Warfare in Neolithic Thessaly: A Case Study

by Curtis N. Runnels, Claire Payne, Noam V. Rifkind, Chantel White, Nicholas P. Wolff, and Steven A. LeBlanc

Hesperia, Volume 78, Issue 2
Page(s): 165-194
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25622691
Year: 2009
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ABSTRACT:

Cross-cultural archaeological and ethnographic evidence for warfare in farming societies invites us to reconsider the traditional picture of the Greek Neolithic (ca. 7000-3400 B.C.) as a period of peaceful coexistence among subsistence farmers. Archaeological correlates of intercommunal conflict in the prehistoric American Southwest and the widespread evidence for warfare in Neolithic Europe suggest that warfare is also likely to have taken place in Neolithic Greece. The well-known Neolithic record for Thessaly reveals evidence for warfare in defensive structures, weapons, and settlement patterns. Competition for resources such as arable land, grazing rights, and water may have contributed to the causes of Greek Neolithic warfare.