Comments on relations West Norway ‐ Western Europe documented in petroglyphs

Dendrochronologic calibration of radiocarbon dates, which is of vital importance when such dates are compared with historical records, is discussed.

The nature and causes of variations in the past atmospheric radiocarbon content are briefly described. Different calibration curves are compared with available high‐precision data on radiocarbon in tree rings, and also with preliminary results from the joint efforts of U.S. scientists to establish an optimal calibration scheme.     

Reply to the comments on Rock Carvings in Østfold

Thorleif Sj?vold: Åse‐anlegget på And?ya. Et nord‐norsk tun‐anlegg fra jernalderen. (The Åse‐complex on And?ya. An Iron Age House‐Site Complex in North Norway). Acta Borealia. B. Humaniora, No. 12. Universitetsforlaget, Troms?/Oslo/Bergen 1971. 34 pp. 14 figs     

Jewish-Christian relations in Europe, 840–1096

The Jews of Europe enjoyed a period of efflorescence and stability under the Carolingians; a century and a half later they were massacred during the First Crusade. Historians have explained the transition from tranquillity to massacre by positing that a series of events during the intervening period heralded a downturn in the political fortunes of the Jews, as well as rising anti-Jewish agitation among Christians. This study closely analyses the supposed signposts of destruction and demonstrates that the evidence does not support the notion of adumbration.     

East is East,and West is West? Currency iconography as nation-branding in the wider Europe

This article considers European banknote iconography as an indicator of national branding choices from the early twentieth century up to the present. Systematic quantitative content analysis demonstrates that the values and ontologies expressed on Central/East European banknotes have historically tracked closely with the trends visible on their West European counterparts. This pattern is evident not just since the end of the Cold War, but indeed right from the founding of the modern Central/East European states about a century ago. Even during the Cold War, it did not take long for the trends on Western banknotes to appear on Central/East European banknotes as well. Thus, contrary to the conventional assumption of a deep-rooted normative gulf separating the national identity discourses of so-called “New” and “Old” Europe, the article underscores the fact of intense, longstanding normative cross-pollination between them.     

All Paths Leading to Beijing? Western Europe and Détente in East Asia, 1969–72

The early 1970s not only saw a radical improvement of Sino–US relations but also of ties between Beijing and Western Europe. This rapprochement was in many ways closely related to the parallel process of détente between NATO countries and the Eastern Bloc. This article looks at the European dimension of the Chinese opening between 1969 and 1972 and shows how Great Britain, France, and the Federal Republic of Germany had to overcome specific national challenges in order to pierce the bamboo curtain and re-establish Western Europe's political presence in Asia.     

Europe as a nation? Intellectuals and debate on Europe in the inter-war period

In 1933, a number of European intellectuals among whom Paul Valéry, Johan Huizinga, Julien Benda, Hermann von Keyserling, met in Madrid and in Paris to discuss the identity and history of Europe under the initiative of the International Institute of Intellectual Cooperation of the League of Nations. During the symposia, the participants try to define a common European narrative beyond national differences, and some of them evoke the idea of a European ‘homeland’ or ‘nation’, as already advocated in those years by Gaston Riou (Europe ma patrie, 1928) and Julien Benda (Discours à la nation européenne, 1933). Salvador de Madariaga for example calls for a ‘European nationalism’; Georges Duhamel presents ‘Mother Europe’ as an opposing force to growing patriotism; Julio Dantas hopes for a ‘européenité’ as opposed to the individual ‘national’ feelings. What is the reason for insisting so repeatedly on those concepts, when trying to overcome the dangers of nationalism? This paper analyses the different formulations adopted by the participants in the symposiums to describe their idea of a European ‘nation/homeland’, and tries to identify the specific aspects and historical implications of these concepts.