Animal Weapons
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8. The history of fortifications is described in Sidney Toy, Castles: Their Construction and History (New York: Dover, 1984); Martin Brice, Stronghold: A History of Military Architecture (New York: Schocken Books, 1985); J. E. Kaufmann and H. W. Kaufmann, The Medieval Fortress: Castles, Forts, and Walled Cities of the Middle Ages (Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2001); Harold Skaarup, Siegecraft: No Fortress Impregnable (New York: iUniverse, 2003); Charles Stephenson, Castles: A History of Fortified Structures, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2011).
9. Ibid.
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid.
12. Descriptions of Lachish and its siege can be found in R. D. Barnett, “The Siege of Lachish,” Israel Exploration Journal 8 (1958): 161–64; David Ussishkin, “The ‘Lachish Reliefs’ and the City of Lachish,” Israel Exploration Journal 30 (1980): 174–95; Kelly Devries, Martin J. Dougherty, Iain Dickie, Phyllis G. Jestice, and Rob S. Rice, Battles of the Ancient World, 1285 BC–AD 451, from Kadesh to Catalaunian Field (New York: Metro Books, 2007); Smithsonian, Military History: The Definitive Visual Guide to Objects of Warfare (New York: DK Press, 2012).
13. Ibid.
14. Ibid.
15. Descriptions of the Assyrian army and its siege tactics are provided by Devries et al., Battles of the Ancient World; Smithsonian, Military History.
16. Ibid.
17. Devries et al., Battles of the Ancient World.
18. Devries et al., Battles of the Ancient World; Smithsonian, Military History.
19. Ibid.
20. Skaarup, Siegecraft; Devries et al., Battles of the Ancient World; Stephenson, Castles; Smithsonian, Military History.
21. Stephenson, Castles.
22. The logic of Lanchester’s linear and square laws is discussed in detail in chapter 6, and Caspar Schöning and Mark W. Moffett refer to the role of tunnels with respect to Lanchester’s laws in their paper “Driver Ants Invading a Termite Nest,” 663–67.
23. Caspar Schöning and Mark Moffett never did figure out what opened the termite mound that day, but an aardvark is the most likely possibility. Certainly, they are the primary termite predator in these areas capable of breaching the walls of a mound, and walls damaged by aardvarks are vulnerable to invasion by siafu until they are repaired.
24. I’m not the first to make such comparisons. Fun early accounts of similarities in the design of human and animal tools, including weapons, is provided in the treatise by the Reverend J. G. Wood, Nature’s Teachings: Human Invention Anticipated by Nature (London: William Glaisher, High Holborn, 1903). More rigorous and contemporary contrasts between weapons of animals and humans are made by Robert O’Connell in his superb books Of Arms and Men: A History of War, Weapons and Aggression (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989), and Soul of the Sword: An Illustrated History of Weaponry and Warfare from Prehistory to the Present (New York: The Free Press, 2002).
25. The point I’m trying to make is that replication of antlers is tied to reproduction of elk—bulls successful at breeding pass their alleles on to subsequent generations while those that fail to breed do not. But the details are a bit more complex, because alleles influencing the antlers of offspring come from both parents, not just the bulls. Cows and bulls each carry the full complement of the elk genome. Genes important for antler growth may be silenced in cows (since cows do not grow antlers), but they will still be included in her eggs and passed to offspring. Thus, the antlers of sons will reflect the combination of alleles inherited from both parents.
26. Many authors have discussed the pros and cons of comparing cultural evolution with biological evolution, and I would refer readers to the following sources as, in my opinion, some of the best. The classic reference is Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza and Marcus J. Feldman, Cultural Transmission and Evolution: A Quantitative Approach (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1981). A more recent and comprehensive textbook on this topic is Linda Stone, Paul F. Lurquin, and Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza, Genes, Culture, and Human Evolution: A Synthesis (Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2006). One of my favorite biologists, John Tyler Bonner, examines the evolution of culture in nonhuman animals in his book The Evolution of Culture in Animals (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1983). I also recommend Paul C. Mundinger, “Animal Cultures and a General Theory of Cultural Evolution,” Ethology and Sociobiology 1 (1980): 183–223; Jelmer W. Erkins and Carl P. Lipo, “Cultural Transmission, Copying Errors, and the Generation of Variation in Material Culture and the Archaeological Record,” Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 24 (2005): 316–34; Ruth Mace and Claire J. Holden, “A Phylogenetic Approach to Cultural Evolution,” Trends in Ecology and Evolution 20 (2005): 116–21; Ilya Tëmkin and Niles Eldridge, “Phylogenetics and Material Cultural Evolution,” Current Anthropology 48 (2007): 146–54. Finally, as my personal favorites of a growing class of phylogenetic studies of the evolution of cultural traits, I recommend Thomas E. Currie, Simon J. Greenhill, Russell D. Gray, Toshikazu Hasegawa, and Ruth Mace, “Rise and Fall of Political Complexity in Island South East Asia and the Pacific,” Nature 467 (2010): 801–4; Jared Diamond and Peter Bellwood, “Farmers and Their Languages: The first Expansions,” Science 300 (2011): 597–603; Remco Bouckaert, Philippe Lemey, Michael Dunn, Simon J. Greenhill, Alexander V. Alekseyenko, Alexei J. Drummond, Russell D. Gray, Marc A. Suchard, and Quentin D. Atkinson, “Mapping the Origins and Expansion of the Indo-European Language Family,” Science 337 (2012): 957–60.
27. The Reverend J. G. Wood wrote a delightful book on structures manufactured by animals, Homes Without Hands: Being a Description of the Habitations of Animals, Classed According to Their Principle of Construction (New York: D. Appleton, 1866). More recent treatises on animal structures are provided in Karl von Frisch, Animal Architecture (New York: Harcourt Press, 1974); Richard Dawkins, The Extended Phenotype: The Gene as Unit of Selection (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1984); Richard Dawkins, The Extended Phenotype: The Long Reach of the Gene (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999); J. Scott Turner, The Extended Organism: The Physiology of Animal-Built Structures (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2002); Mike Hansell, Built by Animals: The Natural History of Animal Architecture (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007).
28. Example papers dealing with “horizontal gene transfer,” as it is called, include Y. I. Wolf, I. B. Rogozin, N. V. Grishin, and E. V. Kooni, “Genome Trees and the Tree of Life,” Trends in Genetics 18 (2002): 472–79; E. Bapteste, Y. Boucher, J. Leigh, and W. F. Doolittle, “Phylogenetic Reconstruction and Lateral Gene Transfer,” Trends in Microbiology 12 (2004): 406–11; J. O. Anderson, “Lateral Gene Transfer in Eukaryotes,” Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences 62 (2005): 1182–97; Aaron O. Richardson and Jeffrey D. Palmer, “Horizontal Gene Transfer in Plants,” Journal of Experimental Botany 58 (2007): 1–9; E. Bapteste and R. M. Burian, “On the Need for Integrative Phylogenomics, and Some Steps Toward Its Creation,” Biology and Philosophy 25 (2010): 711–36.
29. Daniel N. Frank and Norman R. Pace, “Gastrointestinal Microbiology Enters the Metagenomics Era,” Current Opinion in Gastroenterology 24 (2008): 4–10.
30. Terrence M. Tumpey, Christopher F. Basler, Patricia V. Aguilar, Hui Zeng, Alicia Solórzano, David E. Swayne, Nancy J. Cox, Jacqueline M. Katz, Jeffery K. Taubenberger, Peter Palese, and Adolfo García-Sastre, “Characterization of the Reconstructed 1918 Spanish Influenza Pandemic Virus,” Science 310 (2005): 77–80; Gavin J. D. Smith, Dhanasekaran Vijaykrishna, Justin Bahl, Samantha J. Lycett, Michael Worobey, Oliver G. Pybus, Siu Kit Ma, Chung Lam Cheung, Jayna Raghwani, Samir Bhatt, J. S. Malik Peiris, Yi Guan, and Andrew Rambaut, “Origins and Evolutionary Genomics of the 2009 Swine-Origin H1N1 Influenza A Epidemic,” Nature 459 (2009): 1122–25.
31. Charles Ofria, Chris Adami, and Titus Brown developed a software platform for studying evolutionary biology called “Avida,” which has proven to be tremendously informative for both research and education. Avida simulates in silico populations of digital organisms, self-replicating u
nits containing digital “genomes.” These genomes are used to build digital “bodies” with properties specified in the code. They also incorporate random errors—digital mutations—from time to time as they replicate their code. Digital organisms then compete in a simulated environment, and populations subsequently evolve. Charles Ofria and Richard Lenski run a digital evolution laboratory at Michigan State University (http://devolab.msu.edu/), and recently Ian Dworkin and one of his students used the Avida platform to provide exciting tests of critical elements of sexual selection theory. Christopher Chandler, Charles Ofria, and Ian Dworkin, “Runaway Sexual Selection Leads to Good Genes,” Evolution 67 (2012): 110–19. Because the Avida system evolves independently of DNA, it provides a groundbreaking means for validating core principles of evolutionary biology. Avida also shatters the illusion that DNA is somehow “special” as a means of information transfer fueling evolutionary change.
32. The randomness of mutation has confused many people, since it implies that evolution also is random. (If evolution is random, how can exquisite adaptations be explained?) The trick lies in recognizing the difference between the source of variation—where the raw material necessary for evolution comes from—and what happens to this variation once it is there. Natural selection is anything but random. It’s no accident that weapons performing poorly are culled, while those performing well are retained and expanded. Given sufficient time and enough variation to work with, natural selection will push the evolution of weapons in directions that are anything but random. Consequently, new mutations infusing genetic variations into biological systems is random, but the evolution that subsequently unfolds in those populations very often is not.
33. A readable and comprehensive treatise on the history (and evolution) of the assault rifle, including especially the success of the AK-47, is provided by C. J. Chivers in his book The Gun (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2011).
34. Ibid.
35. Vernon L. Scarborough, Matthew E. Becher, Jeffrey L. Baker, Garry Harris, and Fred Valdez Jr., “Water and Land Use at the Ancient Maya Community of La Milpa,” Latin American Antiquity 6 (1995): 98–119; N. Hammond, G. Tourtellot, S. Donaghey, and A. Clarke, “Survey and Excavation at La Milpa, Belize,” Mexicon 18 (1996): 86–91; Gregory Zaro and Brett Houk, “The Growth and Decline of the Ancient Maya City of La Milpa, Belize: New Data and New Perspectives from the Southern Plazas,” Ancient Mesoamerica 23 (2012): 143–159.
36. David Webster, “The Not So Peaceful Civilization: A Review of Maya War,” Journal of World Prehistory 14 (2000): 65–119; Elizabeth Arkush and Charles Stanish, “Interpreting Conflict in the Ancient Andes: Implications for the Archaeology of Warfare,” Current Anthropology 46 (2005): 3–28; Marisol Cortes Rincon, “A Comparative Study of Fortification Developments Throughout the Maya Region and Implications of Warfare” (dissertation, University of Texas, Austin, 2007).
37. In the steep Andes, many towns used terraces instead of traditional walls, which achieved essentially the same effect. For descriptions of Incan and Mayan fortifications, see David Webster, “Lowland Maya Fortifications,” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 120 (1976): 361–71; H. W. Kaufmann and J. E. Kaufmann, Fortifications of the Incas, 1200–1531 (Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2006); Rincon, “Comparative Study of Fortification Developments.”
38. I highly recommend the paper by Lawrence H. Keeley, Marisa Fontana, and Russell Quick, “Baffles and Bastions: The Universal Features of Fortifications,” Journal of Archaeological Research 15 (2007): 55–95, as it provides a review of features of early fortifications and worldwide coverage of early examples. For more detail on the specific examples I mention, see James A. Tuck, Onondaga Iroquois Prehistory: A Study in Settlement Archaeology (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1971); Merrick Posnansky and Christopher R. Decorse, “Historical Archaeology in Sub-Saharan Africa—A Review,” Historical Archaeology 20 (1986): 1–14; G. Connah, “Contained Communities in Tropical Africa,” in City Walls, ed. J. Tracy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000): 19–45.
39. Descriptions of the evolution of fortifications in response to escalated siege weapons are provided by Toy, Castles; Brice, Stronghold; Kaufmann and Kaufmann, Medieval Fortress; Skaarup, Siegecraft; Stephenson, Castles.
40. Ibid.
41. Ibid.
42. Ibid.
43. Duncan B. Campbell, Greek and Roman Siege Machinery 399 BC–AD 363 (Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2003).
44. Toy, Castles; Brice, Stronghold; Kaufmann and Kaufmann, Medieval Fortress; Skaarup, Siegecraft; Stephenson, Castles.
45. Skaarup, Siegecraft.
46. Toy, Castles; Brice, Stronghold.
47. Ibid.
48. René Chartrand, The Forts of Colonial North America: British, Dutch and Swedish Colonies (Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2011).
49. Ron Field, Forts of the American Frontier 1820–91: Central and Northern Plains (Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2005).
50. Brice, Stronghold; Skaarup, Siegecraft.
51. For an overview of the Japanese tunnels carved into the Pacific Islands during WWII, see Gordon L. Rottman, Japanese Pacific Island Defenses 1941–45 (Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2003).
52. Mir Bahmanyar, Afghanistan Cave Complexes 1979–2004: Mountain Strongholds of the Mujahideen, Taliban, and Al Qaeda (Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2004).
13. Ships, Planes, and States
1. John Morrison and John Coates, Greek and Roman Oared Warships 399–30BC (Oxford: Oxbow Books, 1997).
2. R. L. O’Connell, Of Arms and Men: A History of War, Weapons, and Aggression (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989); O’Connell, Soul of the Sword: An Illustrated History of Weaponry and Warfare from Prehistory to the Present (New York: The Free Press, 2002).
3. Robert Gardiner, ed., The Age of the Galley: Mediterranean Oared Vessels Since Pre-Classical Times (London: Book Sales Publishing, 2000).
4. Lionel Casson, Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995); Gardiner, Age of the Galley; O’Connell, Soul of the Sword.
5. Ibid.
6. Trevor N. Dupuy, The Evolution of Weapons and Warfare (New York: Da Capo Press, 1984); R. Gardiner and B. Lavery, The Line of Battle: The Sailing Warship 1650–1840 (London: Conway Maritime Press, 2004).
7. Ibid.
8. Dupuy, Evolution of Weapons and Warfare; O’Connell, Of Arms and Men; O’Connell, Soul of the Sword; Gardiner and Lavery, Line of Battle.
9. Ibid.
10. Gardiner and Lavery, Line of Battle.
11. Dupuy, Evolution of Weapons and Warfare; O’Connell, Of Arms and Men; O’Connell, Soul of the Sword; Gardiner and Lavery, Line of Battle; Robert Jackson, Sea Warfare: From World War I to the Present (San Diego: Thunder Bay Press, 2008).
12. For excellent accounts of this early period of air warfare, I recommend Ezra Bowen, Knights of the Air (Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1981); Christopher Campbell, Aces and Aircraft of World War I (Dorset, UK: Blandford Press, 1981); Christopher Chant, Warplanes (London: M. Joseph, 1983); Robert Jackson, Aerial Combat (London: Cox and Wyman, 1976); Norman Franks, Aircraft Versus Aircraft (New York: Crescent Books, 1986); and John Blake, Flight: The Five Ages of Aviation (Leicester, UK: Magna Books, 1987). For a discussion of the evolution of airplanes in the context of dogfighting, including the importance of duels, see Dupuy, Evolution of Weapons and Warfare; Franks, Aircraft Versus Aircraft; O’Connell, Of Arms and Men; O’Connell, Soul of the Sword; Michael Clarke, “The Evolution of Military Aviation,” Bridge 34 (2004): 29–35.
13. Bowen, Knights of the Air; Dupuy, Evolution of Weapons and Warfare; O’Connell, Of Arms and Men; O’Connell, Soul of the Sword.
14. Ibid.
15. Ibid.
16. Aerial dogfights during WWI had many parallels with duels between knights of the Middle Ages. Pilots decorated their planes with unique and colorful markings visible to other pilots in the air—being recognized as an individual was more important to them than simply being aff
iliated with a squadron or a side—and they kept meticulous tallies of not just how many planes they shot down, but whom they shot down. Finally, victory in the air translated into societal recognition and fame. But the quality of the weapons—the planes—was unconnected with reproduction. Planes were purchased by governments, not individual pilots. The type or model of plane signaled little about individual wealth or family status, and nothing about society at the time prevented poor-quality pilots from marrying and reproducing. Here, the units that mattered were the planes themselves. Models more maneuverable than other models, or models that could turn faster or climb higher or simply overtake other planes, got manufactured in greater numbers than older, slower, or clunkier models, and the population of planes got sucked into a race as each side strived to develop planes that could outperform those of the other. Perhaps the most telling evidence that fighter aircraft evolution is unfolding at the level of the plane rather than the pilot is the fact that the newest planes don’t even have pilots. Pilots were instrumental in creating the conditions that started this race, but the aircraft arms race appears to be proceeding full tilt without them.
17. Chant, Warplanes; Jackson, Aerial Combat; Franks, Aircraft Versus Aircraft; Blake, Flight.
18. Douglas C. Dildy and Warren E. Thompson, F-86 Sabre vs MiG-15: Korea 1950–53 (Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2013).
19. Clarke, “Evolution of Military Aviation,” 29–35.
20. Ibid.
21. Ibid.; see also Benjamin Gal-Or, Vectored Propulsion, Supermaneuverability, and Robot Aircraft (New York: Springer-Verlag, 1990).
22. Wikipedia, s.v. “Dogfight.”
23. Alan Epstein, “The Role of Size in the Future of Aeronautics,” Bridge 34 (2004): 17–23.
24. Clarke, “Evolution of Military Aviation,” 29–35.