The Carnuntum canabae legionis holds a special place in the category of the civilian suburbs of Roman fortresses. An overall plan of the canabae now exists, thanks to the intensification of aerial-archaeological evaluations in recent years in the area of present-day villages of Petronell and Bad Deutsch-Altenburg (Lower Austria, A); its richness in detail makes it unique. Aerial archaeological mapping of crop marks and established building remains were combined and interpreted in Volume I. The discussion of the settlements development was, however, restricted to the limited information provided by excavations (often only with preliminary reports published), published graves and localized individual finds. The hope of obtaining additional evidence regarding the expansion and chronology of the settlement - as well as the use of municipal zones (such as residential, economic and funerary areas, and open spaces) - was linked to the idea of performing a large-scale surface survey. Approximately 201 hectares of arable land were walked in the summer months of 2009 and 2010. A field survey was conducted using line-walking groups of four to five persons searching in lines parallel to one another; it is estimated that an area of approximately 83.3 hectares was thus examined. GIS technology played a key role in the planning, implementation and evaluation of the surface survey. Desktop mapping was central to the analysis of data. The survey area was not limited to the urban areas of the fortress civilian suburbs (namely the southern and southwestern areas), rather, it extended into areas preceding the canabae. Most of the surveyed fields were less than 2.0 km away from the wall of the legionary fortress. The character of this survey thus included surface ensembles from different residential areas, including off-site areas (i.e. areas without settlement activity in the strictest sense). Despite all caveats and limitations prompted by the specific nature of the archaeological sources consulted, the surface survey did provide new components regarding the settlement history of the Carnuntum canabae. Still largely unclear is the genesis or development of the canabae during the course of the first century CE. The survey offers the best possibilities in evaluating settlement abandonment in the south and southwest areas of the fortress suburbs. A comparison of the most recent strata in the canabae with that of the legionary fortress clearly reveals the different settlement processes at the periphery and in the centre of Carnuntum. While settlement activity in the legionary fortress during the first half of the 5th century CE can be proven, the canabae experiences a drastic change much earlier. In the surveyed area the archaeological material stops in the period from about the middle of the 3rd century CE until approximately 300 CE. The first occurrence of graves in previously populated areas and the process of obliteration demonstrated specifically by excavations attest that a large-scale contraction process took place, which greatly changed the appearance of the settlement. The onset of de-urbanization during the transition from the late Imperial period to late antiquity was probably triggered by various political and socio-economic situations that are beyond the scope of archaeological evidence. The desertion process is reflected in the surface material, which ultimately had a far-reaching demographic impact and initiated the final end of antique town culture along the middle Danube around the middle of the 5th century CE at the latest. (Übersetzung: Catherine Leisser)