In 1991, two explorers recognized a body close to the Glacier in the Otzaler Alps. The head of the cadaver was lying face down in the dissolved snow with one arm collapsed over its head. “Only when an archaeologist spotted a Neolithic copper ax did people realize that the man was five thousand years old” (Pinker, 2). In examining the body, a vast majority of injuries was discovered.
This creature was named Otzi and theories was put together of how this mysterious ice man dead. It was believed Otzi was an agricultural shepherd and a hunter looking for food. “Otzi lived during the crucial transition inhuman prehistory when agriculture was replacing hunting and gathering, and tools were first made of metal rather than stone.” (Pinker, 2). According to archaeologist, Otzi was identified as a warrior. Ötzi was the oldest preserved body in the European era and it was believed he was murdered. Archeologists found skeletal remains of prehistoric man and named it Kennewick Man. It is one of the most complete ancient skeletons ever found and archaeologists believe this skeleton had lived 9,400 years ago (Pinker, 2).
It was known that Kennewick man was shot with an arrow. During that time, Native American began to fight for the skeletal remains. However, evidence showed the characteristics of the prehistoric teeth as not a feature of the Native American. Evidence also showed object embedded in the hipbone. These skeletal remains show evidence of migration of people and “one report argue that he had European features, another that he matched the Ainu, the aboriginal inhabitants of Japan.” (Pinker,3). During that era, Lindow Man was discovered with a stab wound to the chest, a cut throat and blows to the head which was done with a blunt object. It was believed Lindow man had a terrible death based on the skeleton remains.
gruesome death. It was also known that Lindow man ribs were broken which was caused by the blow. After the process, his naked body was thrown into the peat bog. According to Archeologist, Lindow was used a sacrifice and a ritual importance. Human skull was discovered which was “a two-thousand-year-old skull dug out of a muddy pit in northern England.
” (Pinker, 3) The skull was believed to be severed during the Roman invasion. The skull was known to contain a brain because as an archaeologist was cleaning it, an object moved inside. The base of the skull also had an unusual substance inside. However, it was not known how this skull had survived. It believes human sacrifice and ritual was performed. Archaeologists identified uncovered canal which was filled with human bones.
“The other discovery was of a 4,600-year-old grave in Germany that held the remains of a man, a woman, and two boys.” (Pinker, 3).It was identified as belonging to a group of farmers through DNA analyses. However, it was also proved to be single nuclear family killed who was killed in a raid at the same time.
Homeric Greece period of warfare was the first literature and history which introduces the concept of total war. Total war was against the entire society. “Total war has been blamed on the emergence of nation-states, on universalist ideologies, and on technologies that allow killing at a distance.” (Pinker ,4). However, this war started due to the abduction of Helen from Mycenae of Paris Troy. During the Trojan soldiers prepared to fight with each side supported by the gods. As Achilles refused to give the body of the king to the Trojans, it was not buried. War in the Hebrew bible was ordered by the God of Israel.
For example, when Cain and Abel rose against each other, “With a world population of exactly four, that works out to a homicide rate of 25 percent” (Pinker, 6). As the world begin to increase, sins also increased. God ordered Noah to build an ark which and the world was destroyed.
“Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed.” (Pinker, 6). The Hebrew Bible talk about the holy war and justified. War was fought on the order of God of Israel in the favor of the people of Israel. The Pax Romana was a peaceful and stable in the Roman Empire in the intention to expand Britain, Germany and Judah. During this time Colosseum introduces violence as a spectator sport as “naked women were tied to stakes and raped or torn apart by animals. Armies of captives massacred each other in mock battles.
” (Pinker, 12). Pope Gregory commended torture as a punishment in hell when the seven deadly sin was committed. During this time, Colosseum was introduced as a form of sport in which naked women were raped, slaves were tortured and animal slaughtered.
The medieval period was in the 11th and 14th century in the historical time. It was the start of the early era in which violence was a specialty. During this time, the rise of kings and violence was under control. Lancelot became the best knight after killing his poweress and spared a knight who begged for mercy.
According to Pinker, the world has become less violent and humane over time. Humans have begun to move from violence in the agriculture era. Governments began less violent toward its citizens and cruel punishment was abolish. I think violent in other countries may have to do with the lack of citizen involvement. However, some countries have not passed laws protecting their citizens.
As indicated by Pinker, Humans are not to a great degree insidious or great but rather are orientated with thought processes which can lead them to help or brutality. People have compassion which makes us feel the misery of others. Restraint enables us to envision the results of following up on our driving forces and to repress them appropriately. The ethical sense blesses an arrangement of standards and taboos that oversee the communications among individuals in a culture, now and again in manners that diminish savagery.
, however regularly (when the standards are inborn, dictator, or strict) in manners that expansion it. What’s more, the workforce of reason enables us to remove ourselves from our parochial vantage focuses, to consider the manners by which we experience our lives, to derive manners by which we could be in an ideal situation, and to manage the utilization of the other better holy messengers of our inclination. In one segment I will likewise look at the likelihood that in ongoing history Homo sapiens has actually advanced to end up less brutal in the scientist’s specialized feeling of an adjustment in our genome.
