후기로마제국사 연구에 끼친 고고학의 영향 = The Influence of Archaeology on the Study of the Late Roman Empire

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The Influence of Archaeology on the Study of the Late Roman Empire. Since the era of Renaissance the studies on the late Roman Empire has emphasized that it had been in a state of decline and fall. Gibbon and his followers insisted that the settlements and lands had been abandoned, the independent farmers ruined, the quantity of trades decreased, and the cities deserted. This thesis has found its sources in literatures and in laws. But in the 1970s Brown and others has challenged this Gibbon`s thesis. They argued that the era of the late Roman Empire had not been a period of decline but change. The thesis was predicated on the assumption that the late Roman Empire had both economic stability and vitality. However, because the document sources were too scarce to prove this assumption, it was necessary to utilize the recent archaeological investigations on lands, settlements, wares, and cities. According to the results of this examination, in contrast to the traditional view, the agriculture of Roman Empire in the forth century made an stable growth. Furthermore, the small peasantry were the major group of economic activities in those days. While it was indisputable that the decline of agriculture in the West had begun in the late forth century, it should be noted that the very decline was limited only to the frontier of the West. In the East, the growth of agriculture had continued. Commercial activities continued actively in the 4-5th century. The remains of wares and lamps which were unearthed in Rome, Taracco, and Ravena demonstrated the continuation of trades. While the trades between Rome and other provinces decreased, those between Spain, North Africa and the East increased. Therefore, the traditional view which did not consider this change of trade route should be redressed. The cities of the late Rome Empire got through the transformation in their roles and semblances. Though lots of cities in the West declined, in particular, on the frontier area, the extent of decline was not so serious as many scholars have usually estimated. And the cities of the East continued to flourish in the 4-6th century. The vigorous archaeological research produced many evidences that were enough to challenge the traditional view. But lots of scholars hesitated to authorize the results of this new methodology, for they have had a totalistic view on the late Roman Empire. At first they tried to reconcile the results of recent archaeological research with the traditional view. Such scholars are, most notably, Hopkins and Millet. But now we have to try to make a novel perspective on the late Roman Empire, for there are too many evidences which are incompatible with the traditional view.