Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology

Why did some aboriginal peoples conduct hostilities over long periods of time? The answers to this question have been many, and one motive that is given great weight in the literature is the economic—raiding for wealth or for food in time of hunger. But for the Lower Colorado peoples during the early 1850's the record is not clear in associating occurrences of warfare with times of hunger. Instead, the record raises questions bearing on the theory of war in aboriginal society.