II.B. Historical background of this initiative
This proposal is the result of an initiative taken by Christian Meyer (C.N.R.S., Paris) along with Christoph-Hellmut Mahling (Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz) in 1992. From the outset this initiative received the active support of Dr. Gérard Darmon, Scientific Secretary of the European Science Foundation. During its meeting in Strasbourg on 10-11 February 1994, the Standing Committee for the Humanities (HUM (formerly SCH)) agreed to organise a workshop to examine a concrete proposal. This first exploratory workshop was held in Strasbourg on 20-21 October 1994 under the chairmanship of Gérard Darmon.
A second exploratory workshop was held in Mainz-Finthen from 28 to 30 March 1996, at which the final division into working groups took place. This was followed by a meeting of the team leaders in Mainz on 6 December 1996.
