Sarah Ralph 
The Archaeology of Violence [EPUB ebook] 
Interdisciplinary Approaches

The Archaeology of Violence is an interdisciplinary consideration of the role of violence in social-cultural and sociopolitical contexts. The volume draws on the work of archaeologists, anthropologists, classicists, and art historians, all of whom have an interest in understanding the role of violence in their respective specialist fields in the Mediterranean and Europe. The focus is on three themes: contexts of violence, politics and identities of violence, and sanctified violence.



In contrast to many past studies of violence, often defined by their subject specialism, or by a specific temporal or geographic focus, this book draws on a wide range of both temporal and spatial examples and offers new perspectives on the study of violence and its role in social and political change. Rather than simply equating violence with warfare, as has been done in many archaeological cases, the volume contends that the focus on warfare has been to the detriment of our understanding of other forms of ‘non-warfare’ violence and has the potential to affect the ways in which violence is recognized and discussed by scholars, and ultimately has repercussions for understanding its role in society.

Tabla de materias

Illustrations

Tables



1. Introduction: An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Study of Violence


Sarah Ralph




Section I: The Contexts of Violence



Introduction


Sarunas Milisaukas



2. War Without Warriors?: The Nature of Interpersonal Conflict before the Emergence of Formalized Warrior Elites


Rick J. Schulting



3. Warfare in Northern European Bronze Age Societies: Twentieth-Century Presentations and Recent Archaeological Research Inquiries


Helle Vandkilde



4. Violence as an Aspect of Durotriges Female Life Course


Rebecca C. Redfern



5. Facing the Sword: Confronting the Realities of Martial Violence and Other Mayhem, Present and Past


Simon T. James




Section II: The Politics and Identities of Violence



Introduction


Bradley A. Ault



6. Violent Discourses: Visual Cannibalism and the Portraits of Rome’s “Bad” Emperors


Eric R. Varner



7. “An Offense to Honor Is Never Forgiven…”: Violence and Landscape Archaeology in Highland Northern Albania


Michael L. Galaty



8. “Persuade the People”: Violence and Roman Spectacle Entertainment in the Greek World


Michael J. Carter



9. Past War and European Identity: Making Conflict Archaeology Useful


John Carman




Section III: Sanctified Violence



Introduction


Peter F. Biehl



10. The State of Sacrifice: Divine Power and Political Aspiration in Third Millennium Mesopotamia and Beyond


Anne Porter

11. The Violent Ways of Galatian Gordion


Mary M. Voigt



12. An Archaeological Interpretation of Irish Iron Age Bog Bodies


Eamonn P. Kelly



13. The Archaeology of Destruction: Christians, Images of Classical Antiquity, and Some Problems of Interpretation


John Pollini




Section IV

Epilogue


Keith F. Otterbein



Contributors

Index

Sobre el autor

Sarah Ralph is a College Fellow in Archaeology at Harvard University.