Thirteen papers, from a conference held in York in 2003, examine the fate of Roman Britain, the nature of the Saxon immigration and the independence of western Britain in the face of refugees from the east. Drawing on archaeological and material evidence, the papers discuss: the existence or otherwise of the `Dark Ages'; portable art as evidence of people remaining Roman; coast and countryside in the south west; palaeoenvironmental evidence for changes in the southwest; South Cadbury; the transformation of Roman estates; pottery and the 5th century in southwest Britain; artefacts in early medieval graves; Poundbury; a comparison between religious heresy and political dissent in Britain and Syria; Hadrian's Wall in the 4th century and after. Contributors: Neil Faulkmer, Martin Henig, Sam Turner, Ralph Fyfe, Stephen Rippon, John Davey, Simon Draper, James Gerrard, David Petts, Howard Williams, Christopher Sparey-Green, Daniel Hull, Rob Collins . Foreword by Philip Rahtz.