War Paths, Peace Paths: An Archaeology of Cooperation and Conflict in Native Eastern North America

(Paperback)

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

Reviews

A very informative text on the evolution of warfare in eastern North America. Recommended. * Choice Reviews *
War Paths, Peace Paths skillfully traces all three trends in Native culture as violence and peace evolved over the millennia. * American Archaeology *

Author Bio

David H. Dye is associate professor of archaeology in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Memphis.