The conduct and consequences of war: Dimensions of conflict in east-central Arizona.

Abstract

Archaeology has much to contribute to the anthropological study of war. Study of ancient war is necessary to resolve questions about its origins, the conditions that accompany it, and the effects of Western contact on native war patterns. Archaeology also has a critical role to play in understanding the co-evolution of conflict and society. However, archaeologists disagree about the prevalence of war and its effects in prehistory. While war has emerged as a prime mover in some explanations of culture change in noncentralized societies, some researchers remain reluctant to consider the role of conflict in past cultural processes. Dissension about the effects of war in the past stems from an underappreciation of the immense variability of nonstate war. In this study I identify key variables to characterize the conduct of war, including social scale, social distance, frequency, duration, and tactics. Ethnographic data indicate that these dimensions strongly co-vary with each other, producing distinct levels of conflict. Studies of war in noncentralized societies also demonstrate that the states of these variables strongly influence the effects of conflict. The relationship between the dimensions of war and its consequences is a powerful tool for studying ancient conflict. I provide a case study from the prehistoric American Southwest to demonstrate how dimensions of war, and war's likely effects, can be identified with archaeological data. Architectural, ceramic, and settlement pattern data are used to reconstruct chronological change in defensive strategies adopted by residents of east-central Arizona between A.D. 850 and 1300. My results suggest that a pattern of brief, infrequent engagements between socially linked groups gave way during the mid-12<super> th</super> century to lengthy hostilities between socially distant groups, characterized by fiercer tactics and frequent and/or unpredictable engagements. Defensive necessity likely had a negative economic impact on groups in the study area, precipitating its partial abandonment. This study indicates that warfare was widespread in central Arizona from A.D. 1150 to 1250, and provides important historical context for the period of intense, pan-Southwestern warfare that followed.