Page 246 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol V

warfare, origins of 2023

encamped, they too command respect, and where they
pass, they transform the people.Their arrival is like the indicative of warfare. This is often among the oldest,
timely rains in which all men rejoice. . . . The [sagely] because it may not require much technology (a commu-
four emperors and two kings all marched through the nity’s decision to locate on a defensible site still requires
Empire with their troops guided by humanity and collective-action problem-solving). As some historians
appropriateness, The people close-by were won over have pointed out, however, locational evidence is a weak
by their goodness, and those afar were filled with long- or often ambiguous indicator of warfare, because an
ing for their excellence.Their swords were not blood- arguably defensible location may have been chosen on
stained, yet people near and far submitted willingly. grounds other than the threat of conflict—for example,
Their excellence flourished in the center of the realm for its religious significance, trade or communication
and spread out to the four quarters. This is what the links, access to natural resources, or other nonmilitary
Odes means when it says: advantage.
However, while locational evidence at an individual
The good man, the noble gentleman,
isolated site is generally not a sufficient indicator of war-
In demeanor and conduct, he is without fault;
fare, a regional widespread pattern of several defensible
In demeanor and conduct, he is without fault;
locations may be. And locational evidence (for instance,
He rectifies the states that fill the four quarters.
a hilltop) often combines with structural evidence (like
(Xunxi, ch.15)
enclosing walls, even without a parapet) to indicate war-
fare (for instance, in Quebec, Canada; Habuba Kabira,
Iraq; and Monte Albán, Mexico).
example, religious sacrificial practices unrelated to war-
fare, or cannibalism without actual warfare—may also Structural
account for the extant forensic evidence.Where forensic Structural evidence, in the form of purposively planned
evidence potentially indicative of warfare is found, it is and executed military engineering works, constitutes
therefore essential to also have an understanding of the hard evidence of warfare (sufficient conditions for the
other social practices. existence of at least a threat of warfare) and is also a com-
Unfortunately, the most compelling osteological evi- mon indicator of significant social complexity. Struc-
dence of warfare emerges well after warfare originated. tural works involve a significant level of planning and
Skeletal remains of warriors buried with artifactual evi- execution, involving a nontrivial proportion of able labor
dence of warfare—for example, weapons or armor—also in the community. The polity responsible for military
prove the existence of warfare.An early Old World exam- works will often have reached state-level complexity
ple is the royal cemetery of Ur (Tell al Muqayyar) in (with internally differentiated institutions, specialized
Lower Mesopotamia, Iraq, which contained weapons elites, and other stable features that go beyond the mere
buried with their warrior owners (now in the British centralization of power [chiefdom]). Chiefdoms can
Museum, London; the University Museum of the Uni- achieve some of these engineering goals (like moats and
versity of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; and the Iraq palisades) but not all of them (more extensive or territo-
Museum, Baghdad). rial wall systems).
Structural evidence of warfare is also diverse. A pal-
Locational isade is an early form of fortification, erected around the
Locational evidence of warfare refers to the defensible perimeter of a local polity (for example, Palisade I in
position of a given site in a surrounding physical envi- Cahokia, Illinois). Palisades often include baffled gates
ronment. High ridges, sloping terrains, islands, or penin- for controlled entry (for instance, Banpo [Pan-p’o],
sulas provide locations that may constitute evidence China) and sometimes they represent just the first stage