Was there a discernible set of changes in the techniques of arable farming, animal husbandry and their associated technologies at the end of antiquity which marked a clear break with an established 'ancient world economy' and ushered in the 'new agricultures' of the early middle ages? Were such changes not already visible in antiquity? And what was the impact of political, economic, social and environmental change in these processes? The 6 papers in this volume reject simple evolutionary models charting progress from "protohistory" to the "Roman period" to the "Dark Ages" to the "Middle Ages"...