Hunting Warriors: The Transformation of Weapons, Combat Practices and Society during the Bronze Age in Ireland
Warfare is increasingly considered to have been a major field of social activity in prehistoric societies, in terms of the infrastructures supporting its conduct, the effects of its occurrence, and its role in symbolic systems. In the Bronze Age many of the weapon forms that were to dominate battlef...
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Veröffentlicht in: | European journal of archaeology 2017-05, Vol.20 (2), p.280-316 |
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Format: | Artikel |
Sprache: | eng |
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Zusammenfassung: | Warfare is increasingly considered to have been a major field of social activity in prehistoric societies, in terms of the infrastructures supporting its conduct, the effects of its occurrence, and its role in symbolic systems. In the Bronze Age many of the weapon forms that were to dominate battlefields for millennia to come were first invented—shields and swords in particular. Using the case study of Ireland, developments in Bronze Age warfare are traced from the Early to the Late Bronze Age. It is argued that during this period there was a move from warfare that made use of projectiles and impact weapons to warfare that used both defensive and cutting weapons. This formed the basis for a fundamental reorganization in combat systems. This in turn stimulated change in the social organization of warfare, including investment in material and training resources for warriors and the development of new bodily techniques reflecting fundamental changes in martial art traditions. Metalwork analysis of bronze weapons and experimental archaeology using replicas of these are used to support this position. The article explores how developments in fighting techniques transformed the sociality of violence and peer-relations among warriors and proposes that these warriors be regarded as a category of craft specialist exerting significant social influence by the Late Bronze Age. On envisage de plus en plus sérieusement que la guerre fut un élément majeur de l'activité des sociétés préhistoriques, sur le plan des infrastructures nécessaires à la conduite de la guerre, de ses effets et de son rôle dans le système symbolique. C'est pendant l’âge du Bronze qu'une grande partie des armes qui domineront les champs de bataille pendant des millénaires — les boucliers et les épées en particulier — a été inventée. En prenant l'Irlande comme étude de cas, cet article retrace l’évolution de la guerre au cours de l’âge du Bronze et propose que la conduite de la guerre a passé du combat faisant usage de projectiles et d'armes à impact à des stratégies utilisant des armes défensives et des armes à lames. Cette évolution est à la base d'une réorganisation fondamentale du combat, ce qui à son tour a créé les conditions pour une transformation de l'organisation de la guerre au niveau social. Ceci comprenait un investissement en ressources matérielles et dans l'entrainement des guerriers ainsi que la mise au point de nouvelles techniques corporelles qui reflétaient les transformations radi |
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ISSN: | 1461-9571 1741-2722 |
DOI: | 10.1017/eaa.2016.8 |