Book Review Barbarians to Angels
Wells, Peter. Barbarians to Angel: The Dark Ages Reconsidered. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2008
Barbarians to Angels written by Peter Wells is an enlightening read that sheds light on to what really went on during “The Dark Ages”. The written word during 400-800 AD came from educated citizens of the Roman Empire and their recount could be judgmental. Many historians are led to believe that Barbarians destroyed Roman and everyone suffered from acts of violence, a mass migration, disease, starvation, and this was the way of life for hundreds of years. But Peter Wells goes beyond the information in the written accounts and looks at the actual archaeological evidence. He uses this information to help visualize life that went on during this period of time that will prove that the Dark Ages was anything but dark.
Some of the archaeological evidence Wells got his information was from settlement ruins, burial and sacrificial finds. The items that were found reveal to us that these people were getting on with their lives and adapting. These people create great works of art, developed expansive trade networks, lived mostly peaceful lives, and even invented the deep plow. Wells also used bodies that have been recovered. These bodies show that, in life, they seem to be well fed, and it gives us an idea of the average height of males and females. The condition of their teeth shows that they were in good health. Even the food residues show levels of nutrition consistent with small but healthy populations.
In several of the chapters Wells talks about the different cities that were a part of the Roman Emperor. With the Dark Ages people think of people migrating and having no place to live but archeological evidence shows that there were permanent settlements in Europe. In these chapters, Wells lays out evidence of the continuous occupation and the growth of these cities that were once a part of the Roman Emperor. The architecture of Rome, which is repeated
Barbarians to Angels written by Peter Wells is an enlightening read that sheds light on to what really went on during “The Dark Ages”. The written word during 400-800 AD came from educated citizens of the Roman Empire and their recount could be judgmental. Many historians are led to believe that Barbarians destroyed Roman and everyone suffered from acts of violence, a mass migration, disease, starvation, and this was the way of life for hundreds of years. But Peter Wells goes beyond the information in the written accounts and looks at the actual archaeological evidence. He uses this information to help visualize life that went on during this period of time that will prove that the Dark Ages was anything but dark.
Some of the archaeological evidence Wells got his information was from settlement ruins, burial and sacrificial finds. The items that were found reveal to us that these people were getting on with their lives and adapting. These people create great works of art, developed expansive trade networks, lived mostly peaceful lives, and even invented the deep plow. Wells also used bodies that have been recovered. These bodies show that, in life, they seem to be well fed, and it gives us an idea of the average height of males and females. The condition of their teeth shows that they were in good health. Even the food residues show levels of nutrition consistent with small but healthy populations.
In several of the chapters Wells talks about the different cities that were a part of the Roman Emperor. With the Dark Ages people think of people migrating and having no place to live but archeological evidence shows that there were permanent settlements in Europe. In these chapters, Wells lays out evidence of the continuous occupation and the growth of these cities that were once a part of the Roman Emperor. The architecture of Rome, which is repeated