Dark Ages

Dark Ages may refer to:

In history and sociology

• Dark Ages (historiography), the concept of a period of intellectual darkness and economic regression that supposedly occurred in Europe following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire
  • European Middle Ages (5th to 15th centuries AD), particularly:
    • Western European Early Middle Ages
    • Migration Period of c. 400 to 800 AD
    • Saeculum obscurum or "dark age" in the history of the papacy, running from 904-964
  • Note: medieval historians today usually avoid the phrase "Dark Ages" for the above periods, see Dark Ages (historiography) for further discussion.
• Greek Dark Ages (c. 1100 BC–750 BC), a period in the history of Ancient Greece and Anatolia
• Dark ages of Cambodia (c. 1450-1863)
• Dark ages of Laos (c. 1707-1893)
• Digital dark age, a future time when it might not be possible to read historical digital documents

In astrophysics

• Dark Ages, in Big Bang cosmology, time between Recombination (of electrons with hydrogen and helium nuclei) and Reionization

In music

• Dark Ages (album) by Soulfly
• The Dark Ages, an EP by Andrea Parker
• "Dark Ages", a song by Jethro Tull on their 1979 album Stormwatch
• "Dark Ages", a song by Yngwie Malmsteen on his 1986 album Trilogy
• "Dark Ages", a song by NoMeansNo on their 1988 album Small Parts Isolated and Destroyed
• Dark Age (band), a German death metal band
• Dark Ages (band), a Ukrainian dark ambient band
• "New Dark Ages", a song by punk rock band Bad Religion

In entertainment

• Dark Age of Comic Books (1986-late 1990s), a period in the American comics industry
• Dark Ages (1991 computer game), a platform game by Apogee Software
• Dark Ages (computer game), an MMORPG by KRU Interactive
• Dark Ages (TV series), a 1999 ITV comedy series set in England
• The Dark Ages (2007), a History Channel documentary directed by Christopher Cassel
• "The Dark Age", an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
• The Dark Ages: An Age of Light is a BBC four part documentary television series written, directed, and presented by Waldemar Januszczak