Joining other recent volumes on the same topic, as for example P. Heather, The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History (2005) and B. Ward-Perkins, The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization (2005), this new synthesis introduces readers to some of the key evidence and problems in understanding events and trajectories of continuity and change across the Late Roman West. An emphasis on ‘decline’ is suggested by the title, but in fact a fairly balanced picture is presented, stressing regional differences in both the pace and nature of change, and bringing out evidence of persistent Roman influence as well as much evidence for disruption, destruction, and abandonment. The main aim of the book is to incorporate archaeological evidence alongside the familiar historical narrative, shedding light on such topics as the army, frontiers and defence; capitals, major cities and towns; Christianisation of both urban and rural space; and the ‘end of the West’. In particular, Christie fleshes out the picture available from the major historians of the period by detailed reference to the material evidence for structures and buildings, settlement patterns, trade and transport routes, and much more. Yet he also brings in a fair amount of detail from primary texts, and some of the main chapters, contrary to the impression given in his preamble, actually contain more evidence from texts than they do archaeological material. The frustration of the archaeology, in which definitive judgements are rarely possible, is compensated for by some illuminating extracts from a wide range of written sources including inscriptions, saint's lives, law codes, and the like. The abundance of written texts for Italy in particular facilitates a very effective marrying of archaeological and historical material, in which particular sites and historical figures or events can be convincingly linked together.

C. demonstrates a sure grasp of structural, stratigraphic and settlement evidence, yet material culture is less deftly handled. In the interpretation of coin hoards, abandonment of material wealth as a consequence of civil and military unrest is relied upon as an explanation, rather than economic factors such as the devaluation of the coinage in the third century, which probably led to much deliberate deposition and/or non-recovery of virtually worthless coins (R. Reece, The Coinage of Roman Britain (2002), 76–7). With regard to hoards of silver, the phenomenon of ‘hacksilver’ (cut-up plate) in this period is important and suggests, contrary to the impression given by C., that hoards were not necessarily buried by their original owners. The treatment of the long-debated ‘Germanic’ burials from a range of key sites in northern Gaul also causes slight unease. One mistake is to describe the distinctively Germanic brooches from these burials as ‘trumpet’ brooches rather than the ‘tutulus’ brooches that he actually means. There is also varied interpretation of these groups of burials in different sections. On pp. 58–9, the debate over whether the burials are Germanic ‘laeti’ (refugees or prisoners-of-war), ‘foederati’ (free mercenaries), or local landowners, is effectively summarised, pointing out the difficulties in coming to a definitive conclusion. A few pages later, however, any nuances have been lost as some of the burials that constitute this debated group (for instance those from Vermand) are used, unproblematised, as evidence for the presence of ‘foederati’.

The details of transformations in urban space are very interesting, exploring such themes as the Christianisation of the cities, the special status and trajectory of the Imperial capitals in Italy, and the varied nature of the fortification, shrinkage, etc. of various cities. In general, the use here and elsewhere of case-studies examining the evidence from particular sites across a wide range of provinces provides more depth than is found in many synthesis books. I would have liked to see a greater focus on questions of social history; there is some illuminating discussion of changes in bathing habits and leisure pursuits, and this could have been profitably expanded to other areas of social living. Without this, the aim to illuminate how different ‘being Roman’ was in the fifth century is only partially achieved and the focus mostly seems very traditional, on cities, defence, Christian buildings, etc. I would also have liked to see, in a book which emphasises the importance of archaeological material, a much wider range of illustrations of key pieces of archaeological evidence. The illustrations are small and not very numerous.

Overall, however, this is a very well-researched and informative text that will undoubtedly be very useful to students. It has a different emphasis to, for example, the book by Heather, whose focus is on barbarian societies and their inter-relationship with Rome, and while it is less original, it is also less polemical than the similarly titled book by Ward-Perkins.