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6 Comments

1. 1. Fanandala 02:45 AM 2/14/13

   Is it possible to determine the age of these women. Maybe only older women, past the menopause, were killed

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2. 2. jtdwyer 09:14 AM 2/14/13

   I don't know why my earlier post should have been deleted (something to the effect of 'ban clubs'), as it was intended to relate the modern propensity to blame violence on firearms rather than the perpetrator - to the stereotypical club-carrying cave-man holding his conquest by the hair.
   
   "Domestic violence could be a factor, but proving it requires looking for repeat injuries and wounds to the ribs and torso..."
   "More likely is that women suffered fatal injuries, because they couldn't fight ferociously in raids..."
   
   These are absurd denials of the unfortunate role of violence and the propensity for male physical domination of women in the sexual relations of our species. Why is a domestic violence explanation dismissed for lack of proof while an unsupported and IMO unlikely alternative offered in its stead? What evidence indicates that these injured women died in raids?
   
   Contradicting this assertion, the article states that:
   "They distinguished bumps due to falls or accidents from violent wounds, which might leave evidence such as an "axe-shaped hole in the skull."" This seems to indicate that those who died of injuries did not die from raids!
   
   This frankly reminds me more of feminist revisionist history than archaeological science. Contemporary domestic violence should not be ignored - nor should it be written out of history on scant evidence!
   Happy Valentine's day!

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3. 3. cosmo101 10:50 PM 2/14/13

   Read the crime reports today and not much has changed.

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4. 4. Diesel67 11:57 PM 2/19/13

   "Equally as likely?" Try "equally likely." Is there any hope left for the world when the cancer of defining deviancy down spreads to scientific writing?

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5. 5. gmperkins 03:01 PM 2/21/13

   I abhor this kind of extrapolation. First of all, this is a localized dig, the title implies it is a world wide finding. And, ugh, anyways, it is interesting but it smacks of arguments as to whether or not dinosaurs were hot or cold blooded. In other words, there just isn't enough evidence to say much of anything. So sure, blame it on 'abusive stone age men' or 'weak women', ideas never established but found instead inside scientifically proven sitcoms like the Simpsons or the Honeymooners.

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6. 6. HubertB 08:16 AM 2/25/13

   The Bible describes one situation where David destroyed everyone in a city. He did not want a single witness left alive. In other situations the women were left alive. In other situations the women and children. In yet other situations, only the fighting age men died. The Biblical record describes a variety of patterns occurring among a stone age culture. (The Egyptians and Philistines had entered the copper and bronze ages and would soon enter the iron ages. Only Saul and Jonathan in Israel had swords. David would get one from Goliath. The rest of Israel would remain stone age for many more years.)
   To take one Scandinavian graveyard and extrapolate all stone age cultural practices from it does not make sense.

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