Japanese Hunter-Gatherers Defy Notions About Prehistoric Violence

A reconstructed Jomon period village in Japan. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons) A new study of human remains from prehistoric Japan challenges the idea that engaging in warfare is deeply embedded in human nature. Prehistoric Japan was a pretty peaceful place, according to a recent study of prehistoric remains from around the country. That could mean that, despite evidence of early warfare from other sites around the world, early Holocene hunter-gatherers weren’t innately warlike. The study, published Wednesday in the journal Biological Letters, is new ammunition for the debate about the origins of warfare.