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▪ Abstract  Traumatic injuries in ancient human skeletal remains are a direct source of evidence for testing theories of warfare and violence that are not subject to the interpretative difficulties posed by literary creations such as historical records and ethnographic reports. Bioarchaeological research shows that throughout the history of our species, interpersonal violence, especially among men, has been prevalent. Cannibalism seems to have been widespread, and mass killings, homicides, and assault injuries are also well documented in both the Old and New Worlds. No form of social organization, mode of production, or environmental setting appears to have remained free from interpersonal violence for long.

An oral health survey of African pygmies and Bantu revealed significant contrasts that can be explained by differences in diet, social status, and oral hygiene. Pygmy men have fewer carious lesions and less tooth loss than pygmy women. Ethnographic data suggest that this results from sex differences in eating habits and access to cariogenic foods. Pygmy "leaders" have much better dental health than "nonleaders." This status difference appears to be explained by social and dietary variables.

Marriage patterns of California's eighteenth and nineteenth century
Spanish-Mexican families are analysed using data from genealogies and mission
records. A shortage of women among the military based colonists led to an
unusual marriage pattern with a large age differential between husbands and
wives. The average age at marriage was 18·4 years for women and 28·4 years for
men. Spatial mobility was high for both sexes, particularly for men. More
husbands than wives were born in Mexico. The Monterey presidial district of
central California was the birthplace of a disproportionate number of husbands
and the southern California districts were a source of wives. The transition
between a founding population predominantly composed of Mexican immigrants and
a population of native-born Californians
occurred at the beginning of the
nineteenth century.