“Britain's Spiritual Life: How Can It Be Deepened?”: Seebohm Rowntree,Russell Lavers,and the “Crisis of Belief”, ca. 1946–54

This article examines the response of two social investigators in the early post-World War II period to the apparent secularization of British society. It explains how an unpublished survey that the two men carried out, along with the work of other Christian and non-Christian commentators in this period, expressed the hope that religious influences would be strengthened through secular institutions, including communal organizations, workplaces, and the military. A revival of Christian belief, in some form, was seen as a bulwark against communism in the context of the Cold War in which the Soviet regime was seen to present a threat to the "Christian civilization" of the West. The "spiritual life of the nation" was synonymous with the "national character," and for the information and opinion on which their study was based, Seebohm Rowntree and Russell Lavers turned to those who they believed were in a position to influence the "national character."     

The dynamics of mangrove ecosystems,changes in sea level and the strategies of Neolithic settlements along the coast of Oman (6000–3000 cal. BC)

This paper focus on the Holocene palaeogeography of the Ja'alan coast from the 6th to the 4th millennium cal. BC, integrating the dynamics of mangroves, lagoons, khors-estuaries and deltas, with sea-level change and the evidence from Neolithic shell middens. The distribution and maturation of mangrove ecosystems along the Arabian coasts has varied considerably, affected by physical forces such as sea-level changes, climate, tidal amplitude and duration as well as the quantity of fresh water inflow associated with the monsoon systems along the Arabian coast. Palaeo-mangroves and lagoons, today replaced by large sabkhas, appear to be correlated to mid-Holocene fossil deltas and estuaries that currently function episodically, depending on the rhythm of winter rains. All these parameters have determined and impacted the location of settlement networks and the economic strategies of the first Arabian farmers along the eastern Arabian coast. The mid-Holocene sea-level highstand stability (5th millennium BC) can be considered to be an optimum period for mangrove development and can be correlated with Neolithic sites around the mangroves. The decline of mangroves since 3000/2500 cal. BC and further degradation is mainly attributed to the prevailing arid climate that reduced summer monsoon effects in the tropical area by favouring the extension of sabkhas. We discuss these aspects based on new archaeological surveys, excavations and geoarchaeological studies.     

A long‐wave event. HIV/AIDS,politics, governance and ‘security’: sundering the intergenerational bond?

There is a disharmonious resonance between the lifecycle of the human immunodeficiency virus and that of its human host. In heavily affected countries, many people live long enough to reproduce and then die, leaving behind numerous orphans. This process has implications that we do not understand. While some foresee social disorder arising from legions of poorly socialized and unruly children grown to adulthood, the evidence is far from clear. These arguments and the evidence are reviewed in this article, particularly in relation to the links between premature death and electoral processes in southern Africa.     

Comments on M. Kuhle and S. Kuhle (2012): ‘Hannibal Gone Astray? A Critical Comment on W. C. Mahaney et al., “The Traversette (Italia) Rockfall: Geomorphological Indicator of the Hannibalic Invasion Route” (Archaeometry, 52, 1 [2010] 156–72)’

The title of Kuhle and Kuhle's (2012) (hereafter K&K 2012) paper in Archaeometry appears to be mostly a tirade against the Traversette Route of Hannibal's Army, as originally favoured by Sir Gavin de Beer—a man possessed of singular scientific experience and near‐singular interest in Carthaginian history—in the mid‐part of the last century. The mere fact that Mahaney et al. (2010a,c) added to de Beer's corpus of evidence that Hannibal followed the southern route appears to have brought K&K (2012) to lodge not only a protest, but one of accusatory tone, stating that Mahaney et al. (2010c) had erroneously misinterpreted historical texts to prove the Col de la Traversette as the Punic Army col of passage into Italia. Aside from the fact that the tone of these allegations rises to a curious level, it is the intention of this discussion to put facts where they belong, rooted in what is known of the Hannibalic Invasion and what is inferred by the prevailing scientific evidence. It is important to note that there is not one preferred route as stated by K&K (2012), but three in fact (see Fig. 1 (a) in Mahaney et al. 2010c), and all have been discussed by a legion of historians (see, e.g., Freshfield 1886, 1899; de Beer 1969; Proctor 1971; Prevas 1998; Mahaney 2008).     

Do nationalist parties shape or follow sub‐national identities? A panel analysis on the rise of the nationalist party in the Flemish Region of Belgium, 2006–11

In this article, we examine the steep and unprecedented rise of the New Flemish Alliance (N‐VA), a Flemish nationalist party in Belgium that succeeded in gaining almost thirty per cent of the vote in a couple of years. During this period, a panel survey among 3,025 late adolescents and young adults was conducted. Our analyses suggest that support for a sub‐nationalist ideology is far more successful in explaining a subsequent vote for the nationalist party than vice versa. In terms of supply and demand mechanisms, we find that N‐VA has managed to address a preexisting reservoir of Flemish nationalist voters (demand), rather than attributing to a development of a stronger Flemish identity among its followers (supply). We should therefore not overestimate the constructionist power of (sub‐)nationalist political elites for the development of (sub‐)nationalist identities.     

HANNIBAL GONE ASTRAY? A CRITICAL COMMENT ON W. C. MAHANEY ET AL.: ‘THE TRAVERSETTE (ITALIA) ROCKFALL: GEOMORPHOLOGICAL INDICATOR OF THE HANNIBALIC INVASION ROUTE’ (ARCHAEOMETRY, 52, 1 [2010] 156–72)

For a long time now, historians have considered the way across the Col de Clapier as the most likely invasion route of Hannibal's army across the Alps. Mahaney et al. challenge this view by introducing a two‐tier rockfall into the discussion, which they believe is mentioned in the ancient texts and has gone unnoticed by modern scholars. Since a deposit of this kind can only be found at the Col de la Traversette—and there alone—Hannibal's crossing of the Alps, so they reason, must have followed this alternative route. However, a critical reassessment of the ancient texts and a closer look at the geomorphological situation clearly show that this interpretation is unwarranted.