QotD: Prehistoric Warfare

Had the same casualty rate been suffered by the population of the twentieth century, its war deaths would have totaled two billion people. [. . .] The common impression that primitive peoples, by comparison, were peaceful and their occasional fighting of no serious consequence is incorrect. Warfare between pre-state societies was incessant, merciless, and conducted with the general purpose, often achieved, of annihilating the opponent.

Nicholas Wade, quoted by Mark Steyn in "Before the white man came? War", Macleans, 2006-07-18