This volume, the proceedings of a conference held in Tongeren in January 2015, is an attempt to move beyond the dichotomy of decline versus transformation in the study of the northwest provinces in the fourth and fifth centuries. In the introduction, Roymans and Heeren write, “We conclude that both decline and transformation were historical realities. They represent two sides of the same medallion and we propose that the perspectives should not be used as a binary opposition” (p. 7). For their part, the contributors present new archaeological evidence and analysis to elucidate the precise nature of social change in the northwest provinces. The result is much more interesting than a choice of decline, transformation, or both. Instead we see in greater detail the long-term withdrawal of central Roman authority and the various social transformations that occurred in the process.