Sandra E. Hollimon

Anthropological Studies Center

Sonoma State University

hollimon@mcn.org

Despite a "conventional wisdom" in anthropology that Native California women did not participate in organized warfare, there is abundant evidence from prehistoric osteological populations to demonstrate that females were subject to violent conflict. Traditional interpretations of these data have constructed prehistoric females with traumatic injuries as victims of, but not participants in, organized violence. In this paper, I challenge this traditional view, and suggest that studies of prehistoric warfare would benefit from the following considerations: 1) viewing warfare as a complex involving ritual and symbolism, not merely focussing on combat; 2) examining Native California gender systems, and the possibility that genders other than men may have participated in organized conflict; and 3) assessing the ideological aspects of violence, such as those dealing with blood "pollution," in order to understand native concepts of warfare more fully. I discuss these theoretical positions with specific examples drawn from archaeological skeletal populations from prehistoric California, especially evidence of projectile injuries in females skeletons.