| Abstract: | The transition from 'town-life' to 'life-in-town' defined by several British archaeologists could be applied to 6th-century Scythia Minor. The economic crisis and the barbarian inroads caused an evolution from towns with a military function toward ruralized settlements, and finally to the extinction of these cities. The ruralization spread step by step over the entire province during the last third of the 6th century and at the beginning of the 7th. The dissolution of town-life did not always represent conversion to a rural economy. Some settlements preserved for a certain time the functions of the urban economy, but in different conditions. The coastal towns resisted better. |
