Um, is it me or is has this section never been here before? Anyway, I subtly remember from my course in geography about Catal Huyuk (and nomadic cultures before). Why does life in Catal Huyuk seem so peacefully primitive and serine while the Dark Ages (which one would think to be much more advanced) seemed to have such a dark shroud of gloom over life? Am I just not seeing it right or do you think life was relatively worse? If so, why? Because the way I see it would mean overall quality of life decreased as European civilization advanced into the dark early stages of the Middle Ages.