# 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, an upcoming 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