IELTS High Band

Is violence innate?

  In 1983, archaeologists in southern Germany discovered a mass grave containing 34 skeletons. They included 9 adult males, 7 adult females and 16 children.

  All of the skeletons showed signs of fatal trauma, including head wounds. None of them showed any signs of defensive wounds, suggesting they were killed whilst running away.

  The "Talheim Death Pit" dates from the Stone Age, around 7,000 years ago. It offers some of the oldest evidence of organised group violence between two communities: that is, of war.

  Clearly, humans have been fighting wars for thousands of years, and we may not be the only ones. There is growing evidence that several other species also engage in warfare, including our closest relatives the chimpanzees.

  That suggests we have inherited our predilection for warfare from our ape-like ancestors. But not everyone agrees that warfare is inbuilt.