The DOI matches its Crossref record; 1 of the 1 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Violence trends in the ancient Middle East between 12,000 and 400 bce
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“On the other hand, other studies have reported an increase in violence in more ancient periods, such as during the Early Neolithic in Central Europe18, and during the Copper Age and Late Bronze Age in the Middle East19.”
From Patrilineal segmentary systems provide a peaceful explanation for the post-Neolithic Y-chromosome bottleneck (2024) · cites this paper as [19]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
Koubi, V. (2019) · Annual Review of Political Science · doi:10.1146/annurev-polisci-050317-070830 · Cited by 485
Research works printed but not linked: 87
- Pinker, S. The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined (Penguin Books, 2011).
- Van Zanden, J. L. et al. How Was Life? Global Well-Being Since 1820 (OECD Publishing, 2014). · DOI
- Eisner, M. From swords to words: does macro-level change in self-control predict long-term variation in levels of homicide? Crime Justice 43, 65–134 (2014). · DOI
- Micale, M. & Dwyer, P. History, violence and Steven Pinker. Hist. Reflect. 44, 1–5 (2018). · DOI
- Dwyer, P. & Micale, M. S. (eds) The Darker Angels of Our Nature: Refuting the Pinker Theory of History and Violence (Bloomsbury Academic, 2021). · DOI
- Cirillo, P. & Taleb, N. N. On the statistical properties and tail risk of violent conflicts. Phys. Stat. Mech. Appl. 452, 29–45 (2016). · DOI
- LeBlanc, S. A. & Register, K. A. Constant Battles: Why We Fight (St. Martin’s Press, 2004).
- Fibiger, L., Hudson, M. & Trundle, M. in The Cambridge World History of Violence Vol. I (eds Fagan, G. G. et al.) 19–36 (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2020). · DOI
- Otterbein, K. F. The origins of war. Crit. Rev. 11, 251–277. · DOI
- Otterbein, K. F. A history of research on warfare in anthropology. Am. Anthropol. 101, 794–805. · DOI
- Hsiang, S. M., Burke, M. & Edward, M. Quantifying the influence of climate on human conflict. Science 341, 1235367 (2013). · DOI · Paper page
- Bartelink, E. et al. in Hunter-Gatherer Adaptation and Resilience: A Bioarchaeological Perspective (eds Stojanowski, C. M. & Temple, D. H.) 274–330 (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2018).
- McCool, W. C., Vernon, K. B., Yaworsky, P. M. & Codding, B. F. Subsistence strategy mediates ecological drivers of human violence. PLoS ONE 17, e0268258 (2022). · DOI
- McCool, W. C. et al. Climate change–induced population pressure drives high rates of lethal violence in the prehispanic Central Andes. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 119, e2117556119 (2022). · DOI
- Bowles, S. Warriors, levelers and the role of conflict in human social evolution. Science 336, 876–879 (2012). · DOI
- Kennett, D. et al. Drought-induced civil conflict among the Ancient Maya. Nat. Commun. 13, 3911 (2022).
- Kohler, T. A., Ortman, S. G., Grundtisch, K. E., Fitzpatrick, C. M. & Cole, S. M. The better angels of their nature: declining violence through time among prehispanic farmers of the Pueblo Southwest. Am. Antiq. 79, 444–464 (2014). · DOI
- Martin, D. L. & Harrod, R. P. Bioarchaeological contributions to the study of violence. Am. J. Phys. Anthr. 156, 116–145 (2015). · DOI
- Steckel, R. H. & Rose, J. C. The Backbone of History: Health and Nutrition in the Western Hemisphere (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2002). · DOI
- Steckel, R. H., Larsen, C., Roberts, C. & Baten, J. The Backbone of Europe: Health, Diet, Work and Violence over Two Millennia (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2018). · DOI
- North, D. C., Wallis, J. J. & Weingast, B. R. Violence and Social Orders. A Conceptual Framework for Interpreting Recorded Human History (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2009). · DOI
- Otterbein, K.F. How War Began (Texas A&M Univ. Press, 2004).
- Dwyer, P. & Damousi, J. in The Cambridge World History of Violence Vol. I (eds Fagan, G. G. et al.) 1–18 (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2020). · DOI
- Fibiger, L., Ahlström, T. & Smith, M. Conflict, violence and warfare among early farmers in Northwestern Europe. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 120, e2209481119 (2023). · DOI · Paper page
- Cohen, H. et al. Trauma to the skull: a historical perspective from the Southern Levant (4300 bce–1917 ce). Int. J. Osteoarchaeol. 24, 722–736 (2012). · DOI
- Sołtysiak, A. Antemortem cranial trauma in Ancient Mesopotamia. Int. J. Osteoarchaeol. 27, 119–128 (2015). · DOI
- Rosenstock, E. et al. Human stature in the Near East and Europe ca. 10,000–1,000 bc: its spatiotemporal development in a Bayesian errors-in-variables model. Archaeol. Anthr. Sci. 11, 5657–5690 (2019). · DOI
- Liverani, M. The Ancient Near East. History, Society, Economy (Routledge, 2014). · DOI
- Riehl, S. in Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures (ed. Selin, H.) 1–15 (Springer, 2014). · DOI
- Dow, G. K. & Reed, C. G. Economic Prehistory. Six Transitions that Shaped the World (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2023). · DOI
- Algaze, G. Entropic cities. The paradox of urbanism in Ancient Mesopotamia. Curr. Anthropol. 59, 23–54 (2018). · DOI
- Benati, G. in Urbanized Landscapes in Early Syro-Mesopotamia and Prehispanic Mesoamerica Papers of a Cross-Cultural Seminar held in Honor of Robert McCormick Adams (eds Marchetti, N. & Domenici, D.) 103–144 (Harrassowitz, 2018). · DOI
- McMahon, A. Early urbanism in northern Mesopotamia. J. Archaeol. Res. 28, 289–337 (2020). · DOI
- Frangipane, M. Different trajectories in state formation in Greater Mesopotamia: a view from Arslantepe (Turkey). J. Archaeol. Res. 26, 3–63 (2018). · DOI
- Richardson, S. Early Mesopotamia: the presumptive state. Present 215, 3–49 (2012). · DOI
- Richardson, S. in Ancient States and Infrastructural Power. Europe, Asia and America (eds Ando, C. & Richardson, S.) 17–62 (Univ. Pennsylvania Press, 2017). · DOI
- Rey, S. in Focus on Fortification: New Research on Fortifications in the Ancient Mediterranean and the Near East (eds Frederiksen, R. et al.) 34–42 (Oxbow Books, 2016). · DOI
- Heinz, M. in The Sumerian World (ed. Crawford, H.) 179–200 (Routledge, 2013).
- Steinkeller, P. in The Oxford World History of Empire Vol. 2 (eds Bang, P. et al.) 43–72 (Oxford Univ. Press, 2020). · DOI
- Barjamovic, G. in The Oxford World History of Empire Vol. 2 (eds Bang, P. et al.) 73–110 (Oxford Univ. Press, 2020). · DOI
- Westbrook, R. (ed.) A History of Ancient Near Eastern Law (Brill, 2003). · DOI
- Benati, G. & Guerriero, C. The origins of the state: technology, cooperation and institutions. J. Institutional Econ. 18, 29–43 (2022). · DOI
- Matthews, R. J. & Richardson, A. Cultic resilience and inter-city engagement at the dawn of urban history: protohistoric Mesopotamia and the ‘city seals’, 3200–2750 bc. World Archaeol. 50, 723–747 (2018). · DOI
- Sallaberger, W. Festival provisions in Early Bronze Age Mesopotamia. Kaskal 15, 171–200 (2018).
- Benati, G. & Guerriero, C. The Origins of Culture https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4181876 (SSRN, 2022). · DOI
- Everest-Philips, M. in Public Service Excellence in the 21st Century (eds Baimenov, A. & Liverakos, P.) 53–104 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019). · DOI
- Ur, J. in The Sumerian World (ed. Crawford, H.) 131–155 (Routledge, 2013).
- Cookson, E., Hill, D. J. & Lawrence, D. Impacts of long term climate change during the collapse of the Akkadian Empire. J. Archaeol. Sci. 106, 1–9 (2019). · DOI
- Garfinkle, S. in The Cambridge World History of Violence (eds Fagan, G. G. et al.) 219–237 (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2020). · DOI
- Benati, G. in The Earliest Economic Growth in World History: Proceedings of the Berlin Workshop (ed. Warburton, D.) 57–73 (Peeters, 2022). · DOI
- Massa, M. & Palmisano, A. Change and continuity in the long-distance exchange networks between Western/Central Anatolia, Northern Levant and Northern Mesopotamia, c. 3200–1600 bce. J. Anthr. Archaeol. 49, 65–87 (2018). · DOI
- Benati, G., Guerriero, C. & Zaina, F. The economic and institutional determinants of trade expansion in Bronze Age Greater Mesopotamia. J. Archaeol. Sci. 131, 105398 (2021). · DOI
- Yoffee, N. & Barjamovic, G. in Grenzüberschreitungen. Studien zur Kulturgeschichte des Alten Orients. Festschrift für Hans Neumann anlässich seines 65. Geburtstages am 9. Mai 2018 (eds Paulus, S. et al.) 815–824 (Zaphon, 2018). · DOI
- Pustovoytov, K. & Riehl, S. The Early Bronze Age/Middle Bronze Age transition and the aquifer geography in the Near East. J. Archaeol. Sci. 69, 1–11 (2016). · DOI
- Bogaard, A., Fochesato, M. & Bowles, S. The farming-inequality nexus: new methods and evidence from Western Eurasia. Antiquity 93, 1129–1143 (2019). · DOI
- Basri, P. & Lawrence, D. Wealth inequality in the Ancient Near East: a preliminary assessment using Gini coefficients and household size. Camb. Archaeol. J. 30, 689–704 (2020). · DOI
- Adams, R. Mc. C. Old Babylonian networks of urban notables. Cuneif. Digit. Libr. J. 7, 1–14 (2009).
- Charpin, D. in Mesopotamien: Die altbabylonische Zeit (eds Charpin, D. et al.) 25–480 (Academic Press-Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2004).
- Cline, E. H. 1177 B.C. The Year Civilization Collapsed (Princeton Univ. Press, 2014). · DOI · Paper page
- Kaniewski, D. 300-year drought frames Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age transition in the Near East: new palaeoecological data from Cyprus and Syria. Reg. Environ. Change 19, 2287–2297 (2019). · DOI
- Manning, S. W., Kocik, C., Lorentzen, B. & Sparks, J. P. Severe multi-year drought coincident with Hittite collapse around 1198–1196 bc. Nature 614, 719–724 (2023). · DOI
- Wilkinson, T. J. Regional approaches to Mesopotamian archaeology: the contribution of archaeological surveys. J. Archaeol. Res. 8, 219–267 (2000). · DOI
- Morris, I. The evolution of war. Cliodynamics 3, 9–37 (2012).
- Turchin, P., Currie, T. E. & Turner, E. A. L. Mapping the spread of mounted warfare. Cliodynamics 7, 217–227 (2016).
- Turchin, P. et al. Rise of the war machines: charting the evolution of military technologies from the Neolithic to the Industrial Revolution. PLoS ONE 16, e0258161 (2021). · DOI
- Squitieri, A. & Altawell, M. Empires and the acceleration of wealth inequality in the Pre-Islamic Near East: an archaeological approach. Archaeol. Anthropol. Sci. 14, 190 (2022). · DOI
- Melville, S. C. in Brill’s Companion to Insurgency and Terrorism in the Ancient Mediterranean (eds Howe, T. & Brice, L. L.) 62–92 (Brill, 2016). · DOI
- Stein, G. J. The development of indigenous social complexity in Late Chalcolithic Upper Mesopotamia in the 5th–4th millennia BC—an initial assessment. Origini 34, 125–151 (2012).
- Sinha, A. et al. Role of climate in the rise and fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Sci. Adv. 5, eaax6656 (2019). · DOI
- Palmisano, A. et al. Holocene regional population dynamics and climatic trends in the Near East: a first comparison using archaeo-demographic proxies. Quat. Sci. Rev. 252, 106739 (2021). · DOI
- Sołtysiak, A. & Fernandes, R. Much ado about nothing: assessing the impact of the 4.2 kya event on human subsistence patterns in Northern Mesopotamia using stable isotope analysis. Antiquity 95, 1145–1160 (2021). · DOI
- Baten, J. & Steckel, R. H. in The Backbone of Europe (eds Steckel, R. H. et al.) 300–324 (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2018). · DOI
- Garfinkle, S. in The Oxford Handbook of the State in the Ancient Near East and Mediterranean (eds Bang, P. & Scheidel, W.) 94–119 (Oxford Univ. Press, 2013). · DOI
- Benati, G., Guerriero, C. & Zaina, F. The origins of political institutions and property rights. J. Comp. Econ. 50, 946–968 (2022). · DOI
- Barjamovic, G. et al. Trade, merchants and the lost cities of the Bronze Age. Q. J. Econ. 134, 1455–1503 (2019). · DOI
- Veldhuis, N. in The Oxford Handbook of Cuneiform Culture (eds Radner, K. & Robson, E.) 68–90 (Oxford Univ. Press, 2011). · DOI
- Scheidel, W. The Great Leveler. Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century (Princeton Univ. Press, 2017). · DOI
- Klimscha, F. Remarks on the technical development of bladed close combat-weapons and the use of the earliest swords. Reconsidering a late 4th/ early 3rd millennium find from Megiddo, Israel. Eurasia Antiq. 20, 219–228 (2014).
- Peltenburg, E. Conflict and exclusivity in Early Bronze Age societies of the Middle Euphrates Valley. J. East Stud. 72, 233–252 (2013).
- Selover, S. L. Excavating War: The Archaeology of Conflict in Early Chalcolithic to Early Bronze III Central and Southeastern Anatolia. PhD thesis, Univ. of Chicago (2015).
- Stork, L. Systems of value and the changing perception of metal commodities, ca. 4000–2600 bc. J. East Stud. 74, 115–132 (2015).
- Gernez, G. L’Armement en Métal au Proche et Moyen-Orient: des Origines à 1750 av. J.-C. PhD thesis, Univ. Panthéon-Sorbonne (2007).
- Staubwasser, M. & Weiss, H. Holocene climate and cultural evolution in Late Prehistoric–Early Historic West Asia. Quat. Int. 66, 372–387 (2006).
- Weiss, H. in Megadrought and Collapse. From Early Agriculture to Angkor (ed. Weiss, H.) 93–160 (Oxford Univ. Press, 2017). · DOI
- Benati, G. & Guerriero, C. Climate change and state evolution. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 118, e2020893118 (2021). · DOI
- Boix, C. Political Order and Inequality: Their Foundations and Their Consequences for Human Welfare (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2015). · DOI
- Ryan, W. B. F. et al. Global multi-resolution topography (GMRT) synthesis data set. Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst. 10, Q03014 (2009).
Cited by
Guyon, L., Guez, J., Toupance, B., Heyer, E., & Chaix, R. (2024) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-024-47618-5 · Cited by 28
Metadata
- Authors
- Baten, J., Benati, G., & Sołtysiak, A.
- Venue
- Nature Human Behaviour
- Published
- 2023-10-09
- Volume
- 7
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 2064-2073
- ISSN
- 2397-3374
- Cited by
- 15
- References
- 1
- Language
- en
- Licence
- Funders
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (215859406)
- María Zambrano Grant
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
How to cite
Cite CoChat for the checks on this page, and the paper for its own findings.
- This page
- CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Violence trends in the ancient Middle East between 12,000 and 400 bce. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1038/s41562-023-01700-y
- The paper
- Baten, J., Benati, G., & Sołtysiak, A. (2023). Violence trends in the ancient Middle East between 12,000 and 400 bce. Nature Human Behaviour. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01700-y