A Great American Scholar of the Royal Navy? The Disputed Legacy of Arthur Marder Revisited

This article examines the scholarly reputation of the late Professor Arthur J. Marder. Once universally acclaimed as the doyen of historians of the Royal Navy in the First World War era, in recent times his work has come in for sustained criticism from a small group of revisionist historians, who not only dispute his conclusions, but argue that his entire methodology and approach were fundamentally flawed. This article assesses the specific charges of inadequate scholarship levelled against Marder by these revisionist historians and concludes that, while aspects of Marder's analysis may well be open to dispute, there are no grounds for attacking his scholarly integrity. On the contrary, he thoroughly deserves his reputation as a pioneering and painstaking scholar.     

Who Lived in Mauermanshoek Shelter, Korannaberg, South Africa?

Mauermanshoek Shelter, in the Korannaberg of the eastern Free State, has traditional San hunter–gatherer rock art together with white finger-painted horsemen of uncertain authorship. The excavated material dates to between 3500 bp and approximately 200 bp. The lithic assemblages show little change throughout, but ceramics, glass beads, and domesticated animal remains appear in the uppermost levels. The issue of most interest is that of the shelter's occupancy in the last few hundred years. Historical records show that the ethnic composition of the eastern Free State was complex during this time and that there were both aggressive and cooperative interactions between the various groups. Kora pastoralists were notorious stock raiders and the secure identification of other people on the landscape was complicated by a tendency for early writers to call all raiders Kora. A combination of archaeological and historical evidence suggests that San occupied the shelter for most of its history but that Kora herders may have been responsible for the finger-painted horsemen somewhere between 1837 and 1851 when a Wesleyan Mission Station, Merumetsu, served the Kora of Korannaberg.La grotte de Mauermanshoek, située dans le Korannaberg, à l'est de la province du Free State, contient des peintres rupestres de tradition San, réalisées par des chasseurs/bergers, ainsi que des cavaliers blancs, peint avec le doigt, d'une origine incertaine. Le matériel qu'on a trouvé dans les fouilles daté d'une période entre 3500 bp et approximativement 200 bp. L'industrie lithique est très homogène sur l'ensemble du site, mais des céramiques, des perles de verre et des restes d'animaux domestiques sont présents aux niveaux supérieurs. L'occupation de l'abri pendant les quelques centaines d'années passées est d'un inérêt tout particulier. Selon les archives historiques, la composition ethnique de la partie est du Free State était, à l'époque, complexe et il y avait les interactions à la fois agressifs et coopératifs entre les groupes différents. Les pasteurs Kora sont bien connus pour leur réputation d'attaquer les troupeaux mais l'identification certaine des autres peuplades est compliquée par le fait que les premiers écrivains rapportaient tous les aggresseurs comme des Kora. Une combinaison d'indices archeologiques et historiques suggère que les San occupèrent cette grotte pour la plus grande partie de son histoire mais que des bergers Kora pourraient être à l'origine des cavaliers peints avec le doigt, probablement entre 1837–1851, la période durant laquelle une mission Wesleyan servait le Kora de la région du Korannaberg.     

Examining the effect of occupational structure on social mobility – an investigation of A Black Country village 1851–1901

This article continues research into social mobility in England in the nineteenth century by examining the links with different occupational structures, socio-economic and industry/occupation, for a specific location. This allows an examination of the impact of the characteristics of these structures on occupational and thence on social mobility. Occupational mobility has long been recognised as a major determinant of social mobility and has been the subject of a number of papers, usually to determine how much a specific variable affects the level and type of mobility observed. Rarely do these analyses consider the location’s occupational structure, and its changes, as a determinant of the level of mobility. This paper finds that much of the variability of occupational mobility of a locality is determined by the characteristics of the different industries and occupations in that location. Industries and occupations provide a context within which other factors, such as literacy, operate.     

《河南通史》评议

《河南通史》是河南省“八五”社会科学规划重点项目成果,填补了河南地区没有地方通史的空白。该书在研究特色上有自己的特点和优长之处,也有较高的学术价值。主要表现在:既在全国整体中写河南,又注意突出河南地方特色;注重中国古代历史上的一些重大问题的研究;资料翔实,既广泛运用典型的正史资料,又充分使用方志资料,并重视使用考古资料,实现了考古与文献资料的结合;注意吸收学术界的最新成果,观点多有创新。不足之处是,某些观点还有可商榷之处,各卷之间的布局不够均衡,某些部分显得单薄。     

RECENT ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE IN THE SOUTHWESTERN CANADIAN PLAINS

This paper examines 20th-century environmental change in the subhumid southwestern Canadian Plains, specifically in relation to the dominant agricultural landscape and to the climate of the past millennium as reconstructed from proxy data. Anthropogenic landscape change in the last century has been dominated by the conversion of grasslands to ranchland and cropland. This has heightened landscape vulnerability to climatic fluctuations, especially drought. Instrumental climate records, extending back to the 1880s, highlight the variability of precipitation in this region. Proxy environmental records, derived from lake cores and tree-ring analysis, extend this picture into the last millennium and show that drought has been a recurring theme of the Prairie climate. Tree-ring records suggest that some droughts in the last millennium may have exceeded in severity any in the instrumental record. The sustainability of Prairie agriculture depends on adaptation to the amplitudes of climatic change and variability evident in these proxy records. Dans cet article nous examinons les changements environnementaux qui sont survenus pendant le 20^ème siècle dans les plaines canadiennes sèches du sud-ouest, spécifiquement par rapport au paysage agricole dominant et au climat du dernier millénaire qui a été déterminéà partir de données de procuration. La transformation des prairies en ranchland et cropland est le changement du paysage le plus important dont l'homme est responsable, pour le dernier siècle. À cause de ce changement, le paysage est plus vulnérable aux fluctuations climatiques - à la sécheresse en particulier. Les enregistrements instrumentaux de climat, qui reculent jusqu'aux années 1880, mettent en évidence la variabilité des précipitations dans cette région. Les enregistrements environnementaux de procuration, dérivés d'échantillons pris dans les lacs et de la dendroanalyse, étendent cette image dans le dernier millénaire et prouvent que le thème de la sécheresse est apparu souvent dans les analyses du climat du prairie. Les enregistrements de boucles d'arbre suggèrent que, dans le dernier millénaire il y avait des sécheresses qui étaient peut-être si sévères que les instruments n'ont pas pu les enregistrer. Si l'agriculture veut survivre comme entreprise dans les prairies, il faudra qu'elle s'adapte aux amplitudes de changement et de variabilité du climat qui ont été constatées dans les données de procuration.     

INTIMATE (Integration of Ice-core,Marine and Terrestrial Records) 20 Years on: Retrospect and Prospect

The INTIMATE (Integration of ice-core, marine and terrestrial records) project, the successor to the North Atlantic Seaboard Programme of International Geological Correlation Programme (IGCP-253) ‘Termination of the Pleistocene’, began in 1995 with the aim of integrating proxy climate records from around the North Atlantic during the Last Termination (18–8?ka BP). The INTIMATE remit has since expanded geographically to include the entire Atlantic basin and Australasia, while an extended temporal framework now covers the early Holocene and the Last Glacial cycle. This short paper outlines the principal achievements of the INTIMATE research community, which include the development of an event stratigraphy for the North Atlantic region; the establishment of protocols for ice–land–ocean correlation; important contributions to geochronology, most notably to tephrochronology, and to palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic reconstructions; and the designation of the Greenland ice-core record as the global stratotype for the Pleistocene–Holocene boundary. Future directions of the INTIMATE programme are also briefly considered.     

乌尔第三王朝温马地区法庭判案文件译注与简析

乌尔第三王朝时期的法庭判案文件,苏美尔语称为"di-til-la",意为"最终裁决".吉尔苏出土文献最多,在温马也出土了少数泥板,基本上属于财产争诉案件.与吉尔苏的相比,温马的法庭判案文件有自己的特点.本文根据出土于温马地区的20块判案泥板文书,探讨了乌尔第三王朝时期温马地区的民法案例以及涉及的经济和社会制度.     

The Epilogue in the Book of Qohelet

Abstract

Various objective reasons have led to the development of a vast and elaborate literature on the Epilogue in the Book of Qohelet. This study presents a Sitz im Leben based approach to the Epilogue, which capitalizes on the known historical reality during the Hellenistic period in which Qohelet lived. It views the Epilogue as an expression of Qohelet’s deep apprehensions of the challenges that faced his people. From this perspective it is natural to consider Qohelet as being the author of the Epilogue. The Epilogue is not about what he says in the book but what he has to say to his people. As a wise man concerned with the welfare of his people he urges them: keep records, though it is wearisome; be aware that secrets would be leaked; fear God; and, obey His commandments. These are his essentials for survival.     

Thoughts on new approaches to combining the archaeological and historical records

For decades, archaeologists have looked for an appropriate means to integrate archaeological findings with the textual record. Often, in the past, the written word has been privileged over material remains. In this summary, which draws in part from the individual papers in this special issue, a new, more balanced approach that gives increased weight and greater independence to archaeological data is proposed. A series of implications and suggestions for current theoretical development in archaeology are advanced.     

Suffering another’s sin: proxy penance in the thirteenth century

Proxy penance – where one person completed penance for another person, who received the benefit – had a long history in medieval Europe, despite the lack of scholarly interest in the subject. This article examines one moment in this long history when proxy penance was debated by theologians and practised by individuals at the same time. By juxtaposing two discourses – the theoretical and the practical – a comprehensive image of proxy penance is stitched together. Particular attention is paid not only to the historical contexts out of which proxy penance emanated but also to the specific ways that individuals and groups experienced proxy activity. This research broadens the scholarly conversation about medieval penance, situates female spirituality in a new framework and places proxy penance within the context of larger theological and social innovations.