ABSTRACT
The restored Roman Empire of the fourth century had disintegrated during the fifth and sixth. Since the time of Montesquieu and Edward Gibbon, many modern thinkers have attempted to explain Rome’s fall. It is an impossible task. The process of disintegration took place over a huge area for a long time. In general, the economy of the late antique Roman world declined in fifth and sixth centuries, sooner and more steeply in the West than in the East and more in some ways than in others. Despite overall economic decline, there were major shifts in wealth that enriched some even while others saw their wealth reduced or destroyed altogether. The amount of archaeological information available for the countryside in Late Antiquity is not as great as that for cities, nor is it easy to interpret. Nevertheless, evidence for the transition to later patterns of settlement in the fifth and sixth centuries is beginning to come to light in some places.
