Violence in Prehistoric Societies

Violence in prehistoric societies is one of the darkest and most complex puzzles in our past. Fossils and stone tools show that these ancient societies not only hunted, but also sometimes tried to resolve their conflicts with violent actions. So how common was violence among prehistoric societies? Did hunter-gatherers resort to violence only to control resources? Research indicates that violence in prehistoric times was a complex phenomenon that had not only physical but also social, cultural and even spiritual dimensions.

Causes of Violence in Prehistoric Societies

Violence in prehistoric societies could stem from various factors such as resource scarcity, intra- and inter-group competition, social hierarchies, and individual conflicts. During this period, people engaged in hunting and gathering to survive.

The hunter-gatherer lifestyle inherently made competition and conflict inevitable. For example, wars over hunting grounds and water resources were one of the most important factors triggering violence in prehistoric societies. Food resources were the most basic requirement for both the functional continuity of ecosystems and the continuity of life. Therefore, serious disagreements and even bloody conflicts could occur between groups.

Hunting and gathering required not only physical prowess but also strategic thinking and collective cooperation. But it should not be overlooked that the physically strong often had the upper hand. The strong and talented had the advantage in accessing resources, while the weaker were often left behind. This could lead to the formation of social hierarchies and result in interpersonal power struggles manifesting as violence.

Social hierarchies had an exacerbating effect on violence in prehistoric societies. Leadership and power struggles led to conflicts between individuals and groups. Those in power could want to control resources and dominate the group. This increased tension within the group. Archaeological findings are filled with examples of bearing traces of such conflicts. Traumatic lesions seen on skulls and other bones are the most important osteological evidence of violence in prehistoric societies.

On the other hand, individual conflicts were also one of the triggering factors of violence in prehistoric societies. Violent conflicts between individuals could occur for reasons such as personal disagreements, jealousy, revenge and honor issues.

Forms of Violence

Violence in prehistoric societies manifested itself in various forms, from physical conflicts to wars, from ritualistic practices to punishment methods.

Physical conflicts, as mentioned above, often occurred as part of intra- and inter-group disputes and struggles for control of resources. These conflicts occurred over control of critical areas such as hunting grounds and water sources, and sometimes broke out as a result of personal disagreements. A fight between two individuals could eventually develop into a small-scale war between communities, involving larger groups.

In prehistoric times, warfare was a common phenomenon among tribes and groups. Archaeological excavations clearly demonstrate how organized and systematic these wars were, thanks to the defensive structures and war tools of the period. In addition, the sacrifice of prisoners captured in these wars to gods or nature spirits through practices that can be defined as “ritualistic violence” shows that war was not just a military action, but continued with its religious and cultural dimensions in the post-conflict period.

Sacrificial rituals were a concrete expression of societies’ efforts to interact with metaphysical beings and gain their approval. Although animals were mostly sacrificed in these rituals, human sacrifices were also encountered in some cases. Human sacrifice rituals were especially practiced after wars and during critical events that shaped the fate of the community.

In prehistoric times, violence was also used as a tool to maintain social order. Individuals who violated normative social rules faced material and moral sanctions applied to maintain social order. These sanctions were sometimes applied as physical violence, and sometimes as exile or exclusion from society. These punishment mechanisms were a clear warning to others in the community who were prone to committing crimes or who broke the rules.

Effects of Violence on Society

Anthropological studies indicate that in prehistoric times, acts of violence had a significant impact on social order. While violent events strengthened authority structures, they sometimes overturned them, leading to the emergence of entirely new leaders. For example, during conflicts and wars, powerful and charismatic individuals rose to leadership positions and reshaped the social hierarchy.

In prehistoric societies, violence affected all layers of the social structure from A to Z. The increase in violent incidents triggered feelings of fear and insecurity among community members, leading to a decrease in social harmony and the disruption of social integrity.

On the other hand, violence has caused various social roles and norms to be redefined in society. While the importance of warriors and powerful people in society has increased, more vulnerable groups such as women and children began to live in more protected areas. This has led to the reshaping of gender roles.

Migration as a Result of Violence

Violent incidents in prehistoric communities triggered demographic and mass migration movements. Violent conflicts and wars caused tribes and communities to abandon their existing settlements and migrate to safer areas.

Migrations should be considered not only as physical movements, but also as a sociocultural phenomenon that caused changes in the lifestyles and worldviews of communities. Groups migrating to new regions interacted with other communities and played an important role in cultural exchange and the construction of new social norms. But this process sometimes brought about conflicts.

Examples and Archaeological Findings

Anthropological research and archaeological findings are of great importance in understanding violence in prehistoric societies. These findings help us understand how and why violence was practiced by humans, its social effects and historical evolution. Some notable examples and findings that bear traces of violence in prehistoric societies are:

Jebel Sahaba Cemetery, Sudan

The Jebel Sahaba cemetery in Sudan, near the Nile River, dates back approximately 13,000 years. Initially, it was thought that the cemetery bore traces of a single major conflict. However, re-evaluations as of 2021 have refuted this view. 41 skeletons in the cemetery were found to have both healed and unhealed lesions.

Researchers who analysed the lesions suggest that the violence at Jebel Sahaba was linked to a series of attacks and ambush tactics rather than large-scale fighting.¹

Talheim Death Pit, Germany

The mass grave in the Heilbronn district of Baden-Württemberg dates back approximately 7,000 years. Osteological remains found in the grave indicate that most of the people buried here died as a result of violence. Most of the skeletons had skull injuries, cuts and fractures. These findings suggest that the Talheim community was probably destroyed by raids or massacres.²

Such events are important because they show that violence in prehistoric societies was not limited to individual conflicts, but also large-scale violence between communities.

Gough’s Cave, England

Gough’s Cave, located in Cheddar, England, contains numerous Homo sapiens remains dating from the end of the Last Glacial Maximum. These remains, dating back approximately 14,700 years, bear striking signs of cannibalism. Osteological findings, together with cut and crush marks on the remains, indicate that the individuals were killed and their flesh was consumed.³

Archaeological evidence regarding the dietary and ritual practices of Paleolithic communities suggests that extreme nutritional strategies such as cannibalism were accepted as a cultural norm or adaptive nutritional strategy among some groups.

Çatalhöyük, Türkiye

Çatalhöyük is considered one of the most important settlements of the Neolithic period in Anatolia. As a result of archaeological examinations, traces of violence were found in some of the tomb settlements and structural elements in Çatalhöyük. Fractures and injuries in the skeletal remains indicate the existence of social conflicts and acts of domestic violence.

Excavations at Çatalhöyük also reveal the existence of high population density, infectious diseases and environmental problems. According to some researchers, this excessive population density may have increased the tendency for violence within the society.⁴

Nataruk, Kenya

Skeletons discovered at the Nataruk archaeological site in Kenya, dating back approximately 10,000 years, showed severely traumatized areas, fractures, and cuts. It appears that the vast majority of the examined individuals were left to die with their hands bound. What is worse is that some individuals who bore signs of being beaten with sticks or injured with cutting tools met this tragic end while still in their childhood.⁵

The presence of obsidian materials in some of the violent incidents at Nataruk strengthens the hypothesis that the attackers may have come from elsewhere, given the limited availability of obsidian in this area.

Scaloria Cave, Italy

The Scaloria Cave, located in the Puglia province of Italy, is an important settlement dating back to the Neolithic period. In the examinations conducted on some skeletons in the cave, signs of violence such as cut marks and head traumas were detected. The findings indicate that the cave may have been a center for ritualistic violence and that certain individuals within the social structure may have been targeted for ritual purposes. It is thought that young people in particular were chosen as victims and killed in various rituals held in the cave.

Some researchers have hypothesized that people may have been buried in the cave, based on the visual similarities of the stalactites and bones or on the long-standing belief that the underground was a source of spiritual powers.⁶

1. Crevecoeur I, Dias-Meirinho MH, Zazzo A, Antoine D, Bon F. New insights on interpersonal violence in the Late Pleistocene based on the Nile valley cemetery of Jebel Sahaba. Sci Rep. 2021 May 27;11(1):9991.[↩]
2. Meyer, C., Lohr, C., Gronenborn, D., & Alt, K. W. (2015). The massacre mass grave of Schöneck-Kilianstädten reveals new insights into collective violence in Early Neolithic Central Europe. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(36), 11217-11222.[↩]
3. Orschiedt, Jörg, Tim Schueler, Marta Połtowicz-Bobak, Dariusz Bobak, Stefan Karol Kozłowski, and Thomas Terberger. “Human remains from Maszycka cave (woj. Małopolskie/PL): The treatment of human bodies in the Magdalenian.” (2017).[↩]
4. Larsen, Clark Spencer, Christopher J. Knüsel, Scott D. Haddow, Marin A. Pilloud, Marco Milella, Joshua W. Sadvari, Jessica Pearson et al. “Bioarchaeology of Neolithic Çatalhöyük reveals fundamental transitions in health, mobility, and lifestyle in early farmers.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 116, no. 26 (2019): 12615-12623.[↩]
5. “Evidence of a prehistoric massacre extends the history of warfare.” University of Cambridge, 20 Jan. 2016. Accessed 24 July 2024.[↩]
6. Wikipedia contributors. (2024, July 14). Scaloria Cave. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 08:40, July 24, 2024.[↩]