Were there really "dark ages" in humanity?

[Karam]

 

Came across this video .. it is really interesting .. was there really a "dark age" period that affected humanity? Discuss.

[λngelღмander]

It was never a time when we reverted upon old lifestyles and regressed technologically, it was just a period of very little if any advancement at all. "The dark ages" sounds very serious, but it wasn't really a big deal, just a time when no one felt like inventing anything and not much got done. 

To answer your question, yes, technically, there were dark ages.

[Water Salesman]

Yes, there was a period where absolutely nothing got done

[dabaers]

The video: Kids show, its in English. Start @ 5 minutes

 

Not a dark ages for humanity. A dark age for Western Europe? Yes. Arab world and Asia? Absolutely not.

[Gent♥]

Well, from a western standpoint...

People tend to confuse a massive slowdown in technological advancement with regression, which isn't quite true. Ideas also stagnated, so compared to the rest of the world we were 'going backwards.'

This is largely the fault of the Romans, who were modernizing on a scale without precedence until the collapse of the empire in ~450 AD.

Following that, very little reliable evidence exists; the Vikings, Goths, and Vandals dominated mainland Europe, travelling and conquering until about the mid-11th century when everything started to settle down a bit.

So I guess there's your dark ages. Nothing really advanced because nothing lasted long before some Vikings (or Muslims from the South, or Mongols from the East) burned it to the ground.

[Galzra87]

It was never a time when we reverted upon old lifestyles and regressed technologically, it was just a period of very little if any advancement at all. "The dark ages" sounds very serious, but it wasn't really a big deal, just a time when no one felt like inventing anything and not much got done. 

To answer your question, yes, technically, there were dark ages.

Technically, the dark age aka middle age WAS a regression. Many medical secrets like the egyptian brain surgery was lost. Think about it, the antiquities brought many discoveries, from archimedes (not the medic's pet) inventions to platon philosophia.

The vast majority of "peasants" knew how to write and read by this time.

 

In the middle age however, the peasants didn't know how to read and much less how to write (reason why the churchs of this period have so many pictures depicting Heaven, Hell and scenes from the Bible). Many forge and craft wonders such as the black ceramic from the celts were lost. Hell, with the Crusades, we manage to almost destroy the secrets of damascus steel mates!

 

I dont know much about other countries than the old world and the middle east, but i know for sure that Indian, during almost the same time of our Middle Age, lost the secret to make iron resistant to corrosion. The only remaining of this secret is the Delhi Pillar, crafted more than 1500 years ago. Some scientists discovers how it resists, and are only now making tries to reproduce this.

[dabaers]

 Hell, with the Crusades, we manage to almost destroy the secrets of damascus steel mates!

But the Crusades brought western Europe knowledge about a ton of Muslim stuff

[Gent♥]

-snip-

Just from a historical standpoint, dark ages and middle ages aren't interchangeable.

The dark ages in western culture (and it is to western culture these phrases were invented and apply, attempting to apply them elsewhere is shoe-horning frameworks for the sake of it) are considered to last until around the 11th century, though some argue the scarcity of records persists as last as the 1066 battle of Hastings.

On the contrary, the medieval period (which IS interchangeable with middle ages) runs until the end of the 15th century whether that be with the 1485 battle of Bosworth, or Columbus discovering the Americas in 1492, or some other event entirely, such as the Protestant movement in the early 1500's, is debatable.

 

The peasants didn't know how to read and write, but that's not the reason for the heavy use of pictograms, either. The peasants couldn't read or write in their native tongue (English or otherwise) but didn't even understand Latin, which is what sermons were given in until approximately 1530-1540 in the UK, and later abroad.

[Galzra87]

aaah no, actually, we just went there to destroy and say "There is only God and you shall not freaking continue to pray Allah" to the Muslim.

The "muslim stuff" you were talking about, were introduce when the said muslim traded with us. Most of theses trades were done in town like Venisia, and another island i forgot the name in my history classes.

 

EDIT: AAAAAnd my bad, i confound middle age and dark age. Again.

[Prince Lowell]

The Great Depression. Even though it is usually only talked about in American history, it applies to all of the world.

[Gent♥]

The Great Depression. Even though it is usually only talked about in American history, it applies to all of the world.

Only talked about in America history in America maybe. I personally have a lecture on precisely how that subject affected Europe in a week's time.

[Prince Lowell]

Only talked about in America history in America maybe. I personally have a lecture on precisely how that subject affected Europe in a week's time.

i know. i was agreeing with you. I think that that was the closest thing that we have had to a dark age in humanity.

[dabaers]

aaah no, actually, we just went there to destroy and say "There is only God and you shall not freaking continue to pray Allah" to the Muslim.

The "muslim stuff" you were talking about, were introduce when the said muslim traded with us. Most of theses trades were done in town like Venisia, and another island i forgot the name in my history classes.

 

EDIT: AAAAAnd my bad, i confound middle age and dark age. Again.

http://www.lordsandladies.org/effects-of-crusades.htm

http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/results-and-impact-of-the-crusades.html

[Gent♥]

i know. i was agreeing with you. I think that that was the closest thing that we have had to a dark age in humanity.

Ahh, my bad, I thought you were saying it was only, like, talked about as a thing, in America.

It depends how you define 'dark age'. I mean, from a technological standpoint we certainly didn't go backwards in the 1920's and 30's, even if we did slow down.

 

And the great depression was one of the first worldwide stalls in the economic engine, but certainly not the first individually. England for example spent most of the late 19th century bailing out Argentina and Egypt's economies, and for the same reason as the great depression in Argentina's case - stock crashes.

 

I don't think 15-20 years tops of economic hardship can be compared to almost 600 years of 'unlightenment' in terms of a 'dark age.' (Dark Age in itself being a anachronistic framework I don't like using.)

[TurboNEET]

The video: Kids show, its in English. Start @ 5 minutes

 

Not a dark ages for humanity. A dark age for Western Europe? Yes. Arab world and Asia? Absolutely not.

 

I'd say the middle east is in a dark age atm...

[λngelღмander]

I'd say the middle east is in a dark age atm...

You could say that. Religion, in my opinion, is one of the leading causes of scientific halting. No flame pls

[puddingkip]

No.

Doric Greece was a dark age, but other parts of the world advanced

Early middle age Western Europe had the most famous dark age, but the Roman Empire (erronously called Byzantine) and the Muslim world and the Far East like India and China had no problems in this time.

Civilisations come and go throughout history, some more advanced/progressive than others. But there is no point in known history where all civilisations at the same time went backwards or halted progression and as such there have been no dark ages in humanity

[λngelღмander]

No.

Doric Greece was a dark age, but other parts of the world advanced

Early middle age Western Europe had the most famous dark age, but the Roman Empire (erronously called Byzantine) and the Muslim world and the Far East like India and China had no problems in this time.

Civilisations come and go throughout history, some more advanced/progressive than others. But there is no point in known history where all civilisations at the same time went backwards or halted progression and as such there have been no dark ages in humanity

We're purposely taking his words out of context now. What he really meant, was, "In the history of man, have there been areas of the world that suffered dark ages?"

That settled, yes.

[Gent♥]

No.

Doric Greece was a dark age, but other parts of the world advanced

Early middle age Western Europe had the most famous dark age, but the Roman Empire (erronously called Byzantine) and the Muslim world and the Far East like India and China had no problems in this time.

Civilisations come and go throughout history, some more advanced/progressive than others. But there is no point in known history where all civilisations at the same time went backwards or halted progression and as such there have been no dark ages in humanity

 

'Dark Ages' is a framework invented by western historians, trying to apply it to other parts of the world doesn't work, as is to be expected. Romans disappeared by the time dark ages became relevant anyway.

There were dark ages in humanity, you're answering a different question. OP doesn't care if all civilizations had one at the same time or not, that's not the same thing as 'dark ages in humanity.'

Also, who called it Byzantine here? You're just showing off.

[λngelღмander]

You're just showing off.

AHEM...

 

 

Agreed with everything else you said here, but damn if you're not a hypocrite sometimes gent, <3

[Gent♥]

AHEM...Agreed with everything else you said here, but damn if you're not a hypocrite sometimes gent, <3

 

And I would've gotten away with it if it weren't for you meddling kid X3

 

Well, I haven't said anything superfluous just for the sake of saying it, put it that way

And anyway, I'm at university, studying history. This is my day-job, I'm allowed to be slightly up myself over this XD

[λngelღмander]

And I would've gotten away with it if it weren't for you meddling kid X3

 

Well, I haven't said anything superfluous just for the sake of saying it, put it that way

Maybe not today you haven't, but I can say that your use of superfluous was acceptable at best, don't throw random big words in if they don't fit.

 

If language is a crossword puzzle, you're the kid jamming pieces that don't belong into the wrong places.

 

A better word would have been impertinent.

[Gent♥]

Maybe not today you haven't, but I can say that your use of superfluous was acceptable at best, don't throw random big words in if they don't fit.

 

If language is a crossword puzzle, you're the kid jamming pieces that don't belong into the wrong places.

 

A better word would have been impertinent.

Superfluous was the first word that came to mind that was mildly appropriate. I'll be the first to admit I don't 'do' thought patterns like most people do X3

To get to impertinent, then, would have been me TRYING to think of a better word instead of focusing on the argument, and therefore showing off :3

 

This may or may not be off-topic XD

[λngelღмander]

Superfluous was the first word that came to mind that was mildly appropriate. I'll be the first to admit I don't 'do' thought patterns like most people do X3

To get to impertinent, then, would have been me TRYING to think of a better word instead of focusing on the argument, and therefore showing off :3

 

This may or may not be off-topic XD

Well when I was reading it, the word glared at me like a whale on a scale

 

That made sense before I typed it I swear

[Gent♥]

Well when I was reading it, the word glared at me like a whale on a scale

 

That made sense before I typed it I swear

Whales being known for their intimidating death-glares

 

But, yeah, I'll sum up so far so this isn't just spam XD

 

'Dark Ages' is a western ideology, just like medieval. Historians spent years trying to jam a medieval framework onto Japan, just for example (my lecturer's specialty, it's rubbing off ;-, and it doesn't work, because it's us importing our pre-set views of the past into areas where they may not work.

Within the west (this is mainly Europe), yes there was a Dark Ages to a degree. People stopped valuing writing things down, to put it bluntly, and many records from before the period didn't survive the severe instability of the period. Hence they pick up again, as stability does, circa. 1100 AD.