Page 252 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol V

warfare, origins of 2029

was associated with warfare,albeit at a later time.What was homicidal skills on how to kill other humans and hunt-
once thought to be the violent and systematic destruction ing skills on how to coordinate a group for killing ani-
of San Lorenzo ca.950 BCE,which could have been the first mals. Each of these primitive activities produced a set of
concretely dated occurrence of warfare for this area of transmittable skills, including homicidal know-how and
Mesoamerica,is no longer viewed with such certainty.War- the know-how necessary for successful group hunting (for
fare at the subsequent Olmec polity of La Venta, on the example, intelligence, stealth, and concealment).
other hand, is not debated, given the numerous icono- The negligible level of political organization that existed
graphic indicators present after ca. 900 BCE (depictions of during the foraging and early Neolithic eras explains why
warriors, weapons, armor, captives, and others). at most only protowarfare was produced by these non-
specialized skills. Protowarfare was essentially indistin-
Zapotec guishable from humans-hunting-humans, leaving behind
Using locational evidence alone, the origins of warfare in only ambiguous forensic and locational indicators (like
the Oaxaca Valley could date back to the founding of San projectile points embedded in skeletal remains, cannibal-
José Mogote on high ground overlooking the Atoyac ism, and plausibly defensible locations) and no other evi-
River during the egalitarian (pre-chiefdom) political stage dence of warfare (that is, no defensive structures or
of the Tierras Largas phase, ca. 1400 BCE. However, high specialized weapons, and certainly no writing).
ground may have been chosen to avoid flooding by the The chiefdom, the state, and eventually the empire
nearby river, not necessarily as a defensible location. acted as catalysts, reinforcing and magnifying the initial
Soon after, at ca. 1100 BCE, another community was background conditions through a complex interactive
founded in the northern area of the Etla subvalley, called process. Warfare and political development were mutu-
Huitzo, which means “military lookout” in Zapotec. By ally reinforcing processes, as in a feedback loop, because
the Rosario phase, 700 to 500 BCE, warfare is already warfare can produce conditions favorable for political
clearly shown by the defensible position and fortification development (for instance, a perceived group emergency
of many communities in the Etla subvalley, by weapons condition, a centralization of power, or a need for com-
buried with chiefs, and by the iconography showing pliance with authority) and political development can
nude prisoners and war captives. For example, over three increase the probability of success in waging war. The
hundred prisoners were set up in a gallery just before state did not produce war, but it did enhance it with
state formation at the regional capital of Monte Albán. unprecedented organization and lethality.
This pattern of increasing sociopolitical complexity The investigation of ancient warfare and early political
continues to evolve until warfare reaches an imperial development may hold the key to enduring and chal-
(albeit brief) stage during the period of the Monte Albán lenging puzzles in social science and contemporary world
state, arguably the first state in Mesoamerica.Again, as in politics.
the Inca case, the warfare that the Spaniards encountered
Claudio Cioffi-Revilla
in Mesoamerica in the 1500s CE was the result of a pro-
tobellic process that had begun thousands of years ear- See also Warfare, Comparative
lier, at a chiefly stage of political development.

Unprecedented Lethality Further Reading
The causal mechanism that accounts for the origin of Cioffi-Revilla, C. (2000). Ancient warfare: Origins and systems. In M. I.
warfare in antiquity is based on the specialization, Midlarsky (Ed.), Handbook of war studies II (pp. 59–89). Ann Arbor:
University of Michigan Press.
growth, and refinement of a set of background behavioral
Cioffi-Revilla, C., & Lai, D. (1995). War and politics in ancient China,
skills acquired by humans during the Paleolithic period: 2700–722 B.C. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 39, 467–94.