War before civilization

The myth of the peace-loving "noble savage" is persistent and pernicious. Indeed, for the last fifty years, most popular and scholarly works have agreed that prehistoric warfare was rare, harmless, unimportant, and, like smallpox, a disease of civilized societies alone. Prehistoric warfare, according to this view, was little more than a ritualized game, where casualties were limited and the effects of aggression relatively mild. Lawrence Keeley's groundbreaking War Before Civilization offers a devastating rebuttal to such comfortable myths and debunks the notion that warfare was introduced to primitive societies through contact with civilization (an idea he denounces as "the pacification of the past").

Building on much fascinating archeological and historical research and offering an astute comparison of warfare in civilized and prehistoric societies, from modern European nations to the Plains Indians of North America, War Before Civilization convincingly demonstrates that prehistoric warfare was in fact more deadly, more frequent, and more ruthless than modern war. To support this point, Keeley provides a wide-ranging look at warfare and brutality in the prehistoric world.

Originally published: 1996.

1. The Pacified Past: The Anthropology of War -- 2. The Dogs of War: The Prevalence and Importance of War -- 3. Policy by Other Means: Tactics and Weapons -- 4. Imitating the Tiger: Forms of Combat -- 5. A Skulking Way of War: Primitive Warriors Versus Civilized Soldiers -- 6. The Harvest of Mars: The Casualties of War -- 7. To the Victor: The Profits and Losses of Primitive War -- 8. Crying Havoc: The Question of Causes -- 9. Bad Neighborhoods: The Contexts for War -- 10. Naked, Poor, and Mangled Peace: Its Desirability and Fragility -- 11. Beating Swords into Metaphors: The Roots of the Pacified Past -- 12. A Trout in the Milk: Discussion and Conclusions.