Introduction

The paper suggests a historiographic review of theoretic postulates now used in analysis of the problems related to the role war and warfare played in primitive and medieval societies. A selection of publications is introduced which represent the proceedings of the conference held in the Institute of Archaeology, RAS, in November, 2012. The author discusses perspectives for modern understanding of significance of the phenomenon of war for evolution of human society, first of all in formation of complex social and political systems: chiefdoms, states, and empires.