“something like that” isn’t open enough. “or something else entirely” seems more likely than “something like that”. Many more than 2 groups (family-sized coalitions) is an obvious possibility, but there are plenty of other strategies used by primitive malthusian societies—infanticide being a big one, and ritual killings being another. According to Wikipedia, Jared Diamond suggests cannibalism for Rapa Nui.
Looking at Wikipedia (which I should have done earlier), there’s very little evidence for what specific things changed during the collapse.
In any case, it’s tenuous enough that one shouldn’t take any lessons or update your models based on this.
“something like that” isn’t open enough. “or something else entirely” seems more likely than “something like that”. Many more than 2 groups (family-sized coalitions) is an obvious possibility, but there are plenty of other strategies used by primitive malthusian societies—infanticide being a big one, and ritual killings being another. According to Wikipedia, Jared Diamond suggests cannibalism for Rapa Nui.
Looking at Wikipedia (which I should have done earlier), there’s very little evidence for what specific things changed during the collapse.
In any case, it’s tenuous enough that one shouldn’t take any lessons or update your models based on this.