End of War

The anthropologist Raymond Dart asserted that holes in Australopithecus skulls were caused by other Australopithecenes 3 million years ago. Popularizations of Dart’s work, which depicted our ancestors as “killer apes,” allegedly inspired the “Dawn of Man” scene of the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, in which one ape man beats another to death with a bone. The marks studied by Dart are now attributed to predators and natural causes.

2,600,000 YA: STONE CHOPPERS, AXES

The oldest known stone tools are choppers found in Ethiopia in conjunction with butchered bones of animals that lived 2,600,000 years ago. Stone axes have been dated to 1,700,000 years ago. The first stone tools mark the beginning of the Paleolithic Era, or “Old Stone Age,” during which our ancestors lived as nomadic hunter-gatherers. The era lasted until humans invented agriculture and began living in permanent settlements less than 12,000 years ago.

780,000 YA: BUTCHERED BONES

Homo erectus bones found in Atapuerca Dolina, Spain, show signs of having been butchered. Similar marks have been found on 600,000-year-old hominid bones from Ethiopia and more recent Neanderthal bones in France and elsewhere. “Defleshing,” anthropologist Tim White says, “cannot be considered evidence” for lethal group violence. Marks are more likely evidence of ritualistic treatment of the dead or of starvation-driven cannibalism, White says.

400,000 YA: SPEARS

The oldest known spears, found in a mine in Germany and estimated to be 400,000 years old, had heat-hardened wooden tips. Spears tipped with stone points do not appear in the archaeological record until 50,000 years ago. Spears are not unique to humans: chimpanzees have been observed hunting bush babies with sharp sticks.

200,000 YA: HOMO SAPIENS APPEARS

Grooves on the ribs of a 50,000-year-old Neanderthal skeleton found in Iraq’s Shanidar cave suggest that he was pierced by a sharp object. Partial healing indicates that he lived for several weeks before dying. The wound may have resulted from a fight with another human. But these and other injuries found on skeletons of Neanderthals and Homo sapiens during the Stone Age, says the anthropologist Erik Trinkaus, probably resulted from “hunting large animals who object to being speared.”

40,000 YA: ATLATLS (SPEAR-THROWERS)

The atlatl, a device for hurling spears with much greater force than the unaided arm, first appeared in the Old World (Africa, Asia, and Europe) 40,000 years ago and in the New World 8,500 years ago.

25,000 YA: BOOMERANGS

Although usually associated with Australia, boomerangs were also widely used by prehistoric people in Europe and Africa. The earliest known boomerang, found in a cave in Poland and estimated to be 25,000 years old, was carved from a mammoth tusk.

22,000 YA: BOWS AND ARROWS

Although the oldest arrowheads are more than 20,000 years old, bows and arrows are thought to have become widespread in the Old World 15,000 years ago and in the New World 1,500 years ago.

20,000 YA: OLDEST HOMICIDE VICTIM

The oldest skeleton bearing clear-cut signs of lethal human violence—embedded projectile points—was found in the Nile Valley in the Sudan and dated at 20,000 years old. Other famous early victims of violence include “Kennewick Man,” an 8,400-year-old skeleton found in Washington State, and “Ötzi the Iceman,” who died in the Alps 5,300 years ago. Both skeletons had arrowheads embedded in them and bore other marks of violence. Virtually all anthropologists believe that homicide—as opposed to warfare between groups—has occurred at least occasionally throughout human evolution.

13,000 YA, OLDEST MASS GRAVE

The oldest strong evidence of group violence is a mass grave found in the Nile Valley in northern Sudan. The grave contains fifty-nine skeletons, twenty-four of which bear marks of violence, including embedded stone points. Many anthropologists consider this grave to be evidence of group violence, but some remain skeptical, pointing out that the bodies were apparently killed and buried over an extended period. The victims could have been killed individually, perhaps in executions or ritual sacrifices, rather than warfare.

10,000 YA: HUNTER-GATHERER WARFARE

In northern Australia, rock drawings estimated to be 10,000 years old depict groups of men brandishing boomerangs and spears. These drawings provide strong evidence that at least some nomadic hunter-gatherers had begun to engage in warfare.

10,000 YA: WIDESPREAD WARFARE

The first irrefutable evidence of significant warfare—including fortifications, spear and arrow points, and bones bearing marks of violence—was found in northern Mesopotamia and dated at 10,000 years old. Similar evidence suggests that war arose in the Near East 9,500 years ago, in Turkey 8,000 years ago, in China 7,000 years ago, in Europe 6,500 years ago, in the American Northwest 4,200 years ago, and in the American Southwest 2,000 years ago. Agriculture and permanent settlements had emerged before war in most of these regions, but people in others still lived as hunter-gatherers.

3,000,000 YA (YEARS AGO): KILLER APEMEN?