ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the problems of social collapse and regeneration in post-Roman Dalmatia. The term 'collapse' can be defined differently, according to context. When applied to human society, it implies social transformation characterized by rapid decentralization and the simplification of social networks and organization, accompanied by cultural and political change. Evidence from fifth- and sixth-century Dalmatia does not show a significant weakening of earlier social, economic or belief structures, nor does the brief period of Ostrogothic rule seem to have had a discernible impact. There are many fortifications in Dalmatia from Late Antiquity, the overwhelming majority of them being small. Row-grave cemeteries in Dalmatia present a wider context for the fragmentation and rebuilding of society in the post-Roman world. They also indicate poverty and falling living standards shown in the simplicity of the funerary customs. The collapse of complex social systems in post-Roman Dalmatia fits well into a description of 'collapse' as the simplification of complex social structures.
