a very quick review! this isn’t really even a review, but just me noting a couple of points regarding peter frost and henry harpending’s new (and very cool!) paper Western Europe, State Formation, and Genetic Pacification [pdf] (sorry for the repeating first tweet — something about wordpress):

i love the new paper by frost & harpending on the reduction of violence in medieval europe!: http://t.co/H2VgnnAIzj (1/n)… — hbd chick (@hbdchick) March 9, 2015

.@hbdchick (2/n) …but i do have a couple of problems with it: http://t.co/iPRBNoqdAR first, the increase in executions post-1500… — hbd chick (@hbdchick) March 9, 2015

.@hbdchick (3/n) …doesn't account for why homicide rates appear to have dropped significantly *before* 1500 in places like england… — hbd chick (@hbdchick) March 9, 2015

.@hbdchick (5/n) …nor does it account for why homicide rates were much higher in places like medieval italy, where there *were* strong… — hbd chick (@hbdchick) March 9, 2015

.@hbdchick (6/n)…states that *did* executed muderers (altho i don't know at what rates). there's more to this picture… — hbd chick (@hbdchick) March 9, 2015

.@hbdchick (7/7) …me thinks: http://t.co/Ib30rpARGH but i love their genetic explanation, of course! (^_^) — hbd chick (@hbdchick) March 9, 2015

make sure to see these previous posts for more: outbreeding, self-control and lethal violence and kinship, the state, and violence and more on genetics and the historical decline of violence and sneak preview: violence, punishment, outbreeding, and swashbuckling pirates in medieval england.

i also had this to say:

my guess is that what was selected out of nw europeans in the medieval period were genes for *impulsive* violence: http://t.co/u5ryi5IzHk — hbd chick (@hbdchick) March 9, 2015

(note: comments do not require an email. franz schmidt, medieval executioner.)