The conceptual and material transformation of the villa in Aquitanica Prima from the third to seventh centuries A.D

This thesis explores the reasons behind the apparent lack of physical remains of early mediaeval villas, given the repeated references to 'villae' in contemporary sources. The late Roman province of Aquitanica I, with its ample early mediaeval documentation and strong Gallo-Roman traditions, will be used to test three explanations for this non-concordance of material and literary data; either the problem lies with modern expectations concerning the appearance of early mediaeval 'villae', or with past and present archaeological methodology, or, alternatively, most early mediaeval villas are inacessible to modern excavation because, unlike Roman villas, they evolved into nucleated communities (villages). Whilst none of these theories are mutually exclusive, a strongly critical re-examination of the 'villa- to-village' model forms the core of this study because of the ramifications of its widespread acceptance by modern historians.After a brief survey of the changing definitions of Aquitanica I itself, the conceptual evolution of the 'villa' will be examined; and since a reliance upon toponymy to locate late Roman and early Merovingian estates is central to the debate surrounding their nature and composition, a detailed analysis of its limitations will follow. In the process, several common generalisations about this period will be tested for eastern Aquitaine: the extent of depopulation, land abandonment, Germanic settlements, and the change from a pattern of dispersed to nucleated settlements, from Roman farmsteads to mediaeval agricultural villages, Finally, a brief summary of the 'archaeology' of the late Roman villa in eastern Aquitaine will be compared with that of its Merovingian counterpart; and the overwhelming conclusion reached, that the problem Is due to past shortcomings in archaeological retrieval rather than the transformation of the villa into village, which is probably a late rather than early Merovingian process, and which certainly cannot be demonstrated for late Roman central Gaul.