Dennen, J.M.G. van, 1990. "Primitive War and the Ethnological Inventory Project," in Sociobiology and Conflict, J. van der Dennen and V. Falger, eds., pp. 247-272.
J.M.G. van der Dennen (1990) of the University of Groningen in The Netherlands has developed The Ethnological Inventory Project which surveys some 100,000 articles and books on "primitive" societies to assess which ones had war and which did not. In the appendices to his 1990 chapter, he lists about 163 societies as peaceful (pp. 265-269) and suggests that there may be well over 2,000 societies without war (p. 259). Van der Dennen also cites extensive references to the literature concerning peaceful societies (p. 252) and discusses the legacy of intellectual history on the topic including Hobbes and Rousseau (pp. 250-253). He pursues the presence of war because he says it is impossible to prove the absence of war (= peace) (p. 259).
Van der Dennen, like Ferguson (1992), Ferugson and Whitehead (1992), and Blick (1988), cautions that the ethnographic literature does not describe original primitive warfare prior to Western influences (pp. 249, 258) and lists about a dozen societies where warfare was exacerbated by Western contact (p. 264).
Van der Dennen asserts that these findings challenge the "Central Dogma" of the anthropological study of war, sociobiology, and other pursuits, namely, that war is ubiquitous, a cross-cultural universal, and extends back in prehistory to the beginnings of humankind (pp. 247-248). He cites Davies (1929) The Evolution of War: A Study of its Role in Early Societies as one major source for this view, a classic of Social Darwinism. Van der Dennen also offers some explanation as to why some so eagerly embrace this "myth of universal belligerence, even to the point of manipulating the evidence?" (p. 256). The classification of war is deficient since there is so much diversity in this domain which is not really appreciated (pp. 260-261). He notes that primitive war is neither a "unitary or homogeneous concept" (p. 261). Second, there is a selectivity in perception, that is, "the ardent believers of the Central Dogma, who manage to construe the slightest agonistic episode between individuals as somehow evidence for universal human belligerence" (p. 261). Third, historical accounts of primitive warfare are exaggerated by both the informants and the ethnographer, the later through vanity catering to "... the public taste with spectacular stories of hideous wars, than carefully describing the rather dull and monotonous [?] day-to-day life of primitive peoples in times of peace" (pp. 261-262).
Van der Dennen gives an example from New Guinea of raiders losing their enthusiasm and turning back home (p. 262) [reminiscent of an episode described by Chagnon].
Van der Denner notes that even in the Amazon which has long been known as a warlike culture area, at least some 20 tribes have been explicitly described as peaceful (p. 259). He also notes that
many have been described as "fierce" and in similar terms (p. 259) [c.f. Chagnon].
Van der Dennen wonders how so many peaceful societies could survive in such a warlike world if the Central Dogma were valid (p. 260). [see also Gregor's intro to his book]
In short, van der Dennen identifies most appropriate most anthropological studies of war as a full-blown "Apology of War" (p. 249).
One problem is this is another inventory or listing, like Melko, and little more, at least so far. Also, although van der Dennen rejects as a simplistic dichotomy the opposition between peace and war as historically fixed and static, rather than two extremes along a continuum, still, he classifies societies as either one or the other, warriors or peaceful ( p. 257). He hints that primitive societies are neither simply noble or ignoble, and asserts that "To say that man is belligerent by nature is a phase devoid of any meaning...." (p. 258).