Was There a Dark Age?

532 Words3 Pages
Was There A Dark Age? Torben Pielke Period 3 The Dark Ages was a period of intellectual darkness that “supposedly” occurred in Europe, following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. The Dark Ages started with the split of the Roman Empire in 395 CE and lasted until 1492. Although many historians believe there was a Dark Age, there is almost no structural evidence that can prove their hypothesis. In Francis Pryor’s film “King Arthur’s Britain”, Francis re-examines Britain AD to find out the truth of the Dark Ages. By talking to other history experts, Pryor finds new and previously unexplained evidence, overturning the idea that Britain was crushed under Roman and Anglo-Saxon rule. Pryor meets with archeologist Dominic Powlesland, who was previously asked to investigate a few 5th century burials that were discovered in a quarry site. Dominic has conducted one of the largest archeological surveys in the world, examining every inch of the landscape where other historians believe the Anglo-Saxon’s invasion took place. Dominic’s survey led him to find the remains of endless miles of farms and villages. The remains of settlements he discovered took place during the Anglo-Saxon invasion period. Dominic’s surveys would have been able to pick up the disruption that an invasion of landscape. All he could find was evidence of peaceful settlements that were scattered along a great eight kilometers of land. Dominic gave some of the skeletons he uncovered from an Anglo-Saxon territory, to Paul Budd. Paul has discovered a new type of research called stable isotope analysis. Budd discovered, that tooth enamel, has within it materials to the skeleton’s location at birth. By measuring the oxygen isotopes found in the tooth enamel, Paul can find what location of the world they were born. Surprisingly, the skeletons given by Dominic weren’t continental

More about Was There a Dark Age?

Open Document