristocrático y probablemente funerario. Los objetos tienen, individualmente, paralelos tanto en el Mediterráneo como en el Bronce Final Atlántico, pero en su conjunto muestran una significativa sintonía con complejos iconográficos del ámbito mediterráneo y en particular del Egeo, como por ejemplo ocurre con la estela de Ategua (Córdoba), en su momento analizada por M. Bendala.

Por otro lado, no hay indicios de la existencia de un sistema de tipo palacial en el Suroeste de la Península Ibérica de los siglos XI-VIII a.C., capaz de mantener arsenales de carros de guerra, almacenes y talleres de reparaciones, cuadras y dotaciones entrenadas, en fin, una infraestructura que permita hablar de la presencia de un verdadero 'carro de guerra', bien como plataforma de combate (al estilo del Próximo Oriente), bien como 'taxi' de los jefes al campo de batalla (como en Micenas).

Los carros de las estelas no debieron ser sólo ideogramas de prestigio sin referente real, clichés iconográficos importados en abstracto, sino reflejo de la existencia de algunos vehículos reales -probablemente muy pocos y quizá sólo concentrados en el Sur, importados como objetos de prestigio por mercaderes orientales (contra Galán 1993, 80). Dichos vehículos no tendrían papel militar; probablemente sólo fueran ceremoniales, y comenzaran a adquirir significado como vehículos para el tránsito al Más Allá en un ambiente de heroización del aristócrata difunto, según nos muestran la ya citada estela de Ategua y otras (Bendala, Rodríguez, Nuñez 1994,66-67).

El 'Periodo Orientalizante Tartésico' (ss. VII-VI a.C.)
Durante los siglos VII-VI a.C. no conocemos representaciones de carros, pero en cambio tenemos alguna evidencia arqueológica de la existencia de vehículos de ruedas en contextos funerarios principescos. Dicha evidencia procede sobre todo de la necrópolis tartésica de La Joya (Huelva) y de algunos elementos (pasarriendas sobre todo) de bronce hallados en diversos puntos de Andalucía, lamentablemente fuera de excavaciones controladas y por tanto sin contexto arqueológico fiable. En ninguna tumba orientalizante de Iberia se han hallado, sin embargo, elementos decorativos de bronce tan completos y significativos como los que decoraban las cajas de los carros etruscos de los ss. VII-VI a.C.

El principal problema es que dichos vehículos -o al menos los de la Joya- no parecen corresponder al tipo de carro de guerra ligero egeo o próximo-oriental, sino que se trata más bien de carros funerarios para el transporte del cadáver, ricamente ornamentados con bronces, con numerosos remaches metálicos en ruedas y caja, que alcanza una longitud de 1.5 m. Se trataría por tanto de vehículos diferentes a los representados en las estelas. Quizá fueron vehículos de ceremonias de cierto uso, a juzgar por el desgaste apreciable en pasarriendas y cubos de bronce (Fernández Miranda, Olmos, 1986:90).

Rueda procedente de la necrópolis de Baza (Granada)



Por otro lado, la datación alta propuesta recientemente para la Sepultura 17 de La Joya (c. 700/650 a.C. frente a la antigua fecha del s. VI a.C., utilizando evidencia externa al propio carro, Fernández Jurado, 1988-89:226, 264 ) acerca el vehículo depositado en ella a la posible fecha de las estelas más tardías, con lo que podría suponerse una breve coexistencia en Andalucía Occidental de ambos tipos de vehículo (ligero 'de guerra' y carro funerario) en torno a la primera mitad del s. VII a.C. Con todo, dicha propuesta supone estirar en exceso los pocos datos disponibles, y acercar demasiado la cronología de las estelas con carro del Guadiana y Guadalquivir medio al mundo orientalizante de los 'príncipes' de Huelva.

Lamentablemente, el vehículo de la Joya 17 había perdido todo resto de la caja de madera, salvo algunos fragmentos que analizados resultaron ser de nogal. Con todo, sus excavadores documentaron algunos elementos de interés (Garrido, Orta 1978). El tiro era de dos o quizá de cuatro caballos, dada la aparición en la tumba de dos magníficos e inusuales bocados de bronce, y de otras cuatro posibles camas de bocado de tipo diferente, además de cuatro pasarriendas. Todos aparecieron en montón, luego no se enterraron caballos enjaezados. Las dimensiones de la caja, abierta y rectangular, se han estimado en 1.5 x 1 m., esto es, el doble que la caja de un carro de guerra ligero. Los laterales estaban decorados o reforzados con lámina de bronce y apliques calados. Contaba con dos ruedas que debieron depositarse desmontadas dado su lugar de aparición en la tumba, ya que, aunque no se conservan elementos metálicos como llantas, sí aparecen in situ los dos bocines de bronce en forma de cabeza de felino. Estas piezas tienen paralelos en el arte chipriota y oriental, pero también hay modelos similares -aunque del s. VI a.C.- en Ampurias (Gerona, Cataluña) y en S. Mariano (Perugia). Hay además muchos otros elementos ornamentales y estructurales de bronce y de hierro.

Es también posible que en la Sep. 18 de la misma necrópolis se depositara otro vehículo del que sólo quedan algunos apliques de bronce. Es significativo anotar que la tumba 17 de La Joya es una de las dos más ricas de la necrópolis, y que contenía un complejo ajuar que incluía abundante cerámica -incluyendo ánforas de vino importado, un gran quemaperfumes de bronce, jarro y fuente de bronce para libaciones, una arqueta de marfil con figuras egiptizantes, y otros muchos objetos (Garrido, Orta, 1978; Quesada e.p.).

Otros posibles restos de carro proceden de la Sep. 89 de Alcacer do Sal, en la desembocadura del río Tajo en Portugal, cerca de Lisboa, donde se hallaron elementos de remate del eje de un carro. Esta última pieza podría tambier fecharse en un momento algo más avanzado, en el s. IV a.C., al igual que los llamados 'bronces de Máquiz', elementos de adorno de un carro o de un mueble de importancia (¿lecho, trono?), y posiblemente piezas orientalizantes del s. VI a.C., aunque se haya propuesto también una datación en el s. IV a.C.

La tumba 17 de la Joya contiene también cuatro piezas de bronce, probablemente pasarriendas, de un tipo característico en Iberia, y del que se conocen muchos otros ejemplares fuera de contexto preciso pero en ambiente orientalizante. Se trata de cortos vástagos rematados en una anilla circular subdividida horizontalmente en dos, y decorada con palmetas o capullos de loto (Ferrer, Mancebo 1991).

Representación del tránsito al Mas Allá de un personaje ibérico



Particular interés tiene el hallazgo de un pasarriendas de este tipo, así como de un posible cubo o bocín para el eje, en el palacio-santuario orientalizante e ibérico de Cancho Roano (Zalamea de la Serena, Badajoz), cuyo nivel de destrucción data de fines del s. V o principios del IV a.C. pero cuyas fases iniciales se remontan al s. VIa.C. si no antes (Celestino 1994:307-309). De hecho, aunque no se hayan encontrado restos completos de carro, son muy abundantes en el último edificio ('A') otros elementos asociados con caballos, como numerosos bocados de tipos paralelizables en el mundo itálico (Maluquer 1981, pp. 324 y ss. y Láms. XXXVII ss.; 1983, pp. 51 ss.). Incluso se ha hallado un caballito de bronce de buena factura (Celestino 1991), probablemente parte de un carrito votivo de tipo ya conocido en el área extremeña (Blázquez, 1955), y que cuenta con paralelos en toda Europa, incluyendo Italia.

La presencia de tantos elementos relacionados con el carro y el caballo en el palacio-santuario de Cancho Roano prueba la pervivencia de su empleo como vehículo de prestigio, fuera del ámbito funerario, en zonas 'periféricas' al núcleo tartésico durante el Orientalizante.

El carro en la Cultura Ibérica (ss. V-II a.C.).
La tradición Orientalizante de depositar carros en algunas sepulturas principescas, perduró sólo ocasionalmente en la fase posterior, durante los siglos V-IV a.C., época de las aristocracias heroicas y guerreras de la Cultura Ibérica. Es muy escasa la evidencia de 'tumbas de carro' en este periodo, e incluso estos carros no son vehículos ligeros de guerra, sino carros más pesados, aparentemente en muchos casos vehículos de uso diario concebidos en su empleo funerario como transportes al allende.

Sólo en contadas tumbas ibéricas -no llegan a la decena- se han encontrado algunas ruedas y otros posibles elementos de carro. Estas tumbas corresponden a contextos del s. IV a.C. y proceden casi siempre de Andalucía Oriental (Bastetania), sin que se extiendan hacia el Sureste. No se conocen los ricos apliques decorados de bronce con escenas de guerra o caza o ceremonial característicos por ejemplo del mundo etrusco; tampoco hay evidencia del uso de carros ligeros de carrera del tipo documentado en Etruria.

Las ruedas de radios de época ibérica son pesadas estructuras de madera con gran cantidad de elementos de hierro forjado remachados en la zona de los radios y en el cubo (el mejor estudio en Fernández Miranda, Olmos, 1986). Cuentan con seis radios y tienen un diámetro, cuando se ha podido determinar, cercano a los 90-100 cm. (Toya) o 140 cm. (Sep. 176 de Baza).

En los antiguos carros de guerra orientales y egeos el empleo de metal en las ruedas era casi inexistente para evitar que la madera se rajara al tomar velocidad el vehículo; en los carros de guerra celtas el peso total de elementos de metal, incluyendo llantas, apenas supera los 3 Kg (Piggott 1986, 26). En las ruedas ibéricas por el contrario el componente metálico es mucho mayor; es el caso de las ruedas de Toya (Jaén) o Baza (Granada), cuyos seis radios forrados de hierro y unión reforzada a la pina de madera tienen paralelos en Italia (p. ej. Grottazzolina, Woytowitsch 1978, Taf. 58.3, s. VI a.C.). Con todo, estas elaboradas ruedas de carro de las tumbas son muy distintas a las ruedas macizas de llantas metálicas clavadas a las pinas documentadas en algunos poblados, como las dos ruedas de el Amarejo (Albacete), fechadas en el s. III a.C. (Broncano, Blánquez, 1985, 140 ss.).

Lamentablemente, las ruedas procedentes de grandes tumbas de cámara (¿principescas?) construidas en mampostería, como las de Toya (Cabré, 1925 Fig. 21) o Galera, ambas en Andalucía Oriental, carecen de un contexto arqueológico preciso que permita saber con certeza si se colocaron carros completos o sólo ruedas, y en qué parte de la tumba, o el tipo preciso de vehículo. Otras ruedas y elementos de carro carecen de contexto de tumba (Mirador de Rolando en Granada, segundo juego de ruedas de Toya, conjunto de bronce de Máquiz en Jaén) o aparecieron en sepulturas violadas o casi destruidas (Baza, Granada, Sepulturas 9 y 176). Por último, otras elementos tradicionalmente considerados como 'de carro'(Cabecico del Tesoro, Seps. 300 y 397) son muy dudosos al tratarse de simples fragmentos de remaches (contra Stary, 1989), que pueden pertenecer a cualquier objeto de madera.

Sólo en la Sep. 176 de Baza (Granada, Andalucía) se asocia una rueda a una sepultura excepcional, una de las dos tumbas más ricas de la necrópolis, asociada a varias cráteras griegas de Figuras Rojas, barniz negro ático, ánforas, armas, etc. En el caso de otra tumba de Galera (Granada, Andalucía), destruida, la presencia de una rueda se asociaba a restos de armas, incluyendo un casco de hierro.

Por el contrario, en ninguna de los muchos cientos de sepulturas de las grandes necrópolis ibéricas de los ss. V-II a.C. excavadas con rigor científico en el Sureste (Cabezo Lucero, Cabecico, Cigarralejo, Coimbra, La Serreta, Los Villares, etc.) se han hallado hasta ahora restos identificables de carro, ni siquiera en aquellas clasificadas como 'principescas' que han aportado centenares de objetos y abundante vajilla cerámica griega y de bronce (p. ej. Seps. 200 y 277 de El Cigarralejo, Murcia). En consecuencia, sólo en la Alta Andalucía parece conservarse la tradición Orientalizante; es pues doblemente de lamentar que la mayoría de las más importantes necrópolis andaluzas hayan sido documentadas en tan mal estado.

Consideramos poco afortunado pues el empleo del término 'Wagengräber' (p. ej. Stary, 1989). Sólo en muy contadas tumbas Orientalizantes (de una a cuatro) podemos hablar de tal cosa; pero en el ámbito ibérico, que es cronológicamente posterior y culturalmente diferenciado, sólo hay restos de carros en la Alta Andalucía, y no en el resto del territorio ibérico. Además, carecemos de documentación suficiente sobre la mayoría de estos casos -menos de diez- como para saber si comparten sistemáticamente las otras características normalmente asociadas a las 'tumbas de carro' (p. ej. tamaño de la tumba, vajilla de bronce, armas, etc.) y las implicaciones sociales correspondientes.

Al igual que en el caso de la tumba 17 de La Joya, la presencia de reparaciones en los radios de las ruedas de Toya (Jaén) muestra que los vahículos depositados en tumbas habían tenido previamente una utilización intensa (Fernández Miranda, Olmos, 1986, 56 y Fig. 13). Esta evidencia de uso duro, unida a la ausencia sistemática de apliques decorativos en bronce, nos hace dudar de su carácter de carros 'ceremoniales' o de 'prestigio', y nos hace pensar más bien en la deposición funeraria de carros comunes, o sólo de ruedas, para facilitar el viaje del difunto al mundo de ultratumba. Además, la casi total ausencia de evidencia iconográfica implica que en el mundo de los vivos el carro no fue desde el s. IV un símbolo ceremonial o de prestigio de especial relevancia.

En cambio, los datos arqueológicos indican claramente que los iberos emplearon a menudo el carro de dos ruedas y varales, tirado por équidos o bóvidos, como medio de transporte. Los caminos de acceso a poblados a menudo muestran, profundamente marcadas en la roca, las huellas de las rodadas de las pesadas llantas de hierro de los carros (Castellet de Bernabé o Castellar de Meca en Valencia); estas rodadas indican anchos de eje entre ruedas de en torno a 100-130 cm., mucho menores que los 150-200 cm. de los carros de guerra del Próximo Oriente. Igualmente, en algunos poblados se han hallado restos de ruedas similares a las de las tumbas, o más habitualmente de otras macizas o de reja: es el caso del Amarejo en Albacete (dos ruedas macizas, s. III a.C.), del Cerro de la Cruz en Córdoba (s. II a.C.) o Montjuich en Barcelona (ss.IV-II a.C.?).

Rodadas de carro de época ibérica en el yacimiento de Meca (Albacete)



Este carro humilde aparece reflejado en forma de pequeños exvotos tallados en piedra o fundidos en bronce en complejos religiosos, como en el Cigarralejo (Murcia) o en el santuario del Collado de los Jardines (Jaén). Indican que el sencillo vehículo de transporte era más usual que el rico vehículo de ceremonias. Se trata de vehículos de caja rectangular o triangular, con dos ruedas en un eje central, y probablemente varales. A menudo los exvotos no indican los radios de las ruedas, que así aparecen macizas.

Conviene señalar que en el santuario andaluz del Collado de los Jardines se halló también en 1916, sin contexto preciso, una pieza metálica característica correspondiente a la cubrición de un radio de rueda, lo que muestra que, además de en tumbas, se depositaron en los santuarios ruedas o carros reales y no sólo en forma de exvotos miniatura.

Con todo, algo de la vieja tradición que veía en el carro un noble vehículo de transporte al Más Allá se conservó en la mentalidad ibérica de época más tardía, como indica la curiosa pintura sobre un vaso cerámico hallado en Elche de la Sierra (Albacete), datada en el s. II a.C. (Eiroa 1986). En ella, un guerrero ibérico va a iniciar su viaje al Más Allá; parece a punto de subir a un carro, pero antes recibe de una figura femenina alada un caballo también con alas, quizá para uncirlo al carro que le llevará al mundo de ultratumba. En conjunto, una escena heroizante con caballos alados y carros, de honda raigambre mediterránea, y con buenos paralelos en Etruria; sin embargo, el carro en cuestión no es el acostumbrado vehículo ligero de guerra, sino una carreta de transporte con rueda de reja, no de radios, y caja de altos varales, más apta para transportar alfalfa que un aristócrata difunto; evidentemente, el tema se ha mantenido, pero el antiguo carro ceremonial y de guerra no era ya conocido por estos iberos del s. II a.C. La tradición ibérica tardía se había convertido en un pálido reflejo de las costumbres de los príncipes orientalizantes.

Al ámbito celtibérico de la Meseta, donde no hay datos que permitan suponer la colocación de carros o de ruedas en las sepulturas, llegaron sin embargo también ideas mediterráneas sobre el tránsito al Más Allá a bordo de vehículos. Así se plasmó en un tosco relieve modelado en arcilla sobre un pequeño friso o rebanco hallado en una vivienda (o posible santuario) del poblado celtibérico del Cerrón de Illescas (Toledo), datable a mediados del s. IV a.C. Dos carros ligeros de tipo mediterráneo avanzan a la izquierda seguidos de un grifo alado, motivos iconográficos ambos muy inusuales en este ambiente (Balmaseda, Valiente 1981).

BIBLIOGRAFÍA

Almagro Basch M. 1979 Los orígenes de la toreútica ibérica. Trabajos de Prehistoria 36, pp.173-211.

Balmaseda L.J.; Valiente, S. 1981 El relieve de Illescas. Archivo Español de Arqueología 54, pp. 215-238.

Bendala M., Rodríguez I., Nuñez E. 1994. Una nueva estela de guerrero tartésica de la provincia de Córdoba. Homenaje a Jose Mª Blázquez, vol. I. Madrid, pp.59-67.

Blasco M.C. 1993 El Bronce Final. Madrid.

Blázquez J.M. 1955 Los carros votivos de Mérida y Almorchón. Zephyrus 6, pp. 41-60.

Blázquez J.M. 1986 La estela de Monte Blanco, Olivenza (Badajoz) y el origen fenicio de los escudos y de los carro representados en las losas de finales de la Edad del Bronce en la Península Ibérica. Archivo Español de Arqueología 59, pp. 191-198.

Broncano S.; Blánquez J. 1985 El Amarejo (Bonete, Albacete). Excavaciones Arqueológicas en España, 139. Madrid.

Cabré Aguiló J. 1924 La rueda en la Península Ibérica. Actas y Memorias de la Sociedad Española de Antropología, Etnografía y Prehistoria, 3, pp. 71-96.

Cabre Aguiló J. 1925 Arquitectura hispánica. El sepulcro de Toya. Archivo Español de Arqueología 1, pp. 73-101.

Celestino S. 1985 Los carros y las estelas decoradas del Suroeste. Homenaje a J. Cánovas. Badajoz, pp. 45-55.

Celestino S. 1994 Los altares en forma de 'lingote chipriota' de los santuarios de Cancho Roano. Revista de Estudios Ibéricos 1, pp. 291-209.

Celestino S.; Julián J.M. 1991 El caballo de bronce de Cancho Roano. Cuadernos de Prehistoria y Arqueología de la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 18, pp. 179-188.

Cuadrado E. 1955 El carro ibérico. III Congreso Nacional de Arqueología, pp. 116-141.

Eiroa J.J. 1986 El kalathos de Elche de la Sierra (Albacete). Anales de Prehistoria y Arqueología de la Universidad de Murcia 2, pp. 73-86.

Fernández-Miranda M.; Olmos R. 1986 Las ruedas de Toya y el origen del carro en la Península Ibérica. Madrid.

Fernández Jurado J. (1988-89) Tartessos y Huelva. Huelva Arqueológica X-XI.1. Huelva.

Ferrer E.; Mancebo J. 1991 Nuevos elementos de carros orientalizantes en la Alta Andalucía. Alunas precisiones en torno a su función, significado y distribución. Cuadernos de Prehistoria y Arqueología de la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 18, pp. 113-148.

Galán E.G. 1993. Estelas, paisaje y territorio en el Bronce Final del Suroeste de la Península Ibérica. Madrid.

Garrido J.P., Orta E.M. 1978. Excavaciones en la necrópolis de 'La Joya' (Huelva).II. 3ª, 4ª y 5ª campañas. En Excavaciones Arqueológicas en España, 96. Madrid.

Maluquer de Motes J. 1981. El santuario protohistórico de Zalamea de la Serena, Badajoz. Barcelona.

Maluquer de Motes J. 1983 El Santuario protohistórico de Zalamea de la Serena, Badajoz. II, 1981-1982. Barcelona.

Murillo J.F. 1994. La estela de La Ribera Alta (Córdoba): consideraciones en torno a las estelas decoradas con escudo, espada y lanza. Anales de Arqueología Cordobesa 5, pp. 11-32.

Muzzolini A. 1988 Les chars des stèles du sud-est de la Péninsule Ibérique, les chrs desgravures rupestres du maroc et la datation des chars sahariens. Congreso Internacional del Estrecho de Gibraltar. Ceuta, 1987. Vol. I, pp. 361-387.

Pare C. 1989 From Dupljaja to Delphi: the ceremonial use of the wagon in later prehistory. Antiquity 63, pp. 80-100.

Piggott S. 1983 The earliest wheeled transport. From the Atlantic coast to the Caspian Sea. London.

Piggott S. 1986 Horse and chariot: the price of prestige. En J.G. Evans y G. Jope (coords.) Proceedings of the IIIrd International Congress of Celtic Studies, pp. 25-30.

Powell T.G.E. 1976 South western Peninsular chariot stelae. En J.V.S. Megaw (coord.) To illustrate the monuments, pp. 163-169.

Quesada, F. 1994 Datos para una filiación egea de los carros grabados en las 'Estelas del Suroeste', en Actas del V Congreso Internacional de Estelas Funerarias, Vol. I. Soria, Abril-Mayo, 1993, Soria, pp.179-187.

Quesada F. (en prensa) From quality to quantity: wealth, status and prestige in the Iberian Iron Age. En D. Bailey (ed.) Wealth, Prestige and Value. London.

Ruiz-Gálvez M., Galán E. 1991 Las estelas del Suroeste como hitos de vías ganaderas y rutas comerciales. Trabajos de Prehistoria 48, pp. 257-273.

Serra Ráfols J. de C. Carrito ibérico de bronce, del Museo de Granollers. AEspA 21, pp. 378-391.

Stary P.F. 1989 Eisenzeitliche wagengräber auf der Iberischen Halbinsel. Madrider Mitteilungen 30, pp. 151-183.

Woytowitsch E. 1978 Die Wagen der Bronze- und frühen Eisenzeit in Italien. PBF XVII.1. München.

Violence in the Bogs





In Archaeology
"Bodies of the Bogs"
December 10, 1997

In 1904 two naked bodies were found in the southern part of the Bourtanger Moor in the Netherlands. Because one of them lays on the outstretched arm of the other, who is obviously male, it was long believed that the second body was that of a woman. We now know that this body is also male. Both men died between 160 B.C. and 220 A.D. The intestines of one body (right) protrude from a stab wound in his left chest. How the other man died is unknown. (Drents Museum of the Netherlands, Assen)

In 1879 the body of an adult woman was found in a bog near Ramten, Jutland in Denmark. The body, known as Huldremose Woman, was very well preserved. The woman met her violent end sometime between 160 B.C. and 340 A.D. Her arms and legs showed signs of repeated hacking, and the diggers who found her body noted that her right arm was detached from the rest of her body. That arm was evidently cut off before she was deposited in the peat. (National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen)

The mummified body of a 16-year-old girl was dredged out of a small raised bog near the village of Yde, province of Drenthe, Holland, in 1897. The body was badly damaged by the peat dredgers' tools. Yde Girl died a violent death sometime between 170 B.C. and A.D 230. The woolen band around her throat shows that she died from strangulation. A wound near her left clavicle was probably inflicted with a knife. With the girl were the remains of a large and rather worn woolen cloak. (Drents Museum of the Netherlands, Assen)

Elling Woman was found in 1938 in the Bjeldskovdal bog, west of Silkeborg, Denmark, only about 200 feet from where Tollund Man (see below) came to light 12 years later. Elling Woman was wrapped in one sheepskin cape, and another covered her legs and feet. She wore a woven belt around her waist. Elling Woman was hanged with a leather thong, which left a V-shaped furrow that is clearly visible in her neck. The leather belt that was used to hang her still survives. It has a sliding knot, making it suitable for execution purposes. This happened in the pre-Roman Iron Age, between 350 and 100 B.C. (Silkeborg Museum)

Tollund Man was discovered in Bjeldskovdal in 1950. He lived in the third or second century B.C., and is thought to have died at 30-40 years of age, choked to death by hanging from a leather belt. He was found lying on his side with arms bent and legs drawn up, and he was naked except for a leather cap and belt. Much of his flesh had decayed, but his head was intact including the stubble on his chin. Analysis of his intestines indicates he probably had eaten a gruel consisting predominantly of barley and seeds available in winter or early spring. (Drents Museum of the Netherlands, Assen)

Thursday 9 September 2010

Du rififi chez les hommes préhistoriques

Romain Pigeaud
in La Recherche

Neandertal connaissait la bagarre... et l'infirmerie
Du rififi chez les hommes préhistoriques

Il y a environ 36 000 ans, un homme de Neandertal a reçu un coup violent qui lui a fracturé le crâne : c'est l'un des premiers témoignages de violence entre humains. Mais ce squelette révèle aussi l'un des plus anciens actes de solidarité : le blessé a été soigné et assisté le temps d'être remis sur pied.

L'homme de Neandertal découvert en 1979 à Saint-Césaire, en Charente-Maritime, n'en finit pas d'être tiraillé dans des controverses scientifiques sur la sauvagerie et l'humanité des hommes préhistoriques. Dès 1981, François Bordes, de l'université Bordeaux-I, proposa que ce squelette incomplet, trouvé dans une fosse au milieu de restes animaux, constituait les restes d'un repas consommé par des hommes modernes, nos ancêtres Cro-Magnon, qui auraient chassé là le néandertalien comme ailleurs le renne ou le mammouth(I). Avec cet individu, on avait en effet retrouvé des outils caractéristiques de la culture châtelperronienne(1), ce qui heurtait profondément les convictions établies : la majorité des préhistoriens pensait que cette culture, dont on retrouve en France des vestiges de 36 000 à 30 000 ans environ, avait été produite par l'homme de Cro-Magnon. La forme et la complexité des outils du Châtelperronien, ainsi que la présence d'objets de parure tels que des perles - considérées à l'époque comme trop « évoluées » pour des néandertaliens - rattachent en effet cette culture au Paléolithique supérieur.

Bernard Vandermeersch, à l'époque à l'université Paris-VI, a depuis fait justice de l'hypothèse cannibale, en démontrant que le squelette ne présentait aucune trace de découpe(2). En outre, en 1996, Jean-Jacques Hublin, aujourd'hui à l'université Bordeaux-I lui aussi, et ses collègues ont conclu qu'un morceau d'os temporal découvert par André Leroi-Gourhan au début des années 1960 dans un autre site châtelperronien, la grotte du Renne, à Arcy-sur-Cure dans l'Yonne, avait également appartenu à un néandertalien(3). L'homme de Saint-Césaire a donc été accepté au fil des années comme l'une des principales preuves que les néandertaliens avaient suivi, peu avant leur disparition il y a environ 30 000 ans, une évolution culturelle homologue à celle des Cro-Magnons. La tendance actuelle est d'ailleurs à une réhabilitation de Neandertal comme un être intelligent et sensible : n'enterrait-il pas déjà ses morts ? A Shanidar, en Irak, il aurait même déposé des fleurs dans une tombe(4).

Fracture du crâne. La violence vient toutefois de resurgir à propos du néandertalien de Saint-Césaire. En examinant son crâne à l'aide d'une reconstruction assistée par ordinateur, Christoph Zollikofer et Marcia Ponce de Leon, de l'institut d'anthropologie et du laboratoire multimédia de l'université de Zurich, ont découvert une fracture de 68 millimètres de long dans la voûte crânienne(5) (page suivante). Cette fracture serait due à un coup porté par un objet pointu.

Violence volontaire. On savait déjà que la vie de chasseur-cueilleur au Paléolithique n'était pas de tout repos, et que peu d'individus devaient vivre au-delà de 45 ans. Ce n'est pas la première fois que les anthropologues relèvent des signes de blessure chez des hommes préhistoriques. Le premier spécimen de néandertalien, retrouvé en 1856 dans la grotte de Feldhofer, en Allemagne, porte une fracture, ressoudée, du cubitus gauche. A Shanidar un autre néandertalien, d'environ 50 000 ans, présentait des fractures cicatrisées de la tempe gauche (ce qui l'avait rendu borgne) et du bras droit (devenu atrophié et inutilisable) ; il était aussi probablement manchot du côté droit (les os de la main et de l'avant-bras manquent). Plus anciennement, un jeune Homo erectus de 500 000 ans, trouvé sur le site de Sangiran, à Java, présentait une fracture de la mâchoire, elle aussi reconsolidée (ci-dessus, à droite).

Mais l'homme de Saint-Césaire est un cas particulier : c'est le seul exemple indiscutable de violence volontaire au Paléolithique. La forme de l'impact exclut en effet qu'il soit dû à une chute accidentelle ou à un animal : l'individu était debout lorsque son crâne a été heurté. « On » lui a tapé sur le crâne. Qui ? Un envahisseur Cro-Magnon ? Un néandertalien d'un clan opposé ? Un « frère » de la même bande ?

Simultanément, l'homme de Saint-Césaire témoigne aussi d'une certaine douceur dans ce monde de brutes. Sa fracture s'est en effet cicatrisée, et il a donc survécu à sa blessure au moins quelques mois sans qu'elle ne s'infecte. La sévérité du coup porté avait pourtant probablement entraîné une forte hémorragie, une commotion cérébrale, voire le coma. Un héros d'Homère se serait soigné tout seul. Mais il est plus raisonnable d'envisager que celui-là a été secouru et pris en charge par son groupe.

De même les congénères de l'Homo erectus de Sangiran à la mâchoire brisée l'ont probablement aidé à survivre en lui fournissant de la bouillie au cours de sa convalescence. Et sur le site de Bau de l'Aubesier, dans le Vaucluse, il y a environ 180 000 ans, un autre néandertalien, souffrant d'infections dentaires qui lui avaient déchaussé les dents, aurait été maintenu en vie de la même façon(6). Enfin, outre ses multiples fractures, l'individu de Shanidar présentait des dégénérescences pathologiques du pied droit et du bas de la jambe droite. Autant dire qu'il était inapte à la chasse. Et pourtant, il a survécu et est mort relativement âgé pour l'époque, à plus de 30 ans. C'est donc qu'il a été soigné, puis assisté.

Paradis perdu ? Une conjonction de violence et de solidarité s'impose donc progressivement dans notre conception des sociétés paléolithiques. Devons-nous nous en étonner ? Dans la nature, les querelles au sein d'une même espèce sont monnaie courante. Il suffit de penser aux combats des cerfs à la saison des amours ou aux querelles des hyènes autour des charognes. Le comportement agressif permet aussi, selon l'éthologiste Konrad Lorenz, d'éviter la trop grande présence d'une même espèce sur un territoire, donc un épuisement des réserves alimentaires. Les poissons de corail, par exemple, font preuve d'une grande agressivité uniquement à l'encontre de leurs congénères qui s'approchent trop de leur trou.

La solidarité de groupe n'est pas non plus spécifique à l'être humain. Comme le remarquait encore Lorenz : « Quelques-uns des oiseaux et des mammifères les plus intelligents et les plus sociables réagissent d'une façon très dramatique à la mort subite d'un des membres de leur espèce. Les oies cendrées restent, les ailes étendues et en sifflotant, auprès d'un ami mourant pour le défendre(7).»

Pourquoi alors semblons-nous surpris d'apprendre, par exemple, qu'à Krapina, en Croatie, ou dans la Baume de Moula-Guercy, en Ardèche, des néandertaliens auraient mangé leurs semblables ?(II) Qu'à Saint-Césaire, un homme fut brutalisé par un autre ? Et à l'inverse, que parfois les hommes de la Préhistoire pouvaient faire preuve d'« humanité » ? Peut-être parce que ces découvertes nous empêchent d'avoir une vision tranchée et réconfortante de notre passé, paradis perdu ou époque de barbarie à jamais révolue. Les actes de nos ancêtres rentrent dans le cadre normal des processus de la sélection naturelle, où une pulsion d'agressivité est aussi nécessaire qu'un instinct d'entraide collective. Et nous ne sommes, du coup, pas meilleurs qu'eux, comme nous voudrions le croire.

Romain Pigeaud

1) F. Lévêque, L'Homme de Neandertal, vol. VII : « L'extinction », Liège, Eraul n° 35, 1989.

(2) B. Vandermeersch, Bull. et Mém. de la Soc. d'Anthropologie de Paris, 1, XIV, 191, 1984.

(3) J.-J. Hublin et al., Nature, 381, 224, 1996.

(4) A. Leroi-Gourhan, Paleorient, 24, 79, 1998.

(5) C. P. E. Zollikofer et al., PNAS, 99, 6444, 2002.

(6) S. Lebel et al., PNAS, 98, 11097, 2002.

(7) K. Lorenz, L'Agression, Flammarion, 1996.

Violence and Conflict in the Material Record

Archaeological Review from Cambridge
Issue 25.1, April 2010

Table of Contents

Theme Editors: Skylar Neil and Belinda Crerar

Introduction
Skylar Neil and Belinda Crerar

War and Peace: A Reassessment of the Archaeological Traces of Warfare, Inter-Personal Violence and Peace in the Material Record
Erik G. Johannesson and Michelle L. Machicek

Coalescence and Conflict in Iroquoian Ontario
Jennifer Birch

Staking a Claim: Fortified Homesteads and their Place in Australian Settler Identity Construction
Dr Nicolas K. Grguric

Conflict in the Highlands: The Archaeology of the Scottish Highland Clearances
Jarvis Hayman

'Defenders of the Polis': The Heroisation of War Dead in Classical Greece
Kirsten Bedigan

Battlefield Remains? The Interpretation of Weaponry in Bronze Age Egypt and the Levant
Dan Boatright

'A Road either to Safety or to Ruin': Violence and Conflict in Hunter-Gatherer Societies
Emma Elder

'Shot at Dawn': Manipulating Remembrance and Forgetting
Johnathon Trigg

Uncovering the Arsenals of Armageddon: The Historical Archaeology of North American Cold War Ballistic Missile Launch Sites
Todd A. Hanson

Book Reviews and Notes
Edited by Victoria Pia Spry-Marqués

Past Bodies: Body-Centred Research in Archaeology (edited by D. Borić and J. Robb) — Dr Hannah Cobb

Image and Audience: Rethinking Prehistoric Art (by Richard Bradley) — Mark Sapwell

Textile Production in Pre-Roman Italy (by M. Gleba) — Elizabeth M. Schech

American Megafaunal Extinctions at the End of the Pleistocene (edited by G. Haynes) — Alexander J. E. Pryor

Anglo-Saxon Deviant Burial Customs (Andrew Reynolds) — Christopher Ferguson

The Partings of the Sea: How Volcanoes, Earthquakes, and Plagues Shaped the Story of Exodus (by B. J. Sivertsen) — Rodrigo Pacheco Ruiz

A "Splendid Idiosyncrasy": Prehistory at Cambridge 1915 - 50 (by P. J. Smith) — Terra C. Pruitt

Espacio, Tiempo y Forma. Prehistoria y Arqueología. Homenaje al Profesor Eduardo Ripoll Perelló. Serie 1, No. 1. (by Several Authors) — Particia Murrieta-Flores

Actas do 3º Colóquio Transformação e Mudança

GONÇALVES, V. S.; SOUSA, A. C. eds (2010) - Transformação e mudança no Centro e Sul de Portugal: o 4º e o 3º milénio a.n.e. Cascais: Câmara Municipal. 581 p. [Colecção Cascais Tempos Antigos, 2]

SECÇÃO 1: OS SÍTIOS, AS PAISAGENS E AS DIACRONIAS

PENÍNSULA DE LISBOA
Ana Catarina Sousa - Penedos e Muralhas - A Leitura possível das Fortificações do Penedo do Lexim
João Luís Cardoso - Leceia: A evolução do sistema defensivo.
João Luís Cardoso e João Carlos Caninas - O povoado calcolítico fortificado de Moita da Ladra
João Luís Cardoso - O povoado calcolítico fortificado de Outeiro Redondo (Sesimbra). Noticia preliminar.
Michael Kunst - Zambujal, a dinâmica da sequência construtiva
Victor S. Gonçalves e Ana Catarina Sousa - O povoado calcolitíco do Estoril, os seus furadores de sílex e os seus tempos (inclui um estudo de traceologia por Marina Igreja)

ALENTEJO E ALGARVE
Carlos Tavares da Silva e Joaquina Soares - O povoado fortificado do Porto das Carretas.
Rui Mataloto - O 4ºº/3º milénio a.C. no povoado de São Pedro (Redondo, Alentejo Central): fortificação e povoamento na planície centro alentejana
Victor S. Gonçalves e António Alfarroba – Ver ao longe no 3º milénio a.n.e. Sobre a localização e o significado do Monte Novo dos Albardeiros
Elena Morán - O povoado calcolítico de Alcalar: ocupação do espaço e sequência ocupacional
Carolina Grilo - O Povoado Pré-Histórico do Alto do Outeiro, Baleizão, Beja. Resultados Preliminares.


SECÇÃO 2: O SAGRADO, OS RITOS E OS ESPAÇOS DA MORTE

PENÍNSULA DE LISBOA
Rui Boaventura - O Megalistimo da região de Lisboa: as antas

ALENTEJO E ALGARVES
Jorge Oliveira - Neolítico e Megalitismo na Coudelaria de Alter
Rui Parreira - O Hipogeu I de Monte Canelas – As placas de xisto gravadas.
Rui Parreira e Ana Maria Silva - Hipogeu I de Monte Canelas: Caracterização antropológica dos enterramentos in situ e das conexões anatómicas


SECÇÃO 3: A SUL E A ORIENTE, NOVAS QUESTÕES, MONUMENTOS E SITIOS
Enrique Cerrillo Cuenca, José María Fernández Corrales, Francisco Javier Heras Mora, Alicia Prada Gallardo, José Antonio López Sáez - Cambios y permanencias en el entorno de Castillejos (Fuente de Cantos, Badajoz, España): de finales del Neolítico a comienzos de la Edad del Bronce.
Francisco Nocete, Nuno F. Inácio, Moisés R. Bayona, María D. Cámalich Massieu, Dimas Martín Socas, Rafael Lizcano Prestel, Ana Peramo De La Corte1, Esther Álex Tur - Mineração e metalurgia no III Milénio A.N.E. no Sudoeste Peninsular: Dissimetrias sociais nos povoados de La Junta de los Ríos (Puebla de Guzmán, Huelva) e Cabezo Juré (Alosno, Huelva).
José Ramos Munoz, Manuela Pérez Rodriguez, Salvador Domiguez-Bella - Un balance de las ocupaciones históricas desde las últimas comunidades cazadoras-recolectoras a las bases de la sociedad clasista inicial en el área del Estrecho de Gibraltar y banda atlántica de Cádiz.
P.Bueno Ramirez, R.de Balbín Behrmann,Rosa Barroso Bermejo - Grafías de los Grupos Productores Y Metalúrgicos En La Cuenca Interior Del Tajo. La Realidad Del Cambio Simbólico

DEBATENDO DISPOSITIVOS DEFENSIVOS…E SEPULTURAS MEGALÍTICAS

DEBATES (Coordenação: Victor S. Gonçalves)

Mesa redonda - fortificar o quê, como, porquê e para quê
Victor S. Gonçalves, João Luís Cardoso, Michael Kunst, Rui Parreira, Carlos Tavares da Silva, Ana Catarina Sousa, Rui Mataloto, João Carlos de Senna Martinez, Narciso Jafra, Joaquina Soares, Manuel Calado.

Mesa redonda - a propósito do povoamento, do sagrado, dos ritos
Victor S. Gonçalves, Joaquina Soares, José Ramos, Leonor Rocha, Manuel Calado, João Carlos de Senna Martinez, Carlos Tavares da Silva, Rui Boaventura, Rui Mataloto, José Ramos, Paco Nocete,

3º Colóquio Internacional Transformação e Mudança: Transformação e Mudança no Centro e Sul de Portugal (3500 a 2000 a.n.e.)
uma crónica de Elias Lopez-Romero Gonzalez de la Aleja

Wednesday 8 September 2010

Army Enlists Anthropology in War Zones

By DAVID ROHDE
Published: October 5, 2007
The New York Times

SHABAK VALLEY, Afghanistan — In this isolated Taliban stronghold in eastern Afghanistan, American paratroopers are fielding what they consider a crucial new weapon in counterinsurgency operations here: a soft-spoken civilian anthropologist named Tracy.

Tracy, who asked that her surname not be used for security reasons, is a member of the first Human Terrain Team, an experimental Pentagon program that assigns anthropologists and other social scientists to American combat units in Afghanistan and Iraq. Her team’s ability to understand subtle points of tribal relations — in one case spotting a land dispute that allowed the Taliban to bully parts of a major tribe — has won the praise of officers who say they are seeing concrete results.

Col. Martin Schweitzer, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division unit working with the anthropologists here, said that the unit’s combat operations had been reduced by 60 percent since the scientists arrived in February, and that the soldiers were now able to focus more on improving security, health care and education for the population.

“We’re looking at this from a human perspective, from a social scientist’s perspective,” he said. “We’re not focused on the enemy. We’re focused on bringing governance down to the people.”

In September, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates authorized a $40 million expansion of the program, which will assign teams of anthropologists and social scientists to each of the 26 American combat brigades in Iraq and Afghanistan. Since early September, five new teams have been deployed in the Baghdad area, bringing the total to six.

Yet criticism is emerging in academia. Citing the past misuse of social sciences in counterinsurgency campaigns, including in Vietnam and Latin America, some denounce the program as “mercenary anthropology” that exploits social science for political gain. Opponents fear that, whatever their intention, the scholars who work with the military could inadvertently cause all anthropologists to be viewed as intelligence gatherers for the American military.

Hugh Gusterson, an anthropology professor at George Mason University, and 10 other anthropologists are circulating an online pledge calling for anthropologists to boycott the teams, particularly in Iraq.

“While often presented by its proponents as work that builds a more secure world,” the pledge says, “at base, it contributes instead to a brutal war of occupation which has entailed massive casualties.”

In Afghanistan, the anthropologists arrived along with 6,000 troops, which doubled the American military’s strength in the area it patrols, the country’s east.

A smaller version of the Bush administration’s troop increase in Iraq, the buildup in Afghanistan has allowed American units to carry out the counterinsurgency strategy here, where American forces generally face less resistance and are better able to take risks.

A New Mantra

Since Gen. David H. Petraeus, now the overall American commander in Iraq, oversaw the drafting of the Army’s new counterinsurgency manual last year, the strategy has become the new mantra of the military. A recent American military operation here offered a window into how efforts to apply the new approach are playing out on the ground in counterintuitive ways.

In interviews, American officers lavishly praised the anthropology program, saying that the scientists’ advice has proved to be “brilliant,” helping them see the situation from an Afghan perspective and allowing them to cut back on combat operations.

The aim, they say, is to improve the performance of local government officials, persuade tribesmen to join the police, ease poverty and protect villagers from the Taliban and criminals.

Afghans and Western civilian officials, too, praised the anthropologists and the new American military approach but were cautious about predicting long-term success. Many of the economic and political problems fueling instability can be solved only by large numbers of Afghan and American civilian experts.

“My feeling is that the military are going through an enormous change right now where they recognize they won’t succeed militarily,” said Tom Gregg, the chief United Nations official in southeastern Afghanistan. “But they don’t yet have the skill sets to implement” a coherent nonmilitary strategy, he added.

War before Civilization: The Myth of the Peaceful Savage - Blood Rites: Origins and History of the Passions of War

Book Reviews by
Mary W. Helms
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Journal of World History 10.2 (1999) 431-434
War before Civilization: The Myth of the Peaceful Savage. By Lawrence Keeley. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.

Blood Rites: Origins and History of the Passions of War. By Barbara Ehrenreich. New York: Owl/Holt, 1997.

Lawrence Keeley wrote War before Civilization as a corrective to the idea, prevalent especially among prehistorians, either that ancient societies were basically peaceful, "that warfare and prehistory did not mix" (p. ix), or that, if warfare did exist in such settings, it was more ritualized and stylized than destructive and traumatic. Using both ethnographic and archaeological data from non-Western bands, tribes, chiefdoms, and states, Keeley cogently and persuasively argues that, in fact, war was very much a part of life for peoples of the past. Furthermore, "primitive war" with its raids, ambushes, and surprise attacks was much more frequent, more deadly, and equally or more "total" in its effect on property and lives than the more specialized and technologically sophisticated wars fought by modern "civilized" states. "The facts recovered by ethnographers and archaeologists indicate unequivocally that primitive and prehistoric warfare was just as terrible and effective as the historic and civilized version. . . . Peaceful prestate societies were very rare; warfare between them was very frequent, and most adult men in such groups saw combat repeatedly" (p. 174).

In defense of this thesis Keeley devotes most of his well-written book to discussion and documentation of several aspects of precontact native warfare, some of which he judges as superior to modern battle, including weapons, tactics (more frequent encounters and raids rather than fewer but prolonged actions), forms of combat (small ambushes [End Page 431] and large raids on settlements preferred), and casualties (much deadlier than modern war in terms of proportion of war deaths relative to total population). The author also considers the material gains and losses of native war, especially the high logistical vulnerability of small-scale societies to looting and destruction.

Keeley then devotes several chapters to the causes and contexts of nonstate warfare, ultimately concluding that conflict is less closely associated with population density and more closely associated with any sort of situation that requires or encourages exchange or mutual acquisition of desired resources between societies. He argues that "the fact that exchange and war can have precisely the same results is often forgotten by archaeologists. When exotic goods are found at a site, they are almost invariably interpreted as being evidence of prehistoric exchange. That such items might be the spoils of war seldom occurs to prehistorians. . . . Thus archaeologists doubly pacify the past by assuming that all exotic items are evidence of exchange and that exchange precludes war. The ethnographic evidence implies that both of these assumptions are invalid; war moves goods and people just as effectively...as exchange, and exchange can easily incite warfare" (p. 126). Keeley further identifies proximity to unusually bellicose neighbors, severe economic hardships, and frontier locations and conditions that frequently encourage exchange as additional contexts for nonstate warfare. (The term frontier, however, is not clearly defined: does it refer to border areas between societies, or does it include outside groups from the perspective of a given center?)

The author also devotes an interesting chapter to the reasons underlying the development of the concept of the "pacified past" among Western scholars, identifying the general aversion to war that developed in Western societies following the trauma of World War II and the apocalyptic fears of nuclear annihilation during the Cold War years, combined with a growing tendency to view the rapidly disappearing traditional lifestyles of native peoples with sentimentality and nostalgia. In such a setting, he argues, the nastier aspects of native life have come to be explained as the result of Western contact, and native war becomes the epitome of the evils that "civilization" and "progress" have inflicted upon tribal life--a life that must have been more peaceful, virtuous, and happy than modern life because we wish it to be so.

Some readers may be inclined to argue that Keeley's work is too generalized for their tastes. Many, however, might find his narrative admirably restrained when contrasted with the free-wheeling opinions on the origins and development of war offered by Barbara Ehrenreich [End Page 432] in Blood Rites. Ehrenreich is not interested in the specific causes (assumed to be basically materialistic) that spark specific conflicts but in the qualitative, social-psychological sense of communitas, ecstasy, and the sense of the sacred that are said to accompany states of war. She rests her argument on several basic premises: that violence lies at the heart of sacrality and that war is a form of sacred violence based on early hunting and rooted in a repressed primordial experience of early Homo, alleged to have cowered as fearful prey of more skilled animal predators at every sound in the night (p. 22). In this interpretation, war, likened to other rituals of blood sacrifice, is said to celebrate and reenact the human transformation from prey to predator, which is why war has been and continues to be experienced as ecstatically "religious."

In part 1 of her essay the author speculates rather freely about the role of early humans as prey and the "rebellion" against this situation, which she sees as the ultimate inspiration for blood sacrifice in later prehistoric and historic settings, as carnivorous gods continued to demand and, so to speak, devour flesh and blood, be it human or animal surrogate, in grisly rites. Part 2 focuses on war itself, as Ehrenreich romps through history discussing, in very general terms, the origin of war, types of warriors, the sacralization of war (for example, by using its victims for blood sacrifice), the merging of militancy and Christianity, and the extension of the uplifting experience of the "glory" of war from elite warriors to ordinary citizen-soldiers with the invention of the gun and nation-state. She concludes with a brief examination of the "worship" of war during and after World War II, as exemplified in the nationalism of German Nazism, State Shinto in Japan, and the ritualized "patriotism" of the United States.

Blood Rites is cleverly argued but often heavily speculative and facile. Scholarly works are cited, but many grandiose and over-generalized statements are presented without further grounding. Yet Ehrenreich's arguments are frequently intriguing, even if often fanciful and superficial, and the book is definitely thought-provoking. It is debatable, however, whether the content of myths and epics and native ritual should be considered accurate and literal windows onto an ancient primordial past, and I cannot help but wonder if it is really necessary to seek an ultimate explanation for the excitement and group solidarity engendered by war in the murky mysteries of the mind of primordial humans when there is solid ethnographic evidence that suggests and documents more immediate reasons to glorify war in political ideology and political economy.

Similar questions can be raised about other basic assumptions [End Page 433] employed by Ehrenreich. For example, is the meaning of beasts in native exegesis properly associated with predation, or are animals identified as an expression of the Other in its myriad forms and meanings? Is the meaning and motivation of sacrality, blood sacrifice, and war essentially rooted in and defined by violence per se, as the author asserts, or does this perspective seriously misconstrue the significance of all these issues? Does fascination about violence and anxiety about dangerous predators reflect early human experience or the author's (and our) own twentieth-century cultural milieu? It is tempting to enjoy this book because it reduces the complicated passion for war to simplistic and essentially unverifiable psychological mysteries, often primordial ones at that. Many readers may have difficulties accepting Ehrenreich's basic hypotheses for the same reason.

A BIOARCHAEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE ON THE HISTORY OF VIOLENCE

Phillip L. Walker

Annual Review of Anthropology
October 2001, Vol. 30, pp. 573-596

Abstract
Traumatic injuries in ancient human skeletal remains are a direct source of evidence for testing theories of warfare and violence that are not subject to the interpretative difficulties posed by literary creations such as historical records and ethnographic reports. Bioarchaeological research shows that throughout the history of our species, interpersonal violence, especially among men, has been prevalent. Cannibalism seems to have been widespread, and mass killings, homicides, and assault injuries are also well documented in both the Old and New Worlds. No form of social organization, mode of production, or environmental setting appears to have remained free from interpersonal violence for long.

Life Histories, Blood Revenge, and Warfare in a Tribal Population

NAPOLEON A. CHAGNON
Science
26 February 1988:
Vol. 239. no. 4843, pp. 985 - 992

Abstract
Blood revenge is one of the most commonly cited causes of violence and warfare in tribal societies, yet it is largely ignored in recent anthropological theories of primitive warfare. A theory of tribal violence is presented showing how homicide, revenge, kinship obligations, and warfare are linked and why reproductive variables must be included in explanations of tribal violence and warfare. Studies of the Yanomamö Indians of Amazonas during the past 23 years show that 44 percent of males estimated to be 25 or older have participated in the killing of someone, that approximately 30 percent of adult male dealths are due to violence, and that nearly 70 percent of all adults over an estimated 40 years of age have lost a close genetic relative due to violence. Demographic data indicate that men who have killed have more wives and offspring than men who have not killed.