A similar thing happened after the Bronze age collapse -- another "dark age". As we gradually find out, not so dark after all, but rather full of vibrant ideas

A similar thing happened after the Bronze age collapse -- another "dark age". As we gradually find out, not so dark after all, but rather full of vibrant ideas and structural changes. As the old structures collapse, a new order invariably claws its way out of the debris. These are periods of tremendous innovation and creativity, here boosted by the prosperous Medieval Warm Period. The "dark" in "dark ages" reflects more our lack of written documents from these periods (little surviving literature) and a sentimental bias of the early historians toward the lost Roman period. Not a lack of stuff happening -- quite the contrary.