Pre-1776
Colonial and Pre-Columbian
From prehistoric inter-tribal conflicts through Spanish colonial raids, the French and Indian War, and early English colonial engagements.
2,063 engagements recorded
Featured engagements
Notable Colonial and Pre-Columbian battles
1 · OH
Hopewell Culture Violence Evidence (Ohio)
While predominantly earlier than the 1000 CE scope of this collection, the Hopewell tradition (c.100...
200 · OH
Turner and Fox Sites (Ohio Hopewell)
Ohio Hopewell burial mounds contain trophy skulls and trophy bones indicating warfare in Hopewell cu...
800 · UT
Alkali Ridge Site 13 Raid
Early documentation of violence in the Pueblo sequence; demonstrates that warfare predates the class...
800 · FL
Calusa Raiding Southwest Florida
The Calusa represent one of the few complex non-agricultural chiefdoms in North America; their warfa...
800 · PR
Puerto Rico Saladoid-Ostionoid Conflict
Documents that the formation of Taino culture — the people first encountered by Columbus — involved ...
800 · AK
Ipiutak Conflict Point Hope Alaska
Point Hope is one of the longest continuously occupied sites in the Arctic; its Ipiutak period viole...
810 · CO
Sacred Ridge Massacre
Excavated 2006–2007 by James Potter (SWCA) ahead of road construction. Most completely documented ea...
850 · CO
Wason Park Massacre (Pueblo I)
Durango, Colorado area site with evidence of violence during the early Pueblo period. Part of the br...
850 · UT
Alkali Ridge Violence (Utah)
Excavated by John Brew (Harvard, 1931–1933). Alkali Ridge Site 13 contained human skeletal remains w...
875 · CO
Duckfoot Site Raid
One of the earliest well-documented episodes of Pueblo warfare; demonstrates violence predates the 1...
875 · CO
Duckfoot Site Early Pueblo Violence
Excavated by Crow Canyon Archaeological Center (1983–1987). Duckfoot Site provides evidence of viole...
900 · UT
Fremont Culture Warfare Utah
Fremont collapse represents one of the most dramatic cultural disappearances in North American prehi...
1
Hopewell Culture Violence Evidence (Ohio)
While predominantly earlier than the 1000 CE scope of this collection, the Hopewell tradition (c.100 BCE–500 CE) shows significant evidence of organized violenc...
OH
200
Turner and Fox Sites (Ohio Hopewell)
Ohio Hopewell burial mounds contain trophy skulls and trophy bones indicating warfare in Hopewell culture
OH
800
Alkali Ridge Site 13 Raid
Early documentation of violence in the Pueblo sequence; demonstrates that warfare predates the classic Pueblo period
UT
800
Calusa Raiding Southwest Florida
The Calusa represent one of the few complex non-agricultural chiefdoms in North America; their warfare was central to maintaining political dominance over south...
FL
800
Puerto Rico Saladoid-Ostionoid Conflict
Documents that the formation of Taino culture — the people first encountered by Columbus — involved violent displacement of earlier populations
PR
800
Ipiutak Conflict Point Hope Alaska
Point Hope is one of the longest continuously occupied sites in the Arctic; its Ipiutak period violence documents warfare at a site known primarily for elaborat...
AK
810
Sacred Ridge Massacre
Excavated 2006–2007 by James Potter (SWCA) ahead of road construction. Most completely documented early Pueblo massacre in the Southwest. 33 individuals of all ...
CO
850
Wason Park Massacre (Pueblo I)
Durango, Colorado area site with evidence of violence during the early Pueblo period. Part of the broader pattern of southwestern Pueblo violence documented by ...
CO
850
Alkali Ridge Violence (Utah)
Excavated by John Brew (Harvard, 1931–1933). Alkali Ridge Site 13 contained human skeletal remains with trauma evidence in burned rooms, representing one of the...
UT
875
Duckfoot Site Raid
One of the earliest well-documented episodes of Pueblo warfare; demonstrates violence predates the 13th-century crisis by 400 years
CO
875
Duckfoot Site Early Pueblo Violence
Excavated by Crow Canyon Archaeological Center (1983–1987). Duckfoot Site provides evidence of violence in the earliest Pueblo period, demonstrating that warfar...
CO
900
Fremont Culture Warfare Utah
Fremont collapse represents one of the most dramatic cultural disappearances in North American prehistory; warfare with Numic newcomers is now the leading expla...
UT
900
Meadowood Culture Conflict – New England
Meadowood Late Archaic/Early Woodland culture sites in Vermont and New York with skeletal trauma and specialized warfare weapons; inter-group conflict during ea...
VT
900
Ocmulgee Mounds Warfare Evidence
Major Mississippian mound complex in Macon, Georgia. The initial Mississippian (Macon Plateau) occupation represents an intrusion of Mississippian culture into ...
GA
900
La Plata Highway Project Massacre Site
Excavated during New Mexico highway project. Seven individuals of mixed age and sex found in a burned structure with perimortem cranial fractures and cut marks....
NM
900
Valley of Fire Conflict Site
The Hezbollah–Israel conflict that began on 8 October 2023 emerged as part of a broader Middle Eastern crisis following Hamas's attack on Israel on 7 October 20...
NV
900
La Plata Highway Site — Violence
Archaeological evidence from the La Plata Highway Site in New Mexico documents perimortem fractures and massacre remains dating to approximately 900 CE among Ba...
NM
900
Effigy Mound Culture Warfare
Documents the transition from the relatively peaceful Effigy Mound culture to the more warfare-oriented Oneota and Mississippian societies
WI
900
Mill Creek Culture Iowa Warfare
Mill Creek trauma rates rival the Crow Creek Massacre assemblage; documents catastrophic warfare in the northwestern Iowa plains long before the famous South Da...
IA
900
Sacramento Valley Tribal Raids
Sacramento Valley data shows violence increasing as California groups became more settled and dependent on stored resources — a classic resource-stress warfare ...
CA
900
Puget Sound Salish Raiding
Coast Salish defensive site positioning documents the reach of northern Northwest Coast raiding traditions deep into the Puget Sound
WA
900
Punuk Period Warfare St. Lawrence Island
Punuk culture warfare represents the most well-documented prehistoric martial tradition in the Arctic; their armor and weapons technology was sophisticated and ...
AK
900
Late Woodland Ohio Valley Fortification Conflict
The shift to palisaded villages represents a fundamental change in the social landscape of the mid-continental US and sets the stage for Mississippian-period wa...
OH
900
Safety Harbor Culture Warfare
Safety Harbor warfare documents the contested nature of Tampa Bay resources between adjacent but distinct cultural traditions
FL
950
Nine Mile Canyon Fremont Raids
Nine Mile Canyon's rock art provides the best visual record of Fremont warfare; shield and combat imagery is among the clearest prehistoric warfare iconography ...
UT
1000
Birnik Culture Warfare North Slope Alaska
Birnik warfare documents that the militarism of Thule culture had deep roots in its predecessor traditions on the Alaskan North Slope
AK
1000
Cahokia Mound 72 Mass Sacrifice
Largest known pre-Columbian mass burial in North America north of Mexico; demonstrates scale of Cahokia institutional violence
IL
1000
Kipp Island Site Warfare Evidence
The Late Woodland period in the Northeast (c.700–1200 CE) shows the beginnings of the fortification pattern that defines Iroquoian culture. Kipp Island phase si...
NY
1000
Fremont Culture Violence (Utah)
The Fremont culture of Utah (c.400–1300 CE) shows a pattern of violent abandonment similar to that documented in the Southwest. Multiple sites show burned struc...
UT
1000
Tocobaga-Calusa Conflict Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay was a persistent conflict zone between two complex non-agricultural chiefdoms; the Tocobaga-Calusa boundary was never permanently settled before Europ...
FL
1000
Gulf of Georgia Warfare (San Juan Islands)
The San Juan Islands were contested territory between various Coast Salish groups. Archaeological investigations have documented skeletal trauma consistent with...
WA
1000
Yupik-Athapaskan Border Raids
Documents that the Yup'ik-Athapaskan frontier was militarized for centuries before European contact; the raiding traditions survived into the early contact peri...
AK
1000
Columbia River Plateau Warfare Evidence
The Columbia River fishing sites (The Dalles, Celilo Falls, and similar locations) were major focal points of prehistoric trade, exchange, and conflict. Multipl...
WA
1000
Buena Vista Lake Massacre
Philip Walker's analysis of Central California prehistoric cemetery populations documented some of the highest rates of prehistoric violence in North America, w...
CA
1000
San Francisco Bay Ohlone Conflict
Bay Area shell mound skeletal data provides one of the longest temporal records of violence escalation in California prehistory
CA
1000
Penobscot River Archaic Conflict
Late Archaic Maine sites on Penobscot River with skeletal trauma and weapon cache deposits; inter-group violence among Maritime Archaic populations competing ov...
ME
1000
Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village
One of the earliest fortified villages in the Middle Missouri River region, dating to the Initial Middle Missouri tradition (c.1000–1200 CE). The fortification ...
SD
1000
Modoc Volcanic Tablelands Conflict
The lava beds of the Modoc country served as the quintessential natural fortress; their use in the 1872-73 Modoc War echoes thousands of years of defensive posi...
CA
1000
Travis County Archaic Period Violence — Texas
Multiple archaeological sites in Travis County, Texas show evidence of violence during the Archaic period, including embedded projectile points and perimortem t...
TX
1000
San Nicolas Island Warfare
Archaeological evidence of violent conflict on this Channel Island; mass burial contexts with perimortem trauma recovered during excavations
CA
1000
Chucalissa Fortification (Tennessee)
Major Mississippian site in Memphis, Tennessee. Excavated by Neuman and others. Multiple phases of palisade construction document ongoing defensive concern. War...
TN
1000
Mill Creek Culture Violence (Iowa)
Mill Creek Oneota culture in NW Iowa shows skeletal trauma and trophy heads indicating sustained conflict
IA
1000
Fort Ancient Culture Warfare (Anderson Site)
The Fort Ancient culture of Ohio and Kentucky (c.1000–1650) is well documented for warfare: palisaded villages, skeletal trauma, and warrior burials are found a...
OH
1000
Southern California Desert Warfare (Mojave)
The Yuman-speaking peoples of the lower Colorado River valley are documented as having a distinctive formalized warfare tradition involving mass battles between...
CA
1000
Nevada Great Basin Lacustrine Resource Raids
Documents that Great Basin societies, often portrayed as peaceful foragers, engaged in persistent violent conflict over critical water-edge resources
NV
1000
Mimbres Culture Warfare
Mimbres collapse involved violence at a culture famous for its elaborate black-on-white pottery tradition
NM
1000
Timucua Territorial Warfare
Timucuan warfare was so well-documented by early Spanish and French contacts that it became a reference for understanding Southeastern chiefdom warfare
FL
1000
Ozette Village Raid Washington
The mudslide preservation of Ozette provides a uniquely complete snapshot of Northwest Coast warfare material culture; the only such perfectly preserved assembl...
WA
1000
Chinook-Tillamook Coastal Conflict
The Columbia River mouth was among the most contested locations on the Northwest Coast due to its enormous economic significance as a trading and fishing hub
OR
1000
Ocmulgee Earthworks Fortification
Early Mississippian site with defensive earthworks; evidence of community-level conflict in burial populations
GA
1000
Winterville Mounds Warfare Evidence
Major Mississippian mound complex in the Yazoo Basin of Mississippi. Excavations documented warrior burials with weapons and Southeastern Ceremonial Complex ite...
MS
1000
Lovelock Cave Violence Evidence
Lovelock Cave (Lovelock, NV) deposits include human skeletal material showing perimortem processing consistent with trophy-taking or warfare. Evidence compiled ...
NV
1000
Alta California Costanoan/Ohlone Violence
The San Francisco Bay shellmound populations have been extensively studied. Jurmain's (2001) bioarchaeological analysis of Ohlone skeletal remains documented ra...
CA
1000
Channel Islands Pre-Contact Violence
Philip Walker's comprehensive bioarchaeological analysis of Channel Islands and mainland Chumash populations (1989, 2001) documented some of the highest rates o...
CA
1000
Safety Harbor Culture Warfare (Florida)
The Spanish assault on French Florida began as part of imperial Spain's geopolitical strategy of developing colonies in the New World to protect its claimed ter...
FL
1000
Apalachee-Timucua Border Warfare
The Apalachee-Timucua boundary was one of the most consistently contested inter-tribal frontiers in the prehistoric Southeast
FL
1000
Mimbres Valley Violence Evidence
The Mimbres classic period (c.1000–1150) in southwestern New Mexico shows evidence of violence in bioarchaeological assemblages and in the famous Mimbres black-...
NM
1000
Thule-Dorset Conflict Alaska
Thule replacement of Dorset culture is the largest prehistoric population replacement in the Arctic; violence was a component of this replacement process
AK
1000
McKeithen Weeden Island Conflict
North Florida Weeden Island ceremonial site with evidence of violence; skeletal trauma and weapons deposition indicate conflict at this mound complex
FL
1000
Kansas City Hopewell Conflict
Kansas City Hopewell sites in Missouri River valley with skeletal trauma and exotic weapon deposits; inter-group competition among Hopewellian exchange network ...
KS
1000
Crystal River Mound Complex Conflict
Crystal River mound complex shows skeletal trauma and weapon deposits in burial mounds; inter-group conflict among Gulf Coast Woodland/Mississippian groups duri...
FL
1000
Sacramento Valley Pre-Contact Violence
Walker's study of prehistoric California violence documented elevated trauma rates in Sacramento Valley populations. Inter-group raiding in the Sacramento Valle...
CA
1000
Southern California Coastal Warfare
Lambert's (1994) analysis of southern California coastal warfare established the statistical basis for the resource-stress warfare model in prehistoric Californ...
CA
1000
Aztalan Wisconsin Palisade Defense
Aztalan is the northernmost major Mississippian site; its elaborate fortification shows that Mississippian communities transplanted to hostile northern environm...
WI
1000
Spiro Mounds Warfare Evidence
Westernmost major Mississippian ceremonial center. The Great Mortuary at Spiro contained the richest collection of Southeastern Ceremonial Complex items ever re...
OK
1000
Marmes Rockshelter Violence – Snake River
Palouse region rockshelter with long occupation sequence including skeletal trauma evidence spanning prehistoric periods; plateau warfare evidence
WA
1000
Toltec Mounds Conflict – Arkansas
Toltec Mounds Plum Bayou culture center with earthwork enclosure; competition with emerging Mississippian cultures documented through material culture changes a...
AR
1030
Sacred Ridge Massacre – Colorado
Early Pueblo II massacre site in Ridges Basin with 35 individuals processed with extreme violence; earliest well-documented Puebloan massacre in the region
CO
1050
Mississippian East St. Louis Site Violence
Construction excavations in 2011 at the East St. Louis Mound Center (part of the greater Cahokia complex) revealed a mass burial of 72 individuals with perimort...
IL
1050
Cahokia Tract 15A Mass Grave
Fowler's (1991) excavation of Mound 72 at Cahokia documented four mass burials: one of ~53 young women (buried in a beaded blanket), several pits of headless an...
IL
1050
Cahokia Warrior Burial Mound 72
Mound 72 contains beheaded and dismembered individuals alongside high-status warrior burials indicating ritual violence and warfare
IL
1050
Cahokia Mound 72 Sacrificial Pit
Mass burial beneath Mound 72 at Cahokia containing over 270 individuals; many are young women deposited in mass graves interpreted as ritual sacrifice or war ca...
IL
1050
Pueblo Bonito Room 33 Burials (Chaco)
Elite burials at Pueblo Bonito with violence evidence; trophy skull Room 33; Chacoan political violence
NM
1050
Kincaid Mounds Warfare Evidence
Major Mississippian mound site in southern Illinois at the confluence of the Ohio and Cumberland rivers. Excavated by Cole (1951). The palisaded mound precinct ...
IL
1050
Aztalan Fortification and Violence
Northernmost major Mississippian-related site. Excavated by Barrett and later by Birmingham. A double bastioned palisade enclosing ~21 acres indicates serious d...
WI
1050
Harlan Phase Violence (Oklahoma Caddo)
Spiro Mounds and Harlan phase sites show violence in Caddo Mississippian society of eastern Oklahoma
OK
1050
Monongahela Culture Village Raids
Monongahela's uniform palisade architecture across hundreds of sites documents the most consistently fortified prehistoric culture in the mid-Atlantic
PA
1050
Crystal River Violence – Florida
Weeden Island/Safety Harbor culture site with skeletal trauma evidence; pre-Mississippian inter-group conflict on Florida Gulf Coast
FL
1050
Adena Culture Conflict Site – Ross County
Adena burial mound complex with trauma-bearing skeletal remains suggesting inter-polity raiding during Hopewell transition
OH
1050
Pueblo Bonito Trophy Skull Deposits
Turner and Turner's (1999) analysis of Chaco trophy skulls revealed systematic violence beneath the ceremonial veneer of the Chacoan great house system
NM
1050
Cahokia East St. Louis Mass Sacrifice
Documents that Cahokia's political power rested partly on large-scale institutional killing; one of the clearest cases of state-organized violence in pre-Columb...
IL
1050
Cahokia Woodhenge Sacrificial Deposits
Mound 72 at Cahokia, Illinois contains a pit deposit with approximately 53 young women who appear to have been ritually sacrificed around 1050 CE, along with ot...
IL
1050
Cahokia Mound 72 Mass Burial (Sacrifices)
Mound 72 at Cahokia Mounds near Collinsville, Illinois served as a significant ceremonial and mortuary center in the pre-Columbian settlement. Early in Cahokia'...
IL
1050
Trempealeau Mound Fortifications
Mississippian-influenced mound complex at Trempealeau with earthwork enclosures indicating defensive use during Late Woodland to Mississippian transition
WI
1050
Lohmann Phase Cahokia Warfare
Rapid political expansion of Cahokia during Lohmann phase likely involved military coercion of surrounding communities
IL
1050
Pueblo Bonito Violence Evidence
The largest and most complex of the Chaco Canyon great houses. Room 33 skeleton assemblage analyzed by Turner and Turner (1999) and more recently by Kennett et ...
NM
1050
Cahokia Palisade Defense Conflict
One of the most elaborately fortified prehistoric sites in North America; indicates persistent military threat to the largest pre-Columbian city north of Mexico
IL
1050
Dickson Mounds Warfare Illinois
Dickson Mounds provides one of the longest continuous skeletal records of violence escalation in the Midwest; Milner et al. (1991) is a foundational study of pr...
IL
1050
Kincaid Site Defensive Conflict
This is a list of notable American non-officeholders who endorsed Donald Trump for the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
IL
1080
Hopewell Interaction Sphere Conflict – Mound City
Hopewell ceremonial center with evidence of violent disruption at collapse of interaction sphere; burned structures and skeletal trauma recorded
OH
1100
Troyville Mounds Warfare Evidence
Troyville/Coles Creek culture center in Louisiana, predating the Mississippian period but showing early evidence of the warfare pattern that would characterize ...
LA
1100
Pueblo Bonito Room 33 Massacre
Documents political killing and elite-level violence at the heart of the Chacoan system; reanalysis by Crown et al. (2016) confirmed as ritual violence
NM
1100
Koger's Island Warfare Alabama
Bridges' (1996) analysis of Koger's Island skeletal material is a landmark bioarchaeological study of Mississippian period raiding
AL
1100
Point Conception Area Violence (CA-SBA-1)
Point Conception marked a significant environmental and cultural boundary in Chumash territory. Walker's analysis documented elevated violence rates in skeletal...
CA
1100
Cahokia Palisade Conflict – East St. Louis
Cahokia erected a massive log palisade with bastions around its central precinct ca. 1100–1200 CE; wall rebuilt at least four times suggesting sustained threat ...
IL
1100
Gallina Culture Massacre — Largo Canyon
The Gallina culture of northern New Mexico (c.1050–1275 CE) is remarkable for showing evidence of nearly universal violent death. Virtually every excavated Gall...
NM
1100
Fort Ancient Culture Warfare
Fort Ancient hilltop enclosure and associated village sites with defensive earthworks; skeletal populations show perimortem trauma from sustained conflict
OH
1100
Snaketown Hohokam Conflicts
Major Hohokam center with evidence of defensive canal systems and skeletal trauma in burial populations; inter-village conflict within Hohokam sphere
AZ
1100
Fremont — Nine Mile Canyon Conflict Evidence
Rock art panels in Nine Mile Canyon, Utah depict Fremont warfare imagery including warriors, shields, and captives, suggesting organized conflict around 1100 CE...
UT
1100
Aztalan Fortified Village
Stockaded Mississippian outpost with bastioned palisade; evidence of cannibalism and violent death among residents
WI
Page 1 of 21Next →