scholarly journals The Sandby Borg Massacre: Interpersonal Violence and the Demography of the Dead

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 210-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clara Alfsdotter ◽  
Anna Kjellström
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Interpersonal Violence ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Power And Control ◽  
The Dead ◽  
And Control

During excavations of the Iron Age ringfort of Sandby borg (ad 400–550), the remains of twenty-six unburied bodies were encountered inside and outside the buildings. The skeletons and the archaeological record indicate that after the individuals had died the ringfort was deserted. An osteological investigation and trauma analysis were conducted according to standard anthropological protocols. The osteological analysis identified only men, but individuals of all ages were represented. Eight individuals (31 per cent) showed evidence of perimortem trauma that was sharp, blunt, and penetrating, consistent with interpersonal violence. The location of the bodies and the trauma pattern appear to indicate a massacre rather than a battle. The ‘efficient trauma’ distribution (i.e. minimal but effective violence), the fact that the bodies were not manipulated, combined with the archaeological context, suggest that the perpetrators were numerous and that the assault was carried out effectively. The contemporary sociopolitical situation was seemingly turbulent and the suggested motive behind the massacre was to gain power and control.

Mortuary practices, problems, and analysis

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis Harding
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Social Cohesion ◽  
Human Remains ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Community Group ◽  
Archaeological Investigation ◽  
Final Disposal ◽  
The Dead ◽  
A Site

Archaeological investigation is sometimes likened to opening a window on to the past. The problem is that, except in cases of unexpected and sudden disaster, for example where a shipwreck has been preserved untouched or a town was engulfed by volcanic ash, the archaeologist never examines a site as it was in its living heyday, only as it was after it had been abandoned, leaving only what survives of what its occupants chose to leave behind. Burials likewise represent only what communities chose to deposit for whatever reason, modified by taphonomic factors that determine the state of surviving evidence. Other ephemeral forms of disposal, and any elaborate or protracted rituals that preceded the final act of deposition that did not involve substantive structures, will pass unremarked in the archaeological record. It has been suggested in Chapter 1 that human remains may have been buried either in a dedicated cemetery where the dead were segregated or confined, perhaps in the equivalent of consecrated ground, or integrated within the environs of settlements, whether as complete or near-complete bodies or as fragmented parts or individual bones. A third option, of course, and one which would certainly contribute to the difficulty of tracing a regular burial rite archaeologically, would be segregated burial on an individual basis rather than in a community group, however small or selective. The concept of a cemetery assumes a degree of social cohesion in Iron Age practice which may not have been universal. An obvious question must be why should there have been these alternatives, and what might have governed the decision as to which alternative should be adopted? Ethnographic analogies suggest that the spirits of the dead could have been regarded as malevolent, more especially during the interim phase between death and completion of decomposition. So it might make sense to consign the dead directly to a dedicated cemetery that was detached from the settlement, or to confine them initially within a secure location, such as a hillfort, for excarnation or interim burial, before final disposal.

Death and Burial in Iron Age Britain

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis Harding
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Total Population ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Regular Form ◽  
Age And Gender ◽  
Minimal Impact ◽  
Animal Remains ◽  
The Dead ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Burial Rite

Archaeologists have long acknowledged the absence of a regular and recurrent burial rite in the British Iron Age, and have looked to rites such as cremation and scattering of remains to explain the minimal impact of funerary practices on the archaeological record. Pit-burials or the deposit of disarticulated bones in settlements have been dismissed as casual disposal or the remains of social outcasts. In Death and Burial in Iron Age Britain, Harding examines the deposition of human and animal remains from the period - from whole skeletons to disarticulated fragments - and challenges the assumption that there should have been any regular form of cemetery in prehistory, arguing that the dead were more commonly integrated into settlements of the living than segregated into dedicated cemeteries. Even where cemeteries are known, they may yet represent no more than a minority of the total population, so that other forms of disposal must still have been practised. A further example of this can be found in hillforts which, in addition to domestic and agricultural settlements, evidently played an important role in funerary ritual, as secure community centres where excarnation and display of the dead may have made them a potent symbol of identity. The volume evaluates the evidence for violent death, sacrifice, and cannibalism, as well as age and gender distinctions, and associations with animal burials, and reveals that 'formal' cemetery burial or cremation was for most regions a minority practice in Britain until the eve of the Roman conquest.

scholarly journals High stakes: Offender decisions about weapon carrying and weapon use

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iain Brennan
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Interpersonal Violence ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Weapon Carrying ◽  
Power And Control ◽  
Weapon Use ◽  
Serious Injury ◽  
The Many ◽  
And Control ◽  
Self Protection

Weapons are the tools of interpersonal violence, power, and control. The potential they have for causing serious injury gives them a contradictory power: They can be used to do serious violence or to reduce the likelihood of any violence; they can deescalate an altercation or prime aggressive behavior; and they can be essential mechanisms for self- protection while also being offensive and dangerous. These contradictions make weapon carrying and use fascinating but complicated areas to study, and this complexity can be seen both in public and in academic debate. Throughout this chapter, when considering offender decision making, it is important to recall the many overlapping and often contradictory functions that weapons fulfill for users. Binary interpretations of weapons as having purely offensive or defensive functions will limit our ability to understand offender decision making and should be avoided wherever possible. This chapter is divided into four main sections that relate to the decision to carry and use a weapon: (1) how we define and learn about weapon use in crime, (2) why and how weapons can affect the success of a crime, (3) why offenders choose to carry and use weapons, and (4) a discussion of how weapon use actually affects the success of a crime.

scholarly journals Animal Cruelty and Intimate Partner Homicide in Edgar Allan Poe's "The Black Cat"

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-206
Author(s):  
Afra S. Alshiban Afra S. Alshiban
Keyword(s):  
Short Story ◽  
Interpersonal Violence ◽  
Edgar Allan Poe ◽  
Animal Cruelty ◽  
Need For Power ◽  
Power And Control ◽  
Law Enforcement Officials ◽  
Reign Of Terror ◽  
And Control ◽  
Cruelty To Animals

The relation between animal maltreatment and interpersonal violence has long been of interest to developmental psychologists, psychiatrists, law enforcement officials, criminologists, and others from related disciplines who concluded that the motivation behind these atrocities is a deep-seated need for power and control that stems from inadequacy. The culprit begins by practising on animals, before graduating to humans, mainly women. In 1843, Edgar Allan Poe saw the potential significance of cruelty to animals as a precursor to future violence against humans and brought it to life through his short story "The Black Cat." The narrator begins his reign of terror by practising on cats (women stand-ins) until he summons enough courage to murder the real source of his misery—his spouse. The story is artistically coherent if understood in terms of cruelty to animals as an unfavourable prognostic sign characteristic of those who will kill. Until now, animal cruelty in Poe’s tale received relatively little attention from literary critics. To date, no inquiry has put forward a theory regarding the abuse of animals and its relation to homicide. Hence, this study proposes to look into this disturbing phenomenon and to complement the Poe scholarship.

Power and control: transferring energy when there is work to be done

2005 ◽  
pp. 29-30
Author(s):  
Naveen Sharma ◽  
William Stanley
Keyword(s):  
Power And Control ◽  
And Control

The History of the Judahite Bench Tomb

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Suriano
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Mortuary Practices ◽  
Iron Age Ii ◽  
Gradual Development ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Insight Into

The history of the Judahite bench tomb provides important insight into the meaning of mortuary practices, and by extension, death in the Hebrew Bible. The bench tomb appeared in Judah during Iron Age II. Although it included certain burial features that appear earlier in the Middle and Late Bronze Ages, such as burial benches, and the use of caves for extramural burials, the Judahite bench tomb uniquely incorporated these features into a specific plan that emulated domestic structures and facilitated multigenerational burials. During the seventh century, and continuing into the sixth, the bench tombs become popular in Jerusalem. The history of this type of burial shows a gradual development of cultural practices that were meant to control death and contain the dead. It is possible to observe within these cultural practices the tomb as a means of constructing identity for both the dead and the living.

International Human Rights Law and Blockade

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phillip Drew
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
European Court ◽  
Power And Control ◽  
International Human ◽  
Extraterritorial Jurisdiction ◽  
And Control

The years since the beginning of the twenty-first century have seen a significant incursion of international human rights law into the domain that had previously been the within the exclusive purview of international humanitarian law. The expansion of extraterritorial jurisdiction, particularly by the European Court of Human Rights, means that for many states, the exercise of physical power and control over an individual outside their territory may engage the jurisdiction of human rights obligations. Understanding the expansive tendencies of certain human rights tribunals, and the apparent disdain they have for any ambiguity respecting human rights, it is offered that the uncertain nature of the law surrounding humanitarian relief during blockades could leave blockading forces vulnerable to legal challenge under human rights legislation, particularly in cases in which starvation occurs as a result of a blockade.

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