Ritual Fights Research Articles

MESOAMERICAN FLAT CURVED STICKS: INNOVATIVE “TOLTEC” SHORT SWORD, FENDING STICK, OR OTHER PURPOSE?

AbstractFlat and curved sticks with longitudinal facial grooves were dredged from the Sacred Cenote at Chichen Itza in the early 1900s. They are similar to specimens recovered from the North American Southwest, where a suggested function was for defense against atlatl darts. By accepting this interpretation, Mesoamerican archaeologists identified such artifacts as fending sticks. Hassig (1992:112–114, 126–127, 2001:810–811) disputes this role, arguing that the sticks were specialized short swords for close fighting. This sword interpretation is not supported by my analysis of the Chichen Itza artifacts or the mural evidence at that site. Defense against atlatl darts is possible but unlikely to have occurred in warfare and, in any case, Maya/Toltec warriors carried shields to protect themselves against darts and other weapons. Fending darts in ritual fights such as an atlatl duel is a plausible scenario, perhaps to prove warrior mettle or as a gladiatorial blood sport. Another possible use is for subduing captives after military victory: a throwing stick to disable humans for later sacrifice.

CONTINUITY AND CHANGE IN PUEBLOAN RITUAL PRACTICE: 3,800 YEARS OF SHRINE USE IN THE NORTH AMERICAN SOUTHWEST

Radiocarbon dates on artifacts from a Puebloan shrine in New Mexico reveal a persistence in ritual practice for some 3,800 years. The dates indicate that the shrine had become an important location for ceremonial observances related to warfare by almost 2000 cal. B.C., coinciding with the time when food production was first practiced in the Southwest. The shrine exhibits continuity of ritual behavior, something that Puebloans may find unsurprising, but also changes in the artifacts deposited that indicate new technology, transformations of belief, and perhaps shifting cultural boundaries. After briefly describing this shrine, we discuss some of the artifacts that were deposited there, in particular atlatl darts and flat curved sticks with longitudinal facial grooves. We argue that both were used in ritual fights and then deposited in the shrine as offerings, establishing a behavioral tradition that set the precedent for ethnographic recognition of the site as an important war shrine. Atlatl darts are analogous with prayer sticks, the latter representing a derived form of this offering with arrows as an intermediary form. Flat curved sticks were used for defense against atlatl darts in duels that enhanced warrior status.

Dull-edged Weapons and Low-level Fighting in the Late Prehistoric Southern Levant

While duels and other types of fighting with a relatively low level of lethal risk are well known from the ethnographic record, these have been less studied from an archaeological perspective. These fights are different from ‘war’ in the lack of killing intent and they are commonly referred to as ‘ritual fighting’, thus implying the social significance of the act and not just the outcome. Our study concentrates on the Late Pottery Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods of the southern Levant from which the physical evidence of violence is relatively scarce, although conflicts are assumed to have intensified due to the increase in long-term settlements and density of population. We will argue that the three types of weapons found during these periods — maceheads, slingstones and transverse arrowheads — are characterized by dull or blunt peripheries and were intentionally designed not to cause maximal injury or inflict lethal blows. These weapons are well represented only after the hunting of wild game dramatically declined and we suggest that they represent the conduct of low-level fighting, consequently indicating the presence of rules and social organization that are essential elements for the formation of early complex societies.

The society of our “out of Africa” ancestors (I)

The “out of Africa” hypothesis proposes that a small group of Homo sapiens left Africa 80,000 years ago, spreading the mitochondrial haplotype L3 throughout the Earth.1-10 Little effort has been made to try to reconstruct the society and culture of the tribe that left Africa to populate the rest of the world.1 Here, I find that hunter-gatherers that belong to mitochondrial haplotypes L0, L1 and L2 do not have a culture of ritualized fights. In contrast to this, almost all L3 derived hunter-gatherers have a more belligerent culture that includes ritualized fights such as wrestling, stick fights or headhunting expeditions. This appears to be independent of their environment because ritualized fights occur in all climates, from the tropics to the arctic. There is also a correlation between mitochondrial haplotypes and warfare propensity or the use of murder and suicide to resolve conflicts. The data implicate that the original human population outside Africa is descended from only two closely related sub-branches that practiced ritual fighting and had a higher propensity towards warfare and the use of murder for conflict resolution. This warfare culture may have given the out of Africa migrants a competitive advantage to colonize the world. But it could also have crucially influenced the subsequent history of The Earth. In the future, it would be interesting to see how we could further reconstruct the society and culture of the “Out of Africa Tribe.”

A war-prone tribe migrated out of Africa to populate the world.

AbstractOf the tribal hunter gatherers still in existence today, some lead lives of great violence, whereas other groups live in societies with no warfare and very little murder^1,2,3,4,5^. Here I find that hunter gatherers that belong to mitochondrial haplotypes L0, L1 and L2 do not have a culture of ritualized fights. In contrast to this, almost all L3 derived hunter gatherers have a more belligerent culture that includes ritualized fights such as wrestling, stick fights or headhunting expeditions. This appears to be independent of their environment, because ritualized fights occur in all climates, from the tropics to the arctic. There is also a correlation between mitochondrial haplotypes and warfare propensity or the use of murder and suicide to resolve conflicts. This, in the light of the “recent out of Africa” hypothesis”^6,7^, suggests that the tribe that left Africa 80.000 years ago performed ritualized fights. In contrast to the more pacific tradition of non-L3 foragers, it may also have had a tendency towards combat. The data implicate that the entire human population outside Africa is descended from only two closely related sub-branches of L3 that practiced ritual fighting and probably had a higher propensity towards warfare and the use of murder for conflict resolution. This may have crucially influenced the subsequent history of the world.

Ritual fights and male reproductive success in a human population

Ritual fights are widespread across human populations. However, the evolutionary advantage associated with this behaviour is unclear because these fights rarely provide direct benefits such as territory, resources or mates. Here, the reproductive success of men competing in a traditional ritual fight, Sereer wrestling, was investigated for the first time. Involvement in wrestling had a significant positive effect on men's number of offspring and a marginally significant effect on polygyny, controlling for age, body condition and socio-economic status. These positive effects suggest that being involved in wrestling competition provides prestige, facilitating access to mates and thereby increasing fecundity. However, when women were interviewed on their preference concerning qualities of potential mates, the quality 'being involved in wrestling competition' was poorly ranked. This discrepancy may arise either from deceptive reports or from discordance between parents and daughters in the choice of a husband.

Trauma and violence in the Wari empire of the Peruvian Andes: Warfare, raids, and ritual fights

This study examines bioarchaeological evidence for violence during the period of Wari imperialism in the Peruvian Andes through analysis of skeletal trauma from three populations dating to AD 650-800. The samples are from contemporaneous archaeological sites: Conchopata, a Wari heartland site in central highland Peru; Beringa, a community of commoners in the Majes valley of the southern Wari hinterland; and La Real, a high status mortuary site, also in the Majes valley. Given the expansionist nature of Wari and its military-related iconography and weaponry, it is hypothesized that Wari imperialism was concomitant with greater levels of violence relative to other prehispanic groups in the Andes. It is also hypothesized that differential articulation with the Wari empire (e.g., heartland vs. hinterland groups) affected the frequency and patterning of trauma. Results show that cranial trauma frequency of the three Wari era samples is significantly greater than several other Andean skeletal populations. This suggests that Wari rule was associated with high levels of violence, though it may not have always been related to militarism. The three adult samples show similar frequencies of cranial trauma (Conchopata = 26%; Beringa = 33%; La Real = 31%). This may suggest that differential positioning in the Wari empire had little effect on exposure to violence. Sex-based differences in cranial trauma frequencies are present only at La Real, but wound patterning differs between the sexes: females display more wounds on the posterior of the cranium, while males show more on the anterior. These data suggest that Wari rule may have contributed to violence.

Foodways and fightways: The role of food in two traditional martial arts — Japanese Sumo and Northern India's Pehlwani

Food and conflict are both biologically and historically intertwined. There exists a body of scholarly research that attempts to understand food-related issues in times of war, however less often do we explore the ways in which we fight as they relate to the ways in which we eat. The ritual nature of fighting has strong roots in both religion and agriculture. Many of the traditional rituals associated with fighting were first performed in honor or appeasement of gods or spirits thought to govern various aspects of life, including fertility. Food also occupies a highly symbolic role in ritual fighting and, in some cases, a physical place in the combat itself. This can be explored in the nature of two ancient martial arts—Japanese sumo and the Pehlwani wrestling of Northern India—revealing the role of food within these fighting traditions, including similarities and differences in their approach to eating, cooking, lifestyle and ideology.

Student athletes claim to have more sexual partners than other students

Physical competition is widespread in human societies. Because performance in competitive sports can signal phenotypic quality and fighting ability, high level performance, especially on the part of men, is likely to be attractive to the opposite sex. We investigated the relationship between involvement in competitive sport and self-reported numbers of sexual partners. Both male and female students who compete in sports reported significantly higher numbers of partners than other students, and within the athletes, higher levels of performance predicted more partners. Among men, body mass index (BMI) and educational level also had significant effects. We discuss possible implications for the evolution of competitive sport, ritual fighting behavior, and the persistence of left-handedness.

Territoriality in the Malaysian giant ant Camponotus gigas (Hymenoptera/Formicidae)

In a 5-ha area of primary lowland rain forest in Borneo, we observed four polydomous colonies of the night-active giant ant Camponotus gigas. The nonover- lapping, three-dimensional territories in the canopy had a ground size up to 0.8 ha. C. gigas showed a distinct territo- rial behavior: (1) specific "barrack" nests, especially con- taining many majors, were situated at the borders and were established during long-term territorial conflicts; (2) trunk trails were regularly patrolled by majors that attacked alien conspecifics and some other ant species violently; and (3) sentinels, often involved in long-enduring conflicts with neighboring ant colonies, defended the borders at bridge- heads. Interspecific conflicts with sympatric Camponotus species always led to violent, "bloody" fights of all castes. Intraspecific conflicts, however, were solved by ritual fights ("front leg boxing") of majors. C. gigas performed a de- escalation strategy to end short periods of true intraspecific "ant war" that we provoked experimentally. Artificially induced ritualized combats continued over weeks also in the absence of baits, indicating that borders may become established by long-term conflicts of attrition. We discuss the differences between ritual fights in desert and rain- forest ants and apply Lanchester's theory of battles to our findings.

Evolutionary stability in extensive two-person games - correction and further development

The paper corrects a mistake concerning sufficient conditions for evolutionary stability in an earlier paper (MASS 5 (1983) 269–363). A new kind of decomposition of a symmetric extensive two-person game into a ‘top’ and an ‘abridgement’ is introduced. It is shown that regularity of a direct ESS imply a robustness property with respect to small payoff changes called essentiality. On the basis of the result on regularity and essentiality sufficient conditions for a regular limit ESS are obtained. These conditions make use of the decomposition into ‘top’ and ‘abridgement’. Finally it is proved that the sufficient conditions are satisfied for the many-period models with ritual fights and escalated conflicts introduced in the earlier paper.

Hunting Ability and Reproductive Success Among Male Ache Foragers: Preliminary Results

Hunting Ability and Reproductive Success Among Male Ache Foragers: Preliminary Results

Evolutionary stability in extensive two-person games

The concept of an ESS (evolutionary stable strategy) has been introduced by Maynard Smith and Price for two-person games in normal form (Maynard Smith and Price, 1973). The generalization to extensive two-person games raises various conceptual and mathematical problems, like the notion of symmetry in such games. A direct translation of the normal form concept to the framework of extensive games leads to unsatisfactory consequences. Therefore, on the basis of the trembling hand approach to perfectness (Selten, 1975), the notion of a limit ESS is introduced. Several theorems on the properties of a limit ESS provide tools for the analysis of specific games. Finally, a many-period model of animal contests with ritual fights and escalated conflicts is investigated in detail.