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Nineteenth-Century Arrow Wounds and Perceptions of Prehistoric Warfare

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

George R. Milner
George R. Milner*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University,University Park, PA 16802
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Abstract

In recent years, prehistoric warfare has increasingly attracted the attention of archaeologists in North America, much like other parts of the world. Skeletons with several forms of trauma, including arrow wounds, are often used as evidence of intergroup conflict, although opinion is divided over what these casualties might mean in terms of the effect of warfare on everyday life. Information on 191 patients from the nineteenth-century Indian Wars in the American West indicates that only about one in three arrows damaged bone, and as many as one-half of wounded lived for months or years following their injuries. Arrow wound distributions vary among Indian Wars cases, modern Papua New Guinea patients, and prehistoric skeletons from eastern North America, in large part because of differences in how fighting was conducted. Despite arguments to the contrary, it is reasonable to infer that even low percentages of archaeological skeletons with distinctive conflict-related bone damage indicate that warfare must have had a perceptible impact on ways of life.

Résumé

Résumé

En años recientes, el interés de los arqueólogos en Norte América por la guerra prehistórica se ha incrementado gradualmente, al igual que lo ha hecho en otras partes del mundo. Con frecuencia se utilizan esqueletos con diversas formas de trauma, incluyendo heridas de flecha, como evidencia de conflicto intergrupal, aunque se expresan distintas opiniones con respecto a lo que tales víctimas pueden representar en términos del efecto de la guerra en la vida diaria. Información procedente de 191 pacientes de las Guerras Indias del siglo XIX en el Oeste Americano, indica que sólo una de tres flechas llegaba a dañar el hueso y que cerca de la mitad de los heridos sobrevivía a sus lesiones. Las distribuciones de heridas de flecha varían entre los casos de las Guerras Indias, los pacientes de la moderna Papua Nueva Guinea y los esqueletos prehistóricos del este de Norte América, debido en gran parte a la manera en que los enfrentamientos eran conducidos. A pesar de los argumentos que apoyan lo contrario, resulta razonable inferir que incluso bajos porcentajes de esqueletos arqueológicos que presentan daño óseo relacionado a conflicto, indican que la guerra debe haber tenido un impacto sensible en sus modos de vida.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 70 , Issue 1 , January 2005 , pp. 144 - 156
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 2005

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