Dark Ages Research Articles

Moderne i suvremene predodžbe srednjovjekovlja – anakronija između bajke i horora

The paper reviews modern and contemporary images of the Middle Ages with emphasis on popular culture in the form of selected cases from literature, cinematography and video games in the context of the notion of historical anachronism. Erroneous statements that antedate or misplace events, objects or people basically constitute an “innocent” anachronistic transgression, which can be easily rectified using verifiable data. However, faulty projection of a set of features or characteristics to an age which did not know them represents a far more dangerous fallacy because it opens the question of interpretation – and interpretations vary. To understand past realities it is necessary to uncover how past people understood their own reality and why did they what they did. Projecting contemporary meanings onto the past, in this case the Middle Ages, is a genuinely perilous anachronism which is very difficult or even impossible to rectify. One example of such a historical “mistreatment” is the notion of the “Dark Ages”. Therefore, the paper traces the idea of the “Dark Ages” from the 14th century onward and considers the context in which it became quite widespread from the 18th and 19th centuries to the present day. However, the existence of a counter-myth in the form of the romantic idealization of the Middle Ages as a time of lost pre-modern innocence is also emphasized. The process of industrialization and modernization of (primarily English and Western) European societies in the 18th and 19th centuries and the enthronement of science and progress as leading social principles brought about an (only seemingly) unexpected consequence. Social change provoked nostalgia for an idealized and more simple pre-modern past which gave rise to the Gothic genre that introduced the (at that time socially subversive) element of “horror”. However, at the same time it engendered a romantic and nostalgic depiction of “olden times” which attracted a serious (mostly female) literary public. Even more important is the fact that the elements of the Gothic genre still exist in popular culture to this day through transmission into other popular culture venues, such as literature, cinematic and television content or video games. The extreme dual understanding of the Middle Ages between, metaphorically speaking, fairy tales and horror initially seems confusing, but in reality these images represent two opposite sides of the same coin. Finally, the paper seeks to answer the question of why the Middle Ages are imagined in the ways they are imagined, while notions about the Middle Ages are understood as an integral part of modern (secular) mythical discourse that legitimizes (post)modernity through the construction of extreme medieval otherness. Like it or not, the real or imagined medieval past is a recurrent and in some aspects even dominant feature of the (post)modern popular imagination. It would appear that it will remain so in the future, especially in the dynamic and newly developing post-COVID-19 world order.

Cambodia’s Decline and the Fall of Angkor as Pictured in the Chinese Sources during the Yuan and Early-Middle Ming dynasties (Late XIII - Early XV cc.)

The fall of Angkor in the 15th century marked a turning point in the Cambodian history leading to the downfall of the Khmer civilization and the start of the so-called “post-Angkor period” which is also often referred to as the “Dark Age of Cambodia”. Local epigraphical sources almost completely disappear from the 13th up to the 16th centuries while the Royal Chronicles dealing with this timeframe were compiled much later, mostly in the 18th and 19th centuries. Therefore, primary sources of this era are very scarce. While it is commonly accepted among the modern researchers that the fall of Angkor was a continuous process and was not a result of a single Siamese attack or a natural calamity (moreover, various reasons for this gradual downfall have been outlined), the perception of this process by other political powers in the region, especially China, has been significantly understudied. In this work the author made an attempt to trace the transformation of depiction of Cambodia in the Chinese sources of the Yuan and early Ming dynasties (both official and private).

High- and low- latitude forcing on hydroclimate variability in southern China over the last two millennia

Knowledge of centennial-scale hydroclimate variability and underlying forcing mechanisms in southern China over the last two millennia remains limited. This study presents multiproxy results of the grain size, elemental ratios (Zr/Rb, and Rb/Sr), total organic carbon (TOC), total nitrogen (TN) and C/N ratios, together with high-precision 137Cs/210Pb and accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14C ages of a sediment core from Lake Baxian, which is a small closed lake in Guangxi Province, southern China. Based on these high-resolution data, the hydroclimate change over the last two millennia is clearly revealed. Relatively high values of the mean grain size, Zr/Rb, TOC and TN, along with low values of Rb/Sr and C/N ratios during the Dark Ages Cold Period (DACP, 500–900 CE) and Little Ice Age (LIA, 1400–1850 CE), indicate a relatively wet climate during these intervals. Conversely, low values of the mean grain size, Zr/Rb, TOC and TN, along with high Rb/Sr ratios during the Roman Warm Period (RWP, 50–400 CE) and Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA, 1000–1300 CE), suggest relatively dry conditions during these intervals. During the Current Warm Period (CWP, 1850-present), the values of the mean grain size and Zr/Rb increase abruptly and Rb/Sr ratios exhibit large fluctuations, which might be attributed to the impact of human activities. The general pattern of the reconstructed hydroclimate variations in this study is broadly consistent with the North Atlantic ice-rafted detritus and Indo-Pacific Warm Pool (IPWP) records, indicating that the hydroclimate variability on the centennial-scale in southern China has been controlled by both high- and low- latitude forcings over the last two millennia.

Filsafat Islam pada Masa Golden Age dan Kontribusinya dalam Dunia Pendidikan

This study aims to look at the history of the development of Islamic philosophy which in its time influenced world civilization, to find out the famous Islamic philosophy figures and make a very large contribution to this day, some of the theories put forward by Muslims are still used in the modern era such as the ideas of Ibn Sina on tuberculosis (TBC) and ethanol, Al-Khwarizmi's thoughts on mathematics Al-Gebra, discovering the number zero (0), astronomy and many other meritorious scientists. The research method used in this article is a literature study by digging up information about the Golden Age of Islamic Philosophy from various works of literature such as books, journals, articles, and other scientific papers. The results of this study are in the 9th century to the 12th century Islam developed rapidly and influenced world civilization. The development of Islam succeeded in giving birth to Muslim scholars and competing with the West at that time in the Dark Age phase because it was influenced by Church dogma and the inquisition which slowed down intellectual and technological development. Philosophy greatly influences the world of education. Islamic educational institutions developed rapidly through madrasas and higher education institutions at a time when Europe was experiencing its dark period. Islamic education and science in the Middle Ages were supported by Islamic scholasticism, which tried to reconcile Greco-Hellenistic thought with Islamic religious teachings, which reached its peak during the time of Al-Ghazali, and the impressive progress of Islamic civilization in the Middle Ages through Muslim philosophers such as Al-Kindi, Al-Farabi, Avicenna, Omar Khayyam, and others.

A New Method of Reconstructing Galactic 3D Structures Using Ultralong-wavelength Radio Observations

The free–free absorption of low-frequency radio waves by thermal electrons in the warm ionized medium of our Galaxy becomes very significant at ≲10 MHz (ultralong wavelength), and the absorption strength depends on the radio frequency. Upcoming space experiments such as the Discovering Sky at the Longest Wavelength and Farside Array for Radio Science Investigations of the Dark Ages and Exoplanets will produce high-resolution multifrequency sky maps at the ultralong wavelength, providing a new window to observe the universe. In this Paper we propose that from these ultralong-wavelength multifrequency maps, the 3D distribution of the Galactic electrons can be reconstructed. This novel and robust reconstruction of the Galactic electron distribution will be a key science case of those space missions. Ultralong-wavelength observations will be a powerful tool for studying the astrophysics relevant to the Galactic electron distribution, for example, the impacts of supernova explosions on electron distribution, and the interaction between interstellar atoms and ionizing photons escaped from the H ii regions around massive stars.

A note on Medieval Mediterranean trade networks: first observations on the possible evidence of Sicilian amphorae of the 8th-9th century in Crete and the Aegean

Nearly a quarter of a century has gone by since scholars working on the Medieval Mediterranean were wondering if Byzantium was dead or alive during the 8th-9th centuries. Indeed, until recently, it was still quite a prevailing view that this period marked the ‘Dark Ages’ for the Byzantine Empire, in all the facets of its administrative, economic, and sociocultural life. Scholarly debate of the last years has zealously challenged this view, depicting a smoother and less pessimistic picture of this period. For instance, leaving aside historical and artistic aspects, and focusing on the theme of this report – that is Medieval amphorae – already in the mid-2010s it was clear that the Mediterranean remained a dynamic economic system throughout the 8th-9th century. This argument, which was mostly drawn on the evidence of the so-called Aegean globular amphorae, was further embodied and enhanced in 2018, during a thematic conference of the AIECM3 group, which was entirely dedicated to Medieval Mediterranean amphorae from the 8th to 12th centuries. Among the main and most valuable contributions, Cacciaguerra’s article shed light on the Mediterranean patterns of distribution of a specific type of amphora of the 8th-9th century produced in Sicily. Back then, amphorae of this kind were known outside Sicily, mostly along the Adriatic, but were utterly unknown eastward of the Otranto Straight. The aim of this short report is twofold: 1. to elaborate on this mainstream study-theme of Medieval Mediterranean amphorae and trade networks; 2. to expand on the current record of extra-regional evidence of Sicilian amphorae of the 8th-9th century by discussing the evidence of possible specimens documented in Crete and into the Aegean.

GnRH analogs for the treatment of heavy menstrual bleeding associated with uterine fibroids

Treatment of heavy menstrual bleeding associated with uterine fibroids (UF) is evolving. Historically, treatment options were limited to predominantly invasive surgery; today, conservative and novel oral medical treatments are widely available for use with significant efficacy. This evolution was directly driven by our improved understanding of UF pathophysiology. Specifically, our recognition of the hormone-mediated pathway in UF development and growth laid the framework for using GnRH agonist analogs in treating UF. In this report, we explore the use of GnRH analogs in the treatment of heavy menstrual bleeding associated with UF in phases. We review historical perspectives, discuss the development and use of aternatives to GnRH analogs, a period we refer to as the "Dark Ages" of GnRH analogs, we then provide an overview of the later years and present-day use of GnRH analogs and discuss opportunities for future directions.

:World Medievalism: The Middle Ages in Modern Textual Culture

:<i>World Medievalism: The Middle Ages in Modern Textual Culture</i>

Multiproxy investigation of the last 2,000 years BP marine paleoenvironmental record along the western Spitsbergen margin

ABSTRACT A reconstruction of the last 2,000 years BP of environmental and oceanographic changes on the western margin of Spitsbergen was performed using a multidisciplinary approach including the fossil assemblages of diatoms, planktic and benthic foraminifera and calcareous nannofossils and the use of geochemistry (X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction). We identified two warm periods (2,000–1,600 years BP and 1,300–700 years BP) that were associated with the Roman Warm Period and the Medieval Warm Period that alternate with colder oceanic conditions and sea ice coverage occurred during the Dark Ages (1,600–1,300 years BP) and the beginning of the Little Ice Age. During the Medieval Warm Period the occurrence of ice-rafted debris and Aulocoseira spp., a specific diatom genus commonly associated with continental freshwater, suggests significant runoff of meltwaters from local glaciers.

What Does a Public Health Approach to Mental Health and Illness Look Like?

What Does a Public Health Approach to Mental Health and Illness Look Like?

After the dark ages* *Dedicated to Sir Michael Berry, a much admired colleague, on the occasion of his 80th birthday.

After recalling some puzzles in cosmology and briefly reviewing the Friedmann–Lemaître cosmos a simple unified model of the ‘dark sector’ is described. This model involves a scalar field and a pseudo-scalar axion field that give rise to dark energy in the form of ‘quintessence’ and to ‘fuzzy’ dark matter, respectively. Predictions of the model concerning the late-time evolution of the Universe and possible implications for the problem of the observed matter–antimatter asymmetry in the Universe are sketched.

Halide Diffusion Equilibrium and Its Impact on Efficiency Evolution of Perovskite Solar Cells

AbstractUnderstanding the degradation mechanism of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) is of particular importance to solve their instability issue, which is one of the major hindrances toward commercialization. Here, it is shown that a halide diffusion equilibrium exists at the heterointerface of perovskite devices, which strongly impacts the evolution of device performance. The combined experimental and theoretical studies reveal that halide components diffuse from perovskite to fullerene layers in a p‐i‐n PSC device and equilibrate with an iodine density of 1018–1019 cm−3 within 80 h under dark aging condition. It is found that there is a strong correction between the device efficiency and halide diffusion equilibrium of PSCs, as the diffused halides can chemically dope the transport layer and result in the nonstoichiometric perovskite surface, leading to both initial enhancement and long‐term loss of the photovoltaic efficiency of solar cells. In response to this issue, a predoping strategy is developed to attain the halide diffusion equilibrium once the device is fabricated, thereby avoiding the further halide migration and initial efficiency variations. As a result, the as‐prepared PSC achieved an efficiency of 23.13% as well as stable power output under continuous one sun illumination.

Particle-phase processing of α-pinene NO3 secondary organic aerosol in the dark

Abstract. The NO3 radical represents a significant nighttime oxidant which is present downstream of polluted environments. Existing studies have investigated the formation of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) from NO3 radicals, focusing on the yields, general composition, and hydrolysis of organonitrates; however, there is limited knowledge about how the composition of NO3-derived SOA evolves as a result of particle-phase reactions. Here, SOA was formed from the reaction of α-pinene with NO3 radicals generated from N2O5, and the resulting SOA was aged in the dark. The initial composition of NO3-derived α-pinene SOA was slightly dependent upon the concentration of N2O5 injected (excess of NO3 or excess of α-pinene) but was largely dominated by dimer dinitrates (C20H32N2O8−13). Oxidation reactions (e.g., C20H32N2O8→ C20H32N2O9→ C20H32N2O10) accounted for 60 %–70 % of the particle-phase reactions observed. Fragmentation reactions and dimer degradation pathways made up the remainder of the particle-phase processes occurring. The exact oxidant is not known, although suggestions are offered (e.g., N2O5, organic peroxides, or peroxynitrates). Hydrolysis of –ONO2 functional groups was not an important loss term during dark aging under the relative humidity conditions of our experiments (58 %–62 %), and changes in the bulk organonitrate composition were likely driven by evaporation of highly nitrogenated molecules. Overall, 25 %–30 % of the particle-phase composition changes as a function of particle-phase reactions during dark aging, representing an important atmospheric aging pathway.

A Quest for ‘Feminine consciousness’ in John Cowper Powys’s 'Porius'

John Cowper Powys’s last major novel Porius&amp;nbsp;(1951) is a complex polyphonic narrative. However, its main concern is the spiritual growth of the eponymous protagonist. Porius matures through an increasing understanding of ‘feminine consciousness’, which Powys suggests is ‘deeper’than that of men and ‘contains a clue to the most basic understanding of reality’. &amp;nbsp;The novel is set in Wales in AD 499, just prior to the end of the Roman occupation, with a Saxon invasion impending. Powys began writing&amp;nbsp;Porius&amp;nbsp;in 1942, when Britain again faced an invasion,and he sees the twentieth century as a second Dark Age with Christianity being replaced by the worship of science and materialism, and Hitler’s Germany reflecting this trend in the extreme.&amp;nbsp;Porius&amp;nbsp;explores the idea that idea that evil originates from ‘some obscure struggle between men and women’ and Powys suggests that a bias toward ‘masculine consciousness’ leads to war, sadism, and violence. &amp;nbsp;The patriarchal aspects of Christianity are condemned by Powys, and he&amp;nbsp;prophesises&amp;nbsp;its replacement with the worship of the Mother Goddess. Mythology is a major element and the characters include King Arthur’s magician Myrddin (Merlin), his lover Nineue, Tennyson’s Vivien, and survivors of a race of giants. Powys’s ideas about ‘feminine consciousness’,were particularly influenced by C. G. Jung, various women in his life, and the novelist Dorothy Richardson, who represents for him an ideal of this consciousness.

How to Cure a Horse, or, the Experience of Knowledge and the Knowledge of Experience

How to Cure a Horse, or, the Experience of Knowledge and the Knowledge of Experience

A Monument to Medieval Syrian Book Culture: The Library of Ibn ‘Abd al-Hadi

A Monument to Medieval Syrian Book Culture: The Library of Ibn ‘Abd al-Hadi

New telescopes seek the cosmic dark ages

Radio astronomers look to far-flung locations to detect low-frequency signals that emanate from the ancient universe.

Paleochannel of the Yellow River within the Zoige Basin and its environmental significance on the NE Tibetan Plateau

Paleochannel sedimentary sequences can provide abundant information on regional environmental changes. A typical paleochannel (paleo-oxbow lake type) section of the Yellow River was identified within the Zoige Basin on the NE Tibetan Plateau. A multi-index approach was used to accurately identify sediments of different genetic types, such as riverbed deposits of the Yellow River, paleo-oxbow lake deposits, and overbank flood deposits (OFD) in the section. Based on optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and AMS 14C dates, we examined the environmental evolution recorded by the section. The results show that: (1) The section is a record of environmental change since 4.17 ± 0.49 ka. During 4.17 ± 0.49 to 3.24 ± 0.26 ka, the ancient Yellow River occupied the channel. At 3.24 ± 0.26 ka, the paleochannel experienced a neck cutoff, and the fluvial environment began to change into the oxbow lake environment. After 2.45 ± 0.11 ka, the paleo-oxbow lake gradually disappeared. Subalpine meadow soil has developed at this site since 1.31 ± 0.05 ka. (2) Paleoenvironmental proxies indicate that the Zoige Basin was warmer and wetter before ~3.00 ka, and became drier and colder after ~3.00 ka, which may be mainly related to the weakening of the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) and the strengthening of the Westerlies. (3) Two episodes of extreme overbank flooding occurred at 2.96 ± 0.24 to 2.87 ± 0.27 ka and 1.84 ± 0.20 to 1.70 ± 0.16 ka, correlated with climate shift period from the mid-Holocene climatic optimum to the late Holocene and the Dark Age Cold Period (DACP), respectively. Due to the relatively cold and dry climate in these periods, glaciers generally advanced on the Tibetan Plateau, and the contribution of snow and ice meltwater weakened. Therefore, the strong rainfall caused by the abnormal atmospheric circulation may be the main cause of these extreme overbank flooding.

Variability of East Asian winter monsoon during Middle–Late Holocene: A study based on a crater lake on Jeju Island, South Korea

Understanding the natural variability of the East Asian monsoon (EAM) system, mainly consisting of summer and winter monsoons, is essential to predict future climate changes that will influence agricultural and industrial activities in the highly populated region. To date, the variability of the East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM) and its controlling factors is still unclear in downwind areas that experience the Siberian High, mostly due to the lack of a high-resolution winter monsoon index. Based on the correlation between diatom variations in a volcanic cone of Jeju Island, South Korea, with past regional climate changes (e.g., temperature, dust, and sea ice) and solar activity, in this study, we evaluated the changes in the climate from the sum of acidophilous species (SAS), known to be mainly controlled by the pH of the prevalent water pool, and inferred that the SAS increased during the cold and dry periods (e.g., Little Ice Age and Dark Age Cold Period). Furthermore, millennial-timescale fluctuation in the detrended SAS during the past 8000 years, with peaks at ~500, 1500, 3000, 5600, 6600, and 7600 cal yr B·P., corresponded to the ice-rafted events reported from studies conducted on subpolar ocean sediments and solar activity. In this study, we suggest that, historically, high-latitude climate change driven by solar activity has controlled the EAWM; additionally, we support the application of the SAS in Jeju Island as a high-resolution EAWM index.

The REACH radiometer for detecting the 21-cm hydrogen signal from redshift z ≈ 7.5–28

Observations of the 21-cm line from primordial hydrogen promise to be one of the best tools to study the early epochs of the Universe: the Dark Ages, the Cosmic Dawn, and the subsequent Epoch of Reionization. In 2018, the EDGES experiment caught the attention of the cosmology community with a potential detection of an absorption feature in the sky-averaged radio spectrum centred at 78 MHz. The feature is deeper than expected, and, if confirmed, would call for new physics. However, different groups have re-analyzed the EDGES data and questioned the reliability of the signal. The Radio Experiment for the Analysis of Cosmic Hydrogen (REACH) is a sky-averaged 21-cm experiment aiming at improving the current observations by tackling the issues faced by current instruments related to residual systematic signals in the data. The novel experimental approach focuses on detecting and jointly explaining these systematics together with the foregrounds and the cosmological signal using Bayesian statistics. To achieve this, REACH features simultaneous observations with two different antennas, an ultra wideband system (redshift range 7.5 to 28), and a receiver calibrator based on in-field measurements. Simulated observations forecast percent-level constraints on astrophysical parameters, potentially opening up a new window to the infant Universe.