“The most common reason for an early village to disappear is due to budding socialists who rode in one day, conducting a raid, to pillage, rape, and burn.”
Right ... When you read the ‘Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire’, it describes how conquerors subdued an area, stole everything worth having and then enslaved the people who were young and healthy enough to be of value. It was done throughout history, but the people who ramped it up to the level of an industry were the Romans.
Slaves became currency and whole populations were transported hundreds or thousands of miles from their homeland. They were sold to the highest bidder and never returned to their homes.
It’s easy to see how whole groups would ‘seem’ to disappear from a place. But in fact, they were scattered all over the empire and continued their lives elsewhere
BTW- Gibbon says that slaves actually became currency because there was not enough gold or silver available for the valuation of commodities.
“Inequality Pays” Gibbon