Radiocarbon dates and the Late Quaternary palaeogeography of the Province of the Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Authors: Lewis, Colin A
- Date: 2002
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6693 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006728
- Description: A total of 193 dates are listed from the Eastern Cape. Middle Stone Age hunter-gatherers existed in the Drakensberg prior to the rigours of cold climatic conditions after ca. 22,000 BP. These uplands were reoccupied under more favourable climatic conditions after ca. 12,600 BP but were apparently abandoned between ca. 6000 BP and 3000 BP. Hunter-gatherer occupation throughout the Holocene is indicated at lower altitudes, with in-migration of pastoralists ca. 1800 BP in the Fish River area, and with Iron Age farmers entering coastal districts and adjacent river valleys from ca. 1400 BP. Sand dunes accumulated in the Holocene adjacent to the Indian Ocean. Flood plain development in the early Holocene was succeeded by incision of rivers in the later Holocene. Flood plain deposition began again in the Southern Drakensberg ca. 1000 BP. Palynological studies evidence marked climatic oscillations around the Late Glacial/Holocene boundary, with apparent stability at high altitude subsequent to 2700 BP.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2002
- Authors: Lewis, Colin A
- Date: 2002
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6693 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006728
- Description: A total of 193 dates are listed from the Eastern Cape. Middle Stone Age hunter-gatherers existed in the Drakensberg prior to the rigours of cold climatic conditions after ca. 22,000 BP. These uplands were reoccupied under more favourable climatic conditions after ca. 12,600 BP but were apparently abandoned between ca. 6000 BP and 3000 BP. Hunter-gatherer occupation throughout the Holocene is indicated at lower altitudes, with in-migration of pastoralists ca. 1800 BP in the Fish River area, and with Iron Age farmers entering coastal districts and adjacent river valleys from ca. 1400 BP. Sand dunes accumulated in the Holocene adjacent to the Indian Ocean. Flood plain development in the early Holocene was succeeded by incision of rivers in the later Holocene. Flood plain deposition began again in the Southern Drakensberg ca. 1000 BP. Palynological studies evidence marked climatic oscillations around the Late Glacial/Holocene boundary, with apparent stability at high altitude subsequent to 2700 BP.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2002
South Africa's `Rainbow People', national pride and optimism: a trend study
- Authors: Dickow, H , Moller, Valerie
- Date: 2002
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:7114 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1010747
- Description: Since the first democratic elections of 1994, South Africans are popularly known as the ‘rainbow people'. The paper reports the acceptance of the rainbow as political symbol of unity among the diverse people of South Africa at three times: Immediately after the 1994 elections, two years later in 1996, and five years later in 1999 after the second general elections. The database for the study are responses to items placed with a syndicated national survey conducted countrywide. The public discourse on the rainbow is reviewed through personal interviews with a panel of 25 elites contacted in the run-up to the second general elections. The researchers revisit conclusions based on the earlier results (Møller, Dickow and Harris, 1999). The third round of research finds that the appeal of the rainbow as political symbol has waned but is still inclusive of all groups in society. Projections of national pride have shifted from the rainbow as symbol of unity and reconciliation to other icons of achievement such as the Reconstruction and Development Programme and prowess in sport. Support for the political symbolism of the rainbow is positively associated with happiness, life satisfaction and optimism. Lack of a focus of national pride is associated with pessimism. Results support the conclusion reached earlier that belief in the `rainbow nation' ideal boosts optimism and promotes happiness during South Africa's transition to a stable democracy, thereby preventing alienation among the losers under the new political dispensation. Linkages between acceptance of the rainbow symbol, subjective well-being and optimism are discussed in the light of the socio-political changes which have taken place in South Africa since democracy.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2002
- Authors: Dickow, H , Moller, Valerie
- Date: 2002
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:7114 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1010747
- Description: Since the first democratic elections of 1994, South Africans are popularly known as the ‘rainbow people'. The paper reports the acceptance of the rainbow as political symbol of unity among the diverse people of South Africa at three times: Immediately after the 1994 elections, two years later in 1996, and five years later in 1999 after the second general elections. The database for the study are responses to items placed with a syndicated national survey conducted countrywide. The public discourse on the rainbow is reviewed through personal interviews with a panel of 25 elites contacted in the run-up to the second general elections. The researchers revisit conclusions based on the earlier results (Møller, Dickow and Harris, 1999). The third round of research finds that the appeal of the rainbow as political symbol has waned but is still inclusive of all groups in society. Projections of national pride have shifted from the rainbow as symbol of unity and reconciliation to other icons of achievement such as the Reconstruction and Development Programme and prowess in sport. Support for the political symbolism of the rainbow is positively associated with happiness, life satisfaction and optimism. Lack of a focus of national pride is associated with pessimism. Results support the conclusion reached earlier that belief in the `rainbow nation' ideal boosts optimism and promotes happiness during South Africa's transition to a stable democracy, thereby preventing alienation among the losers under the new political dispensation. Linkages between acceptance of the rainbow symbol, subjective well-being and optimism are discussed in the light of the socio-political changes which have taken place in South Africa since democracy.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2002
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