The Study of Time: Proceedings of the First and Second Conferences of the International Society for the Study of Time

Abstract

In the past, the nobility of science was taken for granted, and it was universally venerated. Today many scienti!, ts are depressed by the morally doubtful applications of science: the high ideals of science should prevent the application of science to weapons research. In comparing science and religion, the moral dimensions of science are stress, ed and their extension is urged. In this way the world can be saved from war and the dignity and nobility of science can be restored.     

The Social Context of Settlement in Norway in the First Millennium AD

The Viking Age was an important watershed in European history, characterized by the centralization of authority, the adoption of Christian ideology, the growth of market trade, the intensification of production and the development of urbanism. Together, these phenomena mark the beginning of Scandinavian state formation. However, the dates at which each occurred - and the unequal rates at which different state attributes were adopted in 'cores' and 'peripheries' - remain to be fully explored and explained. These issues can be illuminated by world-systems theory and brought into focus by studying the date at which key aspects of the Viking Age were adopted in a Scandinavian periphery - the Norse Earldom of Orkney and Caithness, northern Scotland. The present study questions not only why peripheries change, but why they do not change, or change more slowly than neighbouring cores.