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354 13. specialized production and exchange
had become much more basic, while that of the Near East had continued
to grow in scale and complexity.
There has been some recent debate about whether this eastern prosperity
continued up to the end of the sixth century and into the seventh
century, or whether decline set in around the time of the Great Plague of
541–3. 11 At present the information available cannot resolve the question
satisfactorily, since it is often incomplete and very little of it can be closely
dated.
Partial information can certainly be deceptive. As we saw in chapter 12
(p. 319), the excavations at Déhès have now disproved earlier theories
(based on the disappearance of building inscriptions) that the limestone
villages of northern Syria were abandoned after around a.d. 600. Since new
houses were not being built, it is probable that the great period of expansion
had ended, but this is not necessarily the same as the start of a period
of decline. 12
Recent work in the Near East also tends to emphasize diversity within
the region, which makes generalizations about specific periods of time
extremely hazardous. For example, it is possible that northern Syria lost
some of its prosperity in the later sixth century and that some cities of the
coast, like Caesarea Maritima, declined quite rapidly after the Arab conquest;
but in the same period other areas, like the Jordan valley, seem to
have been doing very well indeed into the seventh century and even
beyond, as is shown by the evidence of rural churches, and of urban settlement
at Pella and Gerasa. For instance, Arab-period Gerasa (Jerash) had
abundant Byzantine and Islamic copper coins, at least one solid mortared
stone house, and substantial potting industries producing a range of goodquality
wares. It is possible that, in comparison to the Near East of c. a.d.
550, the Near East of c. 650 had declined; but in comparison with the rest
of the Roman world it certainly still stood out as a region of quite exceptional
economic sophistication. 13
Italy
Britain and the Near East are extreme cases, and the economic history of
the regions that lay between them geographically is also somewhere
between them in character. For the provinces to the north of the
Mediterranean, I am best qualified to write about Italy, but the economic
histories of Gaul and Spain are probably broadly similar.
11 As argued by Kennedy (1985).
12 Abandonment: Kennedy (1985) 160–2. Déhès: Sodini et al. (1980).
13 Caesarea: Holum et al. (1988) 201–15. Rural churches: Piccirillo (1985). Jerash: Zayadine (1986)
107–36 and 411–59; Bellinger (1938) (for the coins).
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