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A frequently cited clue to the beginnings of warfare is ancient Jericho, one of the world’s oldest cities, dated as early as 8000 BCE, which surrounded a late phase (Pre-Pottery) Neolithic settlement. Structural remnants suggest a monumental fortification, said to be built with a wall “3.0 m (10ft) thick” and “4.0 m (13ft) high”, with a surrounding moat “9.1 m (30ft) wide” and “3.0 m (10ft) deep,” within which was a “9.1 m (30 ft) high” tower. This impressive fortress-like structure strongly implies that it served to protect the inhabitants from invaders; others, however, claim it served as defense against floodwaters [67]. No one knows if battles actually took place or not.

A convincing finding that prehistoric warfare had definitely taken place was documented around 3500 BCE. The Syrian-American Archaeological Expedition discovered and studied the vestiges of a huge battle that destroyed Hamoukar, a remote site in northeastern Syria. In 2005, a press release from the University of Chicago proudly noted that this “discovery provides the earliest evidence of large scale organized warfare” [68]. And large scale it was. The victims, sheltered in buildings behind mud-brick walls, were besieged by assailants who bombarded the inhabitants using slings that launched inch-wide bullets; over 1,000 of which were found in the excavation, plus 120 larger clay projectiles. After destroying the old city, the attackers built a new one over the ruins.

Fast-forward another millennium to 2500 BCE to view the spectacular Stele of the Vultures [69], the few remaining fragments of limestone bas-relief now in the Louvre Museum, one of which is illustrated in Figure 4. Observe the beautifully ordered professional army, fully equipped with helmets and shields, and armed with spears. Over time, and slowly at first but then with increasing rapidity, weapons became progressively deadly. For hundreds of thousands of years, hunter-gatherers survived using a succession of flint-tipped spears and harpoons, clubs, and primitive bows and arrows in their struggle to find food. But after most of the world had settled down and begun farming, owing in large part to the impetus of warfare, new weapons were created and rapidly upgraded: metal swords, spears and axes, chariots, crossbows, catapults, battering rams, then gunpowder, guns, and bombs. In the history of the development of warfare technology, the race to annihilation has played out about as far as it can go.