Inter-group violence among early Holocene hunter-gatherers of West Turkana, Kenya
The nature of inter-group relations among prehistoric hunter-gatherers remains disputed, with arguments in favour and against the existence of warfare before the development of sedentary societies. Here we report on a case of inter-group violence towards a group of hunter-gatherers from Nataruk, wes...
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Nature Publishing Group
2016
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/53099/ |
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| author | Lahr, M.M. Rivera, F. Power, R.K. Foley, R.A. Mounier, A. Copsey, B. Crivellaro, F. Edung, J.E. Fernandez, J.M. Kiarie, C. Lawrence, J. Leakey, A. Mbua, E. Miller, Holly Muigai, A. Mukhongo, D. Van Baelen, A. Wood, R. Schwenninger, J-L. Grun, R. Achyuthan, H. Wilshaw, A. |
| author_facet | Lahr, M.M. Rivera, F. Power, R.K. Foley, R.A. Mounier, A. Copsey, B. Crivellaro, F. Edung, J.E. Fernandez, J.M. Kiarie, C. Lawrence, J. Leakey, A. Mbua, E. Miller, Holly Muigai, A. Mukhongo, D. Van Baelen, A. Wood, R. Schwenninger, J-L. Grun, R. Achyuthan, H. Wilshaw, A. |
| author_sort | Lahr, M.M. |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | The nature of inter-group relations among prehistoric hunter-gatherers remains disputed, with arguments in favour and against the existence of warfare before the development of sedentary societies. Here we report on a case of inter-group violence towards a group of hunter-gatherers from Nataruk, west of Lake Turkana, which during the late Pleistocene/early Holocene period extended about 30 km beyond its present-day shore. Ten of the twelve articulated skeletons found at Nataruk show evidence of having died violently at the edge of a lagoon, into which some of the bodies fell. The remains from Nataruk are unique, preserved by the particular conditions of the lagoon with no evidence of deliberate burial. They offer a rare glimpse into the life and death of past foraging people, and evidence that warfare was part of the repertoire of inter-group relations among prehistoric hunter-gatherers. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:26:45Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-53099 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:26:45Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publisher | Nature Publishing Group |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-530992020-05-04T17:30:50Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/53099/ Inter-group violence among early Holocene hunter-gatherers of West Turkana, Kenya Lahr, M.M. Rivera, F. Power, R.K. Foley, R.A. Mounier, A. Copsey, B. Crivellaro, F. Edung, J.E. Fernandez, J.M. Kiarie, C. Lawrence, J. Leakey, A. Mbua, E. Miller, Holly Muigai, A. Mukhongo, D. Van Baelen, A. Wood, R. Schwenninger, J-L. Grun, R. Achyuthan, H. Wilshaw, A. The nature of inter-group relations among prehistoric hunter-gatherers remains disputed, with arguments in favour and against the existence of warfare before the development of sedentary societies. Here we report on a case of inter-group violence towards a group of hunter-gatherers from Nataruk, west of Lake Turkana, which during the late Pleistocene/early Holocene period extended about 30 km beyond its present-day shore. Ten of the twelve articulated skeletons found at Nataruk show evidence of having died violently at the edge of a lagoon, into which some of the bodies fell. The remains from Nataruk are unique, preserved by the particular conditions of the lagoon with no evidence of deliberate burial. They offer a rare glimpse into the life and death of past foraging people, and evidence that warfare was part of the repertoire of inter-group relations among prehistoric hunter-gatherers. Nature Publishing Group 2016-01-20 Article PeerReviewed Lahr, M.M., Rivera, F., Power, R.K., Foley, R.A., Mounier, A., Copsey, B., Crivellaro, F., Edung, J.E., Fernandez, J.M., Kiarie, C., Lawrence, J., Leakey, A., Mbua, E., Miller, Holly, Muigai, A., Mukhongo, D., Van Baelen, A., Wood, R., Schwenninger, J-L., Grun, R., Achyuthan, H. and Wilshaw, A. (2016) Inter-group violence among early Holocene hunter-gatherers of West Turkana, Kenya. Nature, 529 . pp. 391-410. ISSN 1476-4687 https://www.nature.com/articles/nature16477 doi::10.1038/nature16477 doi::10.1038/nature16477 |
| spellingShingle | Lahr, M.M. Rivera, F. Power, R.K. Foley, R.A. Mounier, A. Copsey, B. Crivellaro, F. Edung, J.E. Fernandez, J.M. Kiarie, C. Lawrence, J. Leakey, A. Mbua, E. Miller, Holly Muigai, A. Mukhongo, D. Van Baelen, A. Wood, R. Schwenninger, J-L. Grun, R. Achyuthan, H. Wilshaw, A. Inter-group violence among early Holocene hunter-gatherers of West Turkana, Kenya |
| title | Inter-group violence among early Holocene hunter-gatherers of West Turkana, Kenya |
| title_full | Inter-group violence among early Holocene hunter-gatherers of West Turkana, Kenya |
| title_fullStr | Inter-group violence among early Holocene hunter-gatherers of West Turkana, Kenya |
| title_full_unstemmed | Inter-group violence among early Holocene hunter-gatherers of West Turkana, Kenya |
| title_short | Inter-group violence among early Holocene hunter-gatherers of West Turkana, Kenya |
| title_sort | inter-group violence among early holocene hunter-gatherers of west turkana, kenya |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/53099/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/53099/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/53099/ |