Germania inferior, province between the civilizations: Celtic periphery, immigration area for the Germanic tribes, Roman dominion. The South fertile and rich in raw materials, the North barren and inhospitable. Roman cities and native settlements, villas and farms; too Roman for the Germanic inhabitants, too Germanic for the Romans. Who did actually inhabit the province? To what social conditions did the regional environment give rise? What economic exchange was there between town and country, between the native inhabitants, the Romans and the free Germanic peoples? Archaeologists and historians now have more sophisticated tools and can provide new, more precise answers to these questions. The North of the province in particular has been explored more thoroughly, and the results of that research form the basis of this volume. The papers resultet from a colloquium with German and Dutch archaeologists and historians. They draw up an account of the current state of the art and show the perspective for future research.