@blacklight @Kye Early eyeglasses existed in the thirteenth century and the modern printing press in the early fifteenth (Gutenberg died in 1468)

Additionally, the idea of a "dark ages" is extremely Western-centric idea, particularly ignoring the contributions of the Islamic golden age (8th to 13th centuries) which brought us the astrolabe, windmills, solid soap, manufactured glass, kerosene lamps, water clocks, pinhole cameras, various gears and valves, the entire basis of algebra, and much of the basis for modern chemistry.