Practice and Prestige: An Exploration of Neolithic Warfare, Bell Beaker Archery, and Social Stratification from an Anthropological Perspective

Contents

Introduction ;
Archaeological background ;
Neolithization ;
The Early and Middle Neolithic periods ;
The Pre-Bell Beaker Final Neolithic period ;
The Bell Beaker period ;

Part 1: Neolithic warfare ;
During the Neolithic period ;
Anthropological evidence ;
Fortifications ;
Imagery ;
Horses: domestication and riding ;
Weapons ;
Bows ;
Arrows ;
During the Bell Beaker period ;
Anthropological evidence ;
Fortifications ;
Imagery ;
Bow-shaped pendants ;
Weapons ;
Bows ;
Arrows ;
Wristguards ;
A glance at Bronze Age warfare ;

Part 2: Neolithic social organization ;
Specialization ;
The problem of child burials ;
Social hierarchy ;
Early indications and genetic evidence ;
Structures and metalworks ;
Examples from Bulgaria ;
A return to warfare ;

Part 3: The anthropological connection ;
The anthropological study ;
The Bell Beaker skeletal collection ;
Traumas ;
The suspected archers and their contexts ;
Results summary ;
Interpretations at the population level ;
Interpretations at the individual level ;
The anthropological results within an archaeological framework ;
Burial contexts ;
Bell Beaker society ;
A note on sex and sexism in archaeology ;
Closing remarks ;

Acknowledgements ;

Bibliography

About the Author

Jessica Ryan-Despraz is a postdoctoral assistant at the University of Geneva (Switzerland). She holds an MSc in prehistoric archaeology and anthropology and a PhD in prehistoric archaeology. She specialises in biological anthropology, with a focus on human biomechanics and its influences on skeletal morphology. Her research has led to extensive work on Bell Beaker skeletons in order to address questions surrounding prehistoric archery and warfare.

Reviews

‘Somit bleibt beim Rez. ein gemischtes Gefühl zurück; ein sehr interessanter und lobenswerter Ansatz, interessante Ergebnisse, aber in der vorliegenden Buchform leider nicht ideal umgesetzt. Dennoch finden sich zahlreiche gesammelte Informationen zum Thema Bogen & Co. im Band, die für sich genommen bereits Interessenten finden werden. Um die ganze Studie überblicken zu können, sei aber die originale Dissertation empfohlen.’ [translated: The reviewer is left with mixed feelings: a very interesting and commendable approach, interesting results, but unfortunately not ideally implemented in its current book form. Nevertheless, numerous collected pieces of information on the topic of bows & co. can be found in the volume, which will already attract interested readers in their own right. However, to gain a full overview of the study, the original dissertation is recommended.] – Christian Meyer (2023): GERMANIA 101