Sticks, Stones, and Broken Bones: Neolithic Violence in a European Perspective
Abstract
This book presents an up-to-date overview of the evidence for violent injuries on human skeletons of the Neolithic period in Europe, ranging from 6700 to 2000 bc. Unlike other lines of evidence — weapons, fortifications, and imagery — the human skeleton preserves the actual marks of past violent encounters. The chapters present evidence from eleven European countries which provide, for the first time, the basis for a comparative approach between different regions and periods. Difficulties and ambiguities in interpreting the evidence are also discussed, although many of the cases are clearly the outcome of conflict. Injuries often show healing, but others can be seen as the cause of death. In many parts of Europe, women and children appear to have been the victims of violence as often as adult men. The book presents a starting point for a new consideration of the prevalence and significance of violence in Neolithic Europe, and provides a baseline for comparisons with both earlier and later periods.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
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?
The Neolithic period is increasingly recognised as one marked by conflict and instability, driven by profound social and demographic transformations linked to the shift from foraging to farming.
“This period is increasingly recognised as one marked by conflict and instability, driven by profound social and demographic transformations linked to the shift from foraging to farming.”
From Evidence of neolithic cannibalism among farming communities at El Mirador cave, Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain (2025) · cites this paper as [65]
High population pressure, competition over resources, and interactions between indigenous Mesolithic groups and incoming Neolithic farming communities often resulted in violent confrontations of varying scale.
“High population pressure, competition over resources, and interactions between indigenous Mesolithic groups and incoming Neolithic farming communities often resulted in violent confrontations of varying scale59,60]65–68.”
From Evidence of neolithic cannibalism among farming communities at El Mirador cave, Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain (2025) · cites this paper as [65]
Endemic conflict is now recognised as a defining feature of early European farming societies.
“Despite these limitations, endemic conflict is now recognised as a defining feature of early European farming societies65.”
From Evidence of neolithic cannibalism among farming communities at El Mirador cave, Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain (2025) · cites this paper as [65]
Cited by
Sorted by citations
BECOMING GENDERED IN EUROPEAN PREHISTORY: WAS NEOLITHIC GENDER FUNDAMENTALLY DIFFERENT?
Robb, J., & Harris, O. J. T. (2018) · American Antiquity · doi:10.1017/aaq.2017.54 · Cited by 66 · see citing works
Saladié, P., & Rodríguez-Hidalgo, A. (2017) · Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory · doi:10.1007/s10816-016-9306-y · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Saladié, P., Marginedas, F., Morales, J. I., Vergès, J. M., Allué, E., Expósito, I., Lozano, M., Martín, P., Iglesias-Bexiga, J., Fontanals, M., et al. (2025) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-025-10266-w · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“High population pressure, competition over resources, and interactions between indigenous Mesolithic groups and incoming Neolithic farming communities often resulted in violent confrontations of varying scale 59,60]65–68 .”
- Venue
- Oxford University Press eBooks
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press
- Published
- 2012-04-19
- OpenAlex
- W19528747
- Cited by
- 89
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 25 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 16.47
- Type
- book
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Oxford University Press eBooks (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology › Archaeological and Geological Studies
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology › Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology › Ancient and Medieval Archaeology Studies
- Keywords
- Neolithic Europe, conflict, injury recovery, violence against women and children, prehistoric warfare
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
