The article analyzes the problem of modern methodological approaches to the first inter-civilization transitional era in Europe history – Late Antiquity. During the 60-ies of the twentieth century the traditional approach about the decline and the fall of Rome turned out to be exhausted. Since 70th, due to the P. Brown's works and the works of British school a new understanding of this historical period developed as a self-sufficient subcivilization the essence of which was the gradual transformation of complex processes within the dynamic model «continuity–discontinuity». A wide field of research was opened. However, there is a number of problems still, in particular, the issue about the territorial and chronological framework. Besides, the attitude to this concept is more restrained in European historiography. Its methodological aspects are not emphasized actually. There is no an independent school of Late Antiquity study in Russia – the experts operate either in the field of antiquity, or in the field of Byzantine studies.