Decline and Fall? Studying Long-term Change in the East

Abstract

With ‘decline and fall’ no longer a satisfactory model for long-term change in the Late Antique Near East (400-800 A.D.), attention has shifted to alternatives, here dubbed the ‘Fiscal’ model and the ‘Intensification and Abatement’ model. In the light of new evidence which makes the fiscal model less persuasive, that of intensification and abatement is attracting growing attention. However, its practical application will require the sort of longterm multi-period, and multi-disciplinary regional projects that have become very hard to organise under current UK funding arrangements.