The context of ancient American violence

Violence has become a popular research topic in archaeology. Various types of violenceare now the focus of investigation, such as warfare, ethnic conflict, and violence that doesnot involve bodily harm. The theoretical perspectives of researchers working in this area have diversified as well. From an early and still dominant focus on neo evolutionary approaches, recent works have increasingly come to rely on various postmodernperspectives, as exemplified in the four books under review. The approaches taken by these works are well-suited to combating the popular misrepresentations of violence in,and the concomitant denigration of, ancient American societies. As these books demonstrate, this is achieved, not by whitewashing the archaeological record but, rather, by examining the evidence, and especially the context in which it occurs, in closer detail.