Violence has been part of human culture since time immemorial. As such, scientists are studying how this aggression eventually got engrained into our culture and persisted even in modern society.
Bioarcheologist James Watson is among those scientists and through several years of study found dozens of graveyards where human remains have seemingly been dump haphazardly. Details of the discovery have been recently published in the journal "Current Anthropology," with the burial sites estimated to date back between 2100 BC and A.D. 50 and the victims speculated as dying because of blood feuds.
Bone Position Indicative That The Corpses Are Victims Of Blood Feuds
"These people were buried very differently than the rest of the community, and we're trying to understand why that is," said Watson, an associate curator at the Arizona State Museum. "We're arguing that the way they were tossed into these pits is a form of continued desecration of the body.
"It's moving from violence on the living individual, through the process of death, to violence on the corpse." Watson's analysis on the remains - conducted in the southwestern United States and Northwestern Mexico - showed evidence that the people who the bones belonged to suffered a violent end.
But the thing that stood out most to Watson and his colleagues was how the bodies were positioned, reported UA News. The bones awkwardly lay on the graves headfirst wherein if it has been a customary burial the bodies would've been rested on a flex position on their side.
Another indication was that the graves were lacking funerary features practiced at the time. Other historians believed that the remains belonged to people who have been suspected of practicing witchcraft.
Watson disagrees, however, and pointed that if it has been so then there would've been evidence of dismemberment on the corpses as suspected witches were historically treated that way, said UPI. He said in his paper that the cause of these violence may have been due to conflicts stemming from territorial dispute.
"This was right when agriculture came into the area, and these were the earliest villages, so we think that some of this violence comes from growing pains, as villages are established and people are claiming territory and farming the desert river valleys," explained Watson. "Social tensions develop between communities, or even within communities, and end up boiling over into violence."
Violent Behavior Due To 'Costly Signaling Theory'
So where does blood feud come into the picture? The published study attributed the violent behavior to evolutionary biology's "costly signaling theory." To put simply, it is the physical traits or behavior of a certain animal that provides risk and reward at the same time.
Take a bird with bright plumage, for example. The plumage is imperative in finding a mate, yet it also adds the risk to the bird as predators can easily spot it. The benefit is more offspring; the disadvantage is increased risk of dying.
Applied on human behavior, the benefit of such disrespectful burial signals prowess and dominant status. The disadvantage is that the consequence of retaliation from the victims' families resulting in years of blood feud.
While this study observes violence that occurred thousands of years ago, Watson said that the cost signaling theory is still seen today. Gang violence, police shootings, and other aggressive behavior still persists in modern society.
"With some of the issues that we're seeing today - like increased violence and murders in a lot of cities, police shootings, retaliation upon police - a lot of kids are growing up in a culture of violence in certain communities, and they're learning different values on how to interact with their environment because of the disadvantages that they have," elaborated Watson. "They gain status because they're good at being violent; that's how you gain respect, then along with that comes advantages - wealth, women and offspring, potentially. There is a biological imperative to signal that they are worthy of the status they're trying to earn.
