Warfare and violence played an important role in the history and development of complex hunter-gatherer societies on the north Pacific Rim. Wars were waged between islands over 700 km apart and included dozens of villages within and between ethnic groups. Wars were generally fought for revenge, status, over women, and rarely, over critical resources. Warfare was so ubiquitous in the later prehistoric sequence that is must be considered central to the development and organization of north Pacific society. (C) 1998 Academic Press.