The fate of late- Roman villas in southern Gaul between the sixth and seventh centuries

In order to understand why Roman villas were abandoned during the late Roman period in southern Gaul and in most of the Mediterranean area, this chapter takes a broader perspective. Rather than focusing exclusively on the architectural elements of villas, it seeks a more comprehensive assessment of how late-Roman rural territories and properties were organized and how different kinds of settlements, and the cities to which they were connected, evolved during the period under consideration. Another aspect of this approach will be to look at cemeteries, trying to understand from systematic data (which includes all kinds of cemeteries from a specific territory) if it is possible to see changes in settlement distribution patterns.