The myth of the noble savage

Rereading Richard Layard’s Happiness: Lessons from a new science (Allen Lane 2005) I unexpectedly came across a useful reference. Evidently for primitive societies for which there are records over 20% of all male deaths happened through war. This figure is far higher than for the twentieth century, even taking the two World Wars into account. The source is Lawrence Keeley’s War before civilization (Oxford University Press 1997).