Continuity and change in the Macedonian countryside from Gallienus to Justinian

A history of the countryside in Late Antiquity that speaks of real terrains or regions, and thus confronts the shortcomings of written sources, remains elusive. Strategies based upon archaeology allow progress, but interpretation of the results remains problematic. However, if we collate the results of all kinds of fieldwork, the archaeology of Late Roman Macedonia now offers several case-studies which allow us to examine the forms and distributions of rural settlements of varying status. An assessment of the relationships between these settlements and their resource bases, together with the military, fiscal, and urban institutions with which they interacted, allows a re-evaluation of general histories of the countryside and ultimately of 'the city'.