fi nally succumbing to the Han in 43 c.e. aft er an earlier defeat
in 111 b.c.e. It is signifi cant that Chinese cultural traits had
already infi ltrated Dongson culture by the second century
b.c.e. Th e histories of the Dian and Dongson cultures signal
the need to distinguish between military defeat and cultural
decline in reference to “collapse.”
Centered on the Indus Valley of Pakistan and north-
western India and represented by the large sites of Harappa
and Mohenjo Daro, the Indus civilization (3000–1600 b.c.e.)
provides a dramatic example of a fl ourishing South Asianculture as well as a fi tting illustration of the complexities of
societal collapse and transformation. Although the absence
of clear textual references to the Indus civilization limits an
understanding of its political structure and religious life, it
nevertheless displays a range of features common to other
civilizations of the ancient world, including urbanism (cen-
ters w it h st reet s , specia l i z ed qua r ters , a men it ies , publ ic st r uc-
tures, and populations numbering in the tens of thousands), a
writing system (as yet undeciphered), a system of weights and
measures, long-distance trade (with Mesopotamia, among
other regions), and craft specialization (bead making, metal-
lurgy, shell working, weaving, and the like).
By the beginning of the second millennium b.c.e. it ap-
pears that both Harappa and Mohenjo Daro had stopped
functioning as urban centers, a change paralleled by a re-
duction in the number of sites in a large sector of the region
encompassed by the mature phase of the Indus civilization.
Th is transition might represent a migration out of this area
or a restructuring of the settlement pattern or both. Th e pos-
sible forces behind this change remain open to debate. Th ey
include the destruction of the civilization by invading Aryan
peoples (mostly rejected, owing to an absence of clear evi-
dence for such destruction at the sites themselves), the dry-
ing of the large Ghaggar-Hakra River, the decline of the trade
system, and the fl ooding of a large area resulting from the
formation of a natural dam.
Population and urban decline apparently characterized
only a portion of the area encompassed by the Indus civiliza-
tion, with some sectors experiencing continued growth dur-
ing the second millennium b.c.e. Moreover, certain features
of the Indus civilization appear to have been maintained
throughout later periods. For example, Hinduism has re-
tained some of the civilization’s customs, such as ceremonial
bathing, the importance of bulls and elephants, and Yogic
positions. Th is illustration of the maintenance and transfor-
mation of cultural features over long periods underscores the
need to disentangle the many strands subsumed under the
term societal collapse.EUROPE
BY JUSTIN CORFIELD
Th roughout Europe traces exist of ancient settlements long
ago abandoned. Sometimes the reason for this abandonment
is known, but oft en it is not. Mobile hunter-gatherers lived in
a spot for several weeks or months and then moved on, but
they oft en returned to the same locations. Neolithic farmers
lived in farmsteads and hamlets for decades. Sometimes they
needed to shift their settlement locations owing to changes in
their agricultural systems. Some archaeologists have specu-
lated that settlements were abandoned when a lineage died
out and no longer had an attachment to a particular location.
Resource depletion of the surrounding countryside is another
possible reason for abandoning ancient farming settlements.
Occasionally warfare and raiding may have driven out theA burial jade carved with faces, from southern China, Neolithic
Period, Liangzhu culture, around 2500 b.c.e.; tombs rich with jade
objects were characteristic of this culture, whose sites were abandoned
in the mid-third millennium b.c.e. (© Th e Trustees of the British
Museum)1004 social collapse and abandonment: Europe0895-1194_Soc&Culturev4(s-z).i1004 1004 10/10/07 2:30:44 PM