Likewise, there was in fact a "Dark Age" between antiquity and the Renaissance. It's the period between the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the high Middle Ages proper, around 500-900 (whereas the high Middle Ages are more 1000-1400). This Dark Age is marked by the collapse of population centers, long-distance trade, economic activity and standards of living in general, just like after the Bronze Age Collapse. And neither of these have much to do with the Europe of the High Middle Ages, which was a thriving civilization with plenty of surplus and thus effort to spare on science, the arts, etc. (albeit not yet as rich as classical civilization).