The past as a foreign country: Bioarchaeological perspectives on Pinker’s “Prehistoric Anarchy”

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Steven Pinker’s thesis on the decline of violence since prehistory has resulted in many popular and scholarly debates on the topic that have ranged – at times even raged – across the disciplinary spectrum of evolution, psychology, philosophy, biology, history and beyond. Those disciplines that made the most substantial contribution to the empirical data underpinning Pinker’s notion of a more violent prehistoric past, namely archaeology and bioarchaeology/physical anthropology, have not featured as prominently in these discussions as may be expected. This article will focus on some of the issues resulting from Pinker’s oversimplified cross-disciplinary use of bioarchaeological datasets in support of his linear model of the past, a model that, incidentally, has yet to be incorporated into current accounts of violent practices in prehistory.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)6-16
JournalHistorical Reflections
Volume44
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Mar 2018

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • prehistory
  • Europe
  • violence
  • bioarchaeology
  • skeletal trauma
  • interdisciplinarity
  • ethics

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