Dark Ages

Dark Ages or Dark Age may refer to:

History and sociology

• Dark Ages (historiography), the use of the term Dark Ages by historians and lay people
  • Early Middle Ages (5th–10th centuries), the centuries after the fall of the Western Roman Empire
    • Saeculum obscurum ("dark age/century"), a period in the history of the papacy during the first two-thirds of the 10th century
  • Byzantine Dark Ages (7th–8th centuries), period of large-scale transformation, but obscure due to lack of sources, in Byzantine history
  • List of common misconceptions about the Middle Ages § History of the "Dark Ages" misconception
• Irish Dark Age, a period of apparent economic and cultural stagnation in late pre-historic Ireland, lasting from c. 100 BC to c. AD 300
• Parthian Dark Age, a period of three decades in the history of Parthian Empire
• Societal collapse, a situation in which a society collapses
  • Late Bronze Age collapse (c. 1200 BC–1150 BC)
    • Greek Dark Ages (c. 1100 BC–750 BC), a period in the history of ancient Greece and Anatolia after the Late Bronze Age collapse
• Dark ages of Khmer/Cambodia
  • Post-Angkor period (1431–1863)
  • Cambodian genocide (1975–1979), the systematic persecution and killing of Cambodian people by the Khmer Rouge
• Digital dark age, a future time when it might not be possible to read historical digital documents

Arts and entertainment

Film and television

• Dark Age (film), a 1987 Australian film directed by Arch Nicholson
• Dark Ages (TV series), a 1999 British sitcom
• The Dark Ages: An Age of Light, a 2012 British documentary television series
• Miracle Workers: Dark Ages, the 2020 season of Miracle Workers
• "The Dark Age" (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), a 1997 television episode
• "The Dark Age" (Bungo Stray Dogs), a 2016 television episode
• "The Dark Age" (Lighthouse), a 2023 talk show episode
• "The Dark Ages" (Roseanne), a 1992 television episode

Games

• Dark Ages (1991 video game), a platform game by Apogee Software
• Dark Ages (1999 video game), an MMORPG by KRU Interactive
• Dark Age (collectible card game), a 1996 collectible card game
• Dark Ages, a 2012 expansion for the deck-building card game Dominion
• Doom: The Dark Ages, a 2025 video game

Literature

• Dark Age (novel), a 2019 novel by Pierce Brown
• The Dark Age (series), a 2002–2005 novel trilogy by Mark Chadbourn
• Dark Age of Comic Books (1986–late 1990s), a period in the American comics industry
• The Dark Age, a four-book maxiseries of the comics series Astro City

Music

• Dark Age (band), a German metal band 1995–2013

Albums

• Dark Ages (album), by Soulfly, or the title song, 2005
• The Dark Ages, an EP by Andrea Parker, 2001
• The Dark Ages, an EP Bedhead, 1996
• Little Dark Age by MGMT

Songs

• "Dark Age" (song), by the Hippos, 1988
• "Dark Ages", by Jethro Tull from Stormwatch, 1979
• "Dark Ages", by NoMeansNo from Small Parts Isolated and Destroyed, 1988
• "Dark Ages", by Scar the Martyr from Scar the Martyr, 2013
• "Dark Ages", by Yngwie Malmsteen from Trilogy, 1986

Other uses

• Dark Ages (cosmology), in Big Bang cosmology, a period ending roughly 150 million to 800 million years after the Big Bang, after which stars began to form
• "Dark Era", a hypothetical age of the universe in the far future

See also

• Golden Age (disambiguation)
• Middle Ages (disambiguation)
• Kalyug (disambiguation), the Dark Ages in Hinduism