Introduction : bioarchaeology and the study of violence / Debra L. Martin, Ryan P. Harrod, and Ventura R. Perez -- The politicization of the dead : violence as performance, politics as usual / Ventura R. Perez -- The bioarchaeology of structural violence : a theoretical model and a case study / Haagen D. Klaus -- Deciphering violence in past societies : ethnography and the interpretation of archaeological populations / Ryan P. Harrod, Pierre Lienard, and Debra L. Martin -- The social and cultural implications of violence at Qasr Hallabat / Robert T. Montgomery and Megan Perry -- Community violence and everyday life : death at Arroyo Hondo / Ann M. Palkovich -- Bioarchaeological signatures of strife in terminal Pueblo III settlements in the northern San Juan / Kristin A. Kuckelman -- The space of war : connecting geophysical landscapes with skeletal evidence of warfare-related trauma / Heather Worne ... [et al.] -- Where are the warriors? : cranial trauma patterns and conflict among the ancient Maya / Vera Tiesler and Andrea Cucina -- Violence against women : differential treatment of local and foreign females in the heartland of the Wari empire, Peru / Tiffany A. Tung -- Meaning and the bioarchaeology of captivity, sacrifice, and cannibalism : a case study from the Mississippian period at Larson, Illinois / Mallorie A. Hatch -- Performances of imposed status : captivity at Cahokia / Kathryn M. Koziol -- Biological distance analysis in contexts of ritual violence / William N. Duncan -- Conclusion : implications and future directions / Ryan P. Harrod, Debra L. Martin, and Ventura R. Perez.