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Working paper

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2022

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cc-by-nc-nd, (c) Benati et al., 2022
Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/187267

Understanding the decline of interpersonal violence in the ancient middle east

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Abstract

How did human societies succeed in reducing interpersonal violence, a precondition to achieve security and prosperity? Given that homicide records are only available for the more recent period, much of human history remains virtually outside our purview. To fill this gap, a literature intersecting economics, archaeology, and anthropology has devised reliable methods for studying traumas deliberately inflicted in human skeletal remains. In this paper we reconstruct the early history of conflict by exploiting a novel dataset on weapon-related wounds from skeletons excavated across the Middle East, spanning the whole pre-Classical period (ca. 8,000-400 BCE). By documenting when and how ancient Middle Eastern populations managed to reduce intersocietal violence and achieve remarkable levels of development, we broaden historical perspectives on the structural factors driving human conflict.

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Violència, Gestió de conflictes, Orient Mitjà, Ferides i lesions

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Violence, Conflict management, Middle East, Wounds and injuries

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UB Economics – Working Papers [ERE]

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BENATI, Giacomo, BATEN, Joerg and SOLTYSIAK, Arkadiusz. Understanding the decline of interpersonal violence in the ancient middle east. UB Economics – Working Papers. 2022. Vol.  E22/424. [consulted: 6 of June of 2026]. Available at: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/187267

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