Gallia rustica 2. Les campagnes du nord-est de la Gaule, de la fin de l’âge du Fer à l’Antiquité tardive

The first volume of Gallia Rustica was devoted to regional studies on the countryside of Northeastern Gaul, between the Seine basin and the German limes. In this second volume of the final publication, this research, funded by the European Research Council (ERC), leads to a general synthesis of data acquired during this vast collective survey. It addresses successively the evolution of rural settlements, from the end of the Iron Age to Late Antiquity; the agro-pastoral system; field boundaries; but also the economic functioning of the Gallic countryside, with its fluctuations over time; the role of markets. These topics are studied across a vast region that forms, in the broad sense, the hinterland of one of the Empire’s most important frontiers. This global and multidisciplinary enquiry brings the Rurland programme to an end. At the same time, it stimulates further research on ancient rural societies. Indeed, the survey has showed the Gallic countryside to be very varied and very different from traditional clichés that have long marked our thinking on the complex and controversial process known as the “romanization” of the provinces