North American Indigenous Warfare and Ritual Violence

Despite evidence of warfare and violent conflict in pre-Columbian North America, scholars argue that the scale and scope of Native American violence is exagerated. They contend that scholarly misrepresentation has denigrated indigenous peoples when in fact they lived together in peace and harmony. In rebutting that contention, this groundbreaking book presents clear evidence--from multiple academic disciplines--that indigenous populations engaged in warfare and ritual violence long before European contact. In ten well-documented and thoroughly researched chapters, fourteen leading scholars dispassionately describe sources and consequences of Amerindian warfare and violence, including ritual violence. Originally presented at an American Anthropological Association symposium, their findings construct a convincing case that bloodshed and killing have been woven into the fabric of indigenous life in North America for many centuries. The editors argue that a failure to acknowledge the roles of warfare and violence in the lives of indigenous North Americans is itself a vestige of colonial repression--depriving native warriors of their history of armed resistance. These essays document specific acts of Native American violence across the North American continent. Including contributions from anthropologists, archaeologists, historians, and ethnographers, they argue not only that violence existed but also that it was an important and frequently celebrated component of Amerindian life. CONTENTS Acknowledgments Introduction

Richard J. Chacon and Ruben G. Mendoza 1. Traditional Native Warfare in Western Alaska

Ernest S. Burch Jr. 2. Barbarism and Ardour of War from the Tenderest Years" Cree-Inuit Warfare in the Hudson Bay Region

Charles A. Bishop and Victor P. Lytwyn 3. Aboriginal Warfare on the Northwest Coast: Did the Potlatch Replace Warfare?

Joan A. Lovisek 4. Ethnohistoric Descriptions of Chumash Warfare

John R. Johnson 5. Documenting Conflict in the Prehistoric Pueblo Southwest

Polly Schaafsma 6. Cahokia and the Evidence for Late Pre-Columbian War in the North American Midcontinent

Thomas E. Emerson 7. Iroquois-Huron Warfare

Dean R. Snow 8. Desecrating the Sacred Ancestor Temples: Chiefly Conflict and Violence in the American Southeast

David H. Dye and Adam King 9. Warfare, Population, and Food Production in Prehistoric Eastern North America

George R. Milner 10. The Osteological Evidence for Indigenous Warfare in North America

Patricia M. Lambert 11. Ethical Considerations and Conclusions Regarding Indigenous Warfare and Violence in North America

Richard J. Chacon and Ruben G. Mendoza References

About the Contributors

Index