Practice question · Select all that apply
Which claims about the "fall versus transformation" debate are defensible on the evidence?
Hints
- Three of these are things historians on both sides accept; one misdescribes the disagreement.
- Ask whether Brown and Ward-Perkins are reading the same documents.
Show the answer
- A. Written sources show substantial institutional and legal continuity
- C. Many settlements were negotiated under Roman treaty arrangements
- D. Archaeology shows a real fall in material standards of living
Why
The disagreement is largely about which evidence base is decisive, not about the facts within each. Continuity is visible in law, office and language; collapse is visible in pottery, coin and construction. That is why the debate has proved so durable.
Practise Late Antiquity and the Germanic Kingdoms
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More questions on Late Antiquity and the Germanic Kingdoms
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