formation. Early instances of social collapse in Asia are evident
in various areas and periods and exemplify some of the reasons
scholars have proposed for collapsed societies, including envi-
ronmental disturbances, social upheaval, military defeat, and
even peaceful contact with other regions. It is important to note
that the nature of the evidence—solely archaeological in the
case of prehistoric cultures and archaeological and textual for
the more historical polities—aff ects the type of interpretation
proposed, with military confl ict more likely to be advanced as
the trigger to collapse for polities discussed in written sources.
Also worth noting is the likelihood that the various names
given by archaeologists to successive periods and cultures may
not necessarily refl ect dramatic instances of social collapse,
concealing instead more gradual, but nevertheless signifi cant
social and political transformations.
Th e prehistory of the Korean peninsula and Japanese ar-
chipelago provides evidence of the long-term impact of exter-
nal forces on local cultures, transformations that witnessed
the abandonment of sites and undoubtedly challenged their
social and political structures, although the details of such
strains are diffi cult to identify in the archaeological record.
In Korea the 6,000 years of the Chulmun (ca. 6000–ca. 1500
b.c.e.) and Mumun (ca. 1500–ca. 300 b.c.e.) periods were
characterized by the presence of village life, the use of pot-
tery, and a reliance on the products of fi shing, hunting, and
gathering. By the third millennium b.c.e. millet cultivation
had been introduced from northeast China. Further refl ect-
ing the diff usion of ideas, skills, and even materials (for ex-
ample, bronze daggers, and mirrors) from China, the Mumun
Period is marked by intensifi cation of agriculture, megalithic
tombs, and greater social and political diff erentiation.
In Japan the Jōmon Period (13,000–300 b.c.e.) is simi-
larly characterized by villages, pottery, a reliance on wild
(nonagricultural) resources, and incipient agriculture. Th e
succeeding Yayoi Period (300 b.c.e.–300 c.e.) points to a sig-
nifi cant transformation of Jōmon society as the arrival of im-
migrants, styles, and ideas from the Korean peninsula was
associated with the intensifi cation of wet-rice agriculture,
metallurgy, defensible sites, objects imported from the main-
land (like mirrors), and an increasingly hierarchical society.
Th e Neolithic Period of mainland China, typifi ed by the
highly distinctive archaeological cultures known as Hong-
shan (ca. 4500–ca. 3000 b.c.e.) and Liangzhu (ca. 3200–ca.
2100 b.c.e.), provides clearer instances of apparent social
and political collapse, though the absence of texts renders
interpretations of the archaeological data highly tentative.
Centered in northeast China, the Hongshan culture is char-
acterized by what are believed to have been ceremonial cen-
ters (including so-called temples and altars), female fi gurines
and statues, and large complex tombs. Th e grave goods in-
clude fi nely craft ed jades (representing birds, clouds, turtles,
and “pig dragons”) that suggest the presence of elites. It is
signifi cant that by the middle of the third millennium b.c.e.
these features had disappeared, and the number and size of
residential sites had decreased.Located along the coastal regions of central China, the
Liangzhu culture shares with the Hongshan culture the pres-
ence of ceremonial centers and wealthy tombs whose ex-
quisite jades (tubes, discs, bracelets, and pendants) point to
control of production by an elite. At the end of the period
Liangzhu residential sites, which were concentrated on river-
banks, were abandoned. Th e succeeding Maqiao culture (ca.
2100–ca. 1300 b.c.e.) is marked by a dramatic reduction in
the number of sites and an almost complete disappearance of
Liangzhu traits.
Explanations proposed to account for the collapse of
Hongshan and Liangzhu include climatic change (associ-
ated with fl ooding in the case of Liangzhu) and an inabil-
ity to manage economic resources effi ciently. In addition,
the elite of both cultures may have lost the support of their
respective populations when workers felt they were not ad-
equately rewarded for their eff orts at producing the elite’s
symbols of power.
Instances of social growth and collapse become easier to
chart over the course of the fi rst millennium b.c.e., when
increasingly detailed texts become available. Th is is espe-
cially true of the region encompassed by present-day China.
During that region’s Warring States Period (453–221 b.c.e.)
numerous small states (Zhao, Shu, Chu, Yue, Han, Wei, Qi,
Song, Lu, Yan, and Qin) emerged and suff ered subsequent
defeat through military conquest. Th e Qin Dynasty (221–207
b.c.e.), the eventual victor of this period of instability, was
led by China’s famous “First Emperor,” an autocratic and
fi rm ruler whose harsh treatment of detractors and forced
conscription of laborers (used, for example, in the building
of the Great Wall) led to popular uprisings and the downfall
of the dynasty. Th e succeeding Han Dynasty (202 b.c.e.–220
c.e.) proved highly successful at expanding China’s territory
to reach close to its present-day borders, an increase in ter-
ritory that, like the contemporaneous Roman Empire, led to
contact with sometimes powerful foreign cultures. In the end
the Han Dynasty would fall victim to internal rebellions and
the problem of maintaining control over distant regions of
its empire.
Not surprisingly, the territorial expansion of the Han
Dynasty in eastern Asia was associated with the collapse of
a number of preliterate and culturally distinctive polities,
events that the Chinese recorded in their historical texts.
Two examples pertaining to the Han’s southern periphery il-
lustrate this. First, the Dian culture (third century b.c.e. to
fi rst century c.e.), centered in southwestern China’s Yunnan
Province, is known for its highly distinctive and elaborate
material culture, which includes bronze drums and cowry
shell containers. Although the Chinese texts relate the defeat
of the Dian by Han forces in 109 b.c.e., burial evidence points
to the survival of Dian cultural traits for another century fol-
lowing its incorporation into the Han Dynasty. Th e second
example is the Dongson culture, located in present-day North
Vietnam and noted for its large bronze drums. Th e Dongson
culture survived through much of the fi rst millennium b.c.e.,social collapse and abandonment: Asia and the Pacific 10030895-1194_Soc&Culturev4(s-z).i1003 1003 10/10/07 2:30:43 PM