Wells: Barbarians to Angels

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Peter S. Wells, Barbarians to Angels : The Dark Ages Reconsidered. New York : W.W. Norton, 2008. xv + 240 pages with appendix, sources and suggestions for further reading, index; illustrated.

This is a book well worth the trouble to find. The author, professor of anthropology at the University of Minnesota, takes us on a tour of recent archeological finds in an attempt to discover what life was like during the period often referred to as “The Dark Ages” (AD 400-800).

Until modern technology made many of these discoveries possible, we were dependent almost completely on written records of the “civilized” world, i.e., educated citizens of the Roman Empire, whose testimony seems a bit biased, to say the least.

By analyzing recent finds, Professor Wells gives us a much clearer picture of “barbarian” life within the borders and on the fringes of the Roman world.

The writing is not overly technical, but gives enough information for a non-specialist. The presentation is always clear and accurate. The stories of various historical figures and archeological finds are interesting and well presented.

Wells explains the various technologies used to analyze the evidence and concludes that, despite some changes in life and life-style, those we used to think of as the “barbarian hordes” were in fact well educated, politically astute, economically aware people who, unfortunately, did not have a strong written tradition to pass along their culture to future generations.

I recommend this book highly especially for its readable style and historical content.

-- Notes by SJB