The traditional view of the development of civilization held that cities first appeared in the Fertile Crescent in about 3000 BC. The early Sumerians were, judging from the record they left behind, a gentle people who waged war as needed, but who seemed more interested in less violent occupations. Evidence of a wealthy urban settlement about a thousand years earlier has gradually emerged in Syria, a thousand miles to the northwest of the Sumerian sites. And the Syrian site, Brak, also shows evidence of organized violence on a large scale.
The story of Brak and the twenty-five-year effort to unlock its secrets, makes fascinating reading. It speaks to the nature of civilization itself – the near-simultaneous appearance of urban settlements, writing, and war. Here’s a link to the article in Discovery Magazine.
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Tam said:
A historical period that fascinates me.
At what point did we go from the menfolk of Catal Huyuk or Jericho deciding to go boost a nearby settlement’s sheep, to actual events that we all can recognize as “war”?
February 9th, 2010 at 7:55 am
Frank Chadwick said:
The specific findings at Brak include a large mass grave with only adolescent and mature adults in it — no infants or very old folks — suggesting all of warrior age. Many of the remains show evidence of traumatic injury. Then there are the bones of domesticated meat animals and broken pottery burried with them but on top of their remains. The conclusion is a massacre of prisoners followed by a big victory feast held around the still-open grave, and finally the garbage from the feast thrown on top of the bodies and everything covered over. I’m not sure where you draw the line between raids and warfare, but this seems pretty clearly across the line.
February 9th, 2010 at 11:05 am