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Understanding the decline of interpersonal violence in the ancient middle east 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

Author

Listed:
  • Giacomo Benati

    (Universitat de Barcelona)

  • Joerg Baten

    (University of Tuebingen)

  • Arkadiusz Soltysiak

    (Warsaw University)

Abstract

No abstract is available for this item.

Suggested Citation

  • Giacomo Benati & Joerg Baten & Arkadiusz Soltysiak, 2022. "Understanding the decline of interpersonal violence in the ancient middle east Abstract: How did human societies succeed in reducing interpersonal violence, a precondition to achieve security and pros," UB School of Economics Working Papers 2022/424, University of Barcelona School of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ewp:wpaper:424web
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2445/187267
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Historical conflict; Middle East; preindustrial economies;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • N15 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - Asia including Middle East
    • N35 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Asia including Middle East
    • N45 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - Asia including Middle East
    • N55 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries - - - Asia including Middle East
    • P48 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Other Economic Systems - - - Legal Institutions; Property Rights; Natural Resources; Energy; Environment; Regional Studies

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