Today it has evolved to the point that it stands as the biggest single threat to the survival of humanity on the face of the planet. Each discipline adds a different dimension to our understanding of the causes and role of warfare in the past, present and future of the human species. Second, archaeology provides a diachronic perspective on the causes and effects of war in many different kinds of societies over very long periods of time. By looking back across long stretches of time, archaeology offers the advantage of being able to examine patterns in the development of warfare in circumstances very different from those found in either the contemporary or historic worlds. If the vision of social science is restricted to historic and contemporary records, then we are led to the almost inevitable conclusion that warfare is ubiquitous and inevitable in the human species.
Warfare is even more prevalent in the written record of history.
Submitted for publication to Archaeology in the Millenium, edited by T. Douglas Price and Gary Feinman. All rights reserved.