ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the archaeological evidence for what institutions and lifeways unraveled in each case and when. Archaeology cannot reliably distinguish specific historical events because every archaeological site is an amalgam of many events occurring in different time periods. Evidence of decline, in diminution of the number of sites, has been provided by regional survey, which is the systematic regional surface investigation of large tracts of land and has boomed as a business for classical archaeologists, following the Southern Etruria Project. Survey archaeologists have demonstrated that the appearance of the Late Roman countryside was much more varied than traditionally thought, as demonstrated by an early attempt to synthesize results of multiple regional surveys. Survey archaeologists have demonstrated that the appearance of the Late Roman countryside was much more varied than traditionally thought, as demonstrated by an early attempt to synthesize results of multiple regional surveys.
