Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help. The term 'Dark Ages' now generally refers to dearth of written records available from the time period. If that doesnt work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see whats preventing the page from loading. Starting with The Last Kingdom, this is the excitingyet little knownstory of the making of England in the 9th and 10th centuries, the years in which King Alfred the Great, his son and grandson defeated the Danish Vikings who had. The Coppergate dig in York provides a key example of just how well wooden buildings can preserve. The Saxon Tales Collection includes: The Last Kingdom, The Pale Horseman, Lords of the North, and Sword Song. Dendrochronology is a key method employed by archaeologists to date Viking Age settlements that analyses the age of wood used in buildings to date settlements of the period. For the second season, Netflix co-produced the series.

It is a common misconception that this habit of building in wood coined the term 'Dark Ages' due to the lack of archaeological evidence left from the period. The series was developed for television by Stephen Butchard and premiered on 10 October 2015 on BBC Two. This is seen by the fact that most Saxons in London chose to build their wooden dwellings outside the Roman city's wall in the area that is now Westminster rather than occupy the stone buildings within the 'old' city.

There were Roman buildings surviving in Britain during the Saxon period but ordinary Saxons avoided them as they believed them haunted. Saxons built only in wood and thatch or wattle and daub 'mud huts' except for churches and some palaces - Alfred's palace is reputed to have been of stone with glazed windows as shown.

Many of the small buildings shown in the series are built of thatch and stone.

The last kingdom the pale horseman