Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-m8qmq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T18:12:58.991Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Warfare and the Evolution of the State: A Reconsideration

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

David Webster
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Warfare is seen as an adaptive ecological choice under conditions of population growth and resource limitation. Its major significance in the formation of the state lay in its ability to negate evolutionary constraints inherent in ranked societies. The evolutionary significance of warfare is discussed in terms of processes of cultural change which are largely internal.

Type
Comment
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 40 , Issue 4 , October 1975 , pp. 464 - 470
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1975

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adams, R. M. 1966 The evolution of urban society. Aldine, Chicago.Google Scholar
Adams, R. M. 1968 Archaeological research strategies. Science 160:1187–1192.Google Scholar
Carneiro, R. 1970 A theory of the origin of the state. Science 169.Google Scholar
Flannery, K. 1972 The cultural evolution of civilization. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 8. Google Scholar
Fried, M. 1961 Warfare, military organization, and the evolution of society. Anthropologica 3. Google Scholar
Fried, M. 1967 The evolution of political society. Random House, New York.Google Scholar
Fried, M. 1968 Formation of the state. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs.Google Scholar
Sahlins, M. D. 1958 Social stratification in Polynesia. University of Washington Press, Seattle.Google Scholar
Service, E. 1962 Primitive social organization. Random House, New York.Google Scholar
Sharp, A. 1957 Ancient voyages in the South Pacific. Penguin Books, Baltimore.Google Scholar
Sharp, A. n.d.a The fortifications of Becan, Campeche, Mexico. Publications of the Middle American Research Institute, Tulane. (In press, ms. 1972.)Google Scholar
Sharp, A. n.d.b Warfare and the evolution of Maya civilization. In papers of the Symposium on Maya Origins, edited by Richard E. W. Adams. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque. (In press, ms. 1974.)Google Scholar