Extant Sources Research Articles

The Religion of the Ammonites: A Specimen of Levantine Religion from the Iron Age II (ca. 1000–500 BCE)

In the Iron Age II (ca. 1000–500 BCE), the region around Amman, Jordan, was home to a sociopolitical group known as the Ammonites (literally, “the sons of Ammon”). This paper investigates the religious traditions of the Ammonites through an analysis of the extant archaeological and textual sources. The analysis leads to the conclusion that the religious tradition of the Ammonites is a specimen of the broader religious tradition of the Iron Age II Levant. One distinguishing feature of Ammonite religion is the state god Milkom, whose name is probably an epithet for the god ʾEl, and who appears to be represented in a tradition of stone sculptures that have been found in the vicinity of Amman. The rest of the non-physical realm was understood to be inhabited by gods, goddesses, a variety of other non-human beings, and dead ancestors. Also visible in the extant evidence is a blending of local and foreign elements, especially those from Mesopotamia. Unique in this respect is the probable temple to the moon-god at Rujm al-Kursi, which most likely reflects a local tradition of lunar worship influenced by the iconography of the Mesopotamian moon-god Sîn.

Algunas consideraciones sobre la música para conjuntos instrumentales en el siglo VXII español

Este artículo trata de poner al día algunas hipótesis y evidencias sobre la composición y ejecución de música instrumental en España durante el siglo XVII, basándose tanto en testimonios escritos de diversa índole como en las propias fuentes musicales existentes. El establecimiento de paralelismos entre las tradiciones musicales eclesiásticas, civiles y teatrales conduce a una equiparación de géneros afines, y trae consecuencias de interés en lo tocante a la práctica musical.

Demographic Statistics among Pashtuns in Early Modern Period

The article explores rare specimens of demographic statistics extracted from the seventeenth century works in Pashto and Persian which were composed in the Pashtun tribal territories. The study’s major source is the collection of historical accounts and genealogical records written by the Khaṫak tribal rulers Khushḥāl Khān (d. 1689) and his grandson Afzal Khān (d. circa 1740/41). These writings have survived in “The Khaṫaks’ Chronicle” — the archive of the Khaṫak chieftains included by Afzal Khān as a supplement into his historiographical compilation “The Ornamented History” (Tārīkh-i muraṣṣaʿ). Other sources are the poetical works of Khushḥāl Khān and the book in Persian by the theologian Akhūnd Darweza (d. 1618/19 or 1638/39) “An Account of Pious and Wicked” (Taẕkirat al-abrār wa-l-ashrār) which contains a report on the census conducted in the Yūsufzay tribe in the second quarter of the sixteenth century. The researched material includes data on the number of people in particular tribal units, birth dynamics, infant mortality and external negative factors, such as epidemics and natural disasters, that continuously affected demographic situation. The extant sources also shed light on family and matrimonial relations among Pashtuns in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The facts examined in the article indicate that Pashtun tribal rulers were well familiar with the basics of practical demography which they needed to monitor the number of tribesmen while accomplishing specific administrative, military and economic tasks. The demographic notes left by the Khaṫak chieftains are to be considered among the most unique documents on the history and the culture of Pashtun tribes in early modern times.

Women, Rites, and Ritual Objects in Premodern Japan ed. by Karen M. Gerhart

Reviewed by: Women, Rites, and Ritual Objects in Premodern Japan ed. by Karen M. Gerhart Yui Suzuki Women, Rites, and Ritual Objects in Premodern Japan. Edited by Karen M. Gerhart. Leiden: Brill, 2018. 412 pages. Hardcover, €132.00/ $159.00. It is the twenty-first century, and we are reminded time and again that women's voices continue to be silenced, erased, and ignored (as I write this in late 2018, Christine Blasey Ford and her allegations against Brett Kavanaugh prior to his confirmation as a US Supreme Court justice come immediately to mind). In the notably thoughtful preface of the volume under review, Barbara Ruch, citing Mary Beard, relates that in the ancient Western World rapists cut out the tongues of their victims to silence them, while in today's world "we have … 'more civilized' non-disclosure clauses and bank checks to achieve the muting effect" (p. x). Ruch sees here a parallel with the Japanese case, where today as much as in the premodern period covered by this book, women are not always taken seriously. Women, Rites, and Ritual Objects in Premodern Japan, edited by Karen M. Gerhart, is a welcome contribution of ten scholarly essays that fill a deep lacuna in Japanese studies by restoring some of the ignored, forgotten, or deliberately suppressed voices and lives of women in premodern Japan. The book's three themes—women, rites, and ritual objects—have always been of great interest to Gerhart. In editing the volume, she took care to ensure that it addressed larger cultural concerns "such as gender politics, the female body, class, and materiality" (p. 1). As a multidisciplinary examination of rituals and their objects—in this case featuring women and female deities—the current book follows a trajectory established with the publication of Gerhart's two earlier monographs, which interwove material culture studies, ritual studies, and art history.1 The book covers a historical span of roughly a millennium, from the eighth century to the end of the nineteenth century. Its ten essays, organized into four parts—"Rituals Related to Household and Childbirth" (with essays by Gerhart, Anna Andreeva, and Naoko Gunji); "Women and Buddhist Rituals and Icons" (Chari Pradel, Hank Glassman, and Sherry Fowler); "Buddhist Women and Death Memorials" (Patricia Fister and Monica Bethe); and "Female Patronage, Portraits, and Rituals" (Elizabeth Morrissey and Elizabeth Self)—all touch upon the issue of gender and female agency in Japanese art and ritual practice from one perspective or another. [End Page 85] One of the difficulties in uncovering what women were actually doing when it came to ritual activities is that most of the extant primary sources documenting rituals, such as court diaries, official histories, medical treatises, and Buddhist handbooks, were initiated and written by men. As explained in the book's introduction, even when women regularly documented their daily lives, the specifics were often left out. The essays demonstrate how the contributors overcame the challenge presented by a scarcity of written sources to illuminate the lives of women in premodern Japan, both as subjects and as objects of ritual activity. Two of the essays are notable for illuminating the role of elite women in the performance of ritual. First, in chapter 1, Gerhart examines the active participation of aristocratic Heian women in a complex set of yin-yang rituals known as shintaku ishi that were prescribed by yin-yang masters (onmyōji) when a household moved to a new residence. Meanwhile chapter 9, by Elizabeth Morrissey, analyzes two extant sources, the fourteenth-century illustrated handscroll Ishiyamadera engi e (Illustrated Legends of Ishiyamadera) and the eleventh-century text Eiga monogatari (A Tale of Flowering Fortunes), and proposes that Higashisanjō-in (962–1002), the tenth-century consort of Emperor En'yū (959–991; r. 969–984) and mother of Emperor Ichijō (980–1011; r. 986–1011), was one of the key female patrons of Ishiyamadera and an avid devotee of its main object of worship, a "secret icon" (hibutsu; a Buddhist image hidden from view) of Nyoirin Kannon (Sk. Cintamāṇicakra). By Higashisanjō-in's time, this important temple already had a well-established reputation among elite women as a miraculous site. Ishiyamadera's Nyoirin Kannon image was particularly...

"An Agitated and Anxious Society": Charleston and the Lowcountry in the era of Denmark Vesey

"An Agitated and Anxious Society":Charleston and the Lowcountry in the era of Denmark Vesey Lacy Ford (bio) Douglas R. Egerton and Robert L. Paquette, eds. The Denmark Vesey Affair: A Documentary History. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2017. xxv + 812 pp. $150.00. The editors of this lengthy volume have done the heavy lifting needed to compile all the known extant sources related to the Denmark Vesey insurrection scare in Charleston in 1822. Covering a broad geographic territory and several decades of chronology with careful attention to detail, the editors have brought both familiar and obscure sources together systematically and with insight. This volume will prove a boon to future studies of the Vesey scare and the scholars doing those studies will greatly appreciate the richness and convenience offered by this impressive volume. For this herculean labor, Paquette and Egerton deserve bountiful kudos for their efforts and for the considerable expertise they brought to this project. This compilation continues a period, now stretching toward two decades, of reinvigorated and sometimes contentious debate over the nature of the Vesey scare (and it is important to remember that it was just that: a scare). Both long and short-term views of the Vesey scare can tell us much about how both white and blacks (enslaved and free) viewed the institution of slavery both before and after the incident. For that reason, as well as many others, this massive compilation of sources provides a window into the world of the antebellum South that has intrigued scholars for many decades. What this collection cannot do—indeed it is doubtful that evidence will ever surface that will—is answer all the questions that have been debated for over a half century, and argued with renewed intensity during the past two decades, concerning the scope and intent of the rebellion allegedly simmering in Charleston in 1822. It appears that almost all whites in Charleston at the time of the scare, regardless of the nuances of their views on slavery or their political allegiances, believed that some sort of insurrection had been plotted, discovered, and forestalled. But whites disagreed sharply over the scope [End Page 36] and intent of the "conspiracy" afoot and the degree of danger it posed to the established society and commerce of the port city. Incumbent Governor Thomas Bennett, owner of Charleston's largest rice mill and former mayor (intendant) of the city, and his brother-in-law, U.S. Supreme Court Justice William Johnson, a Charlestonian and staunch Jeffersonian Republican, aggressively advanced a position, stated publicly by Bennett, that the public mind "was agitated by a variety of rumors, calculated to produce great excitement and alarm." The so-called Vesey court, a body that conducted much of the investigation, ran proceedings they called "trials." According to Bennett, the Vesey court later convicted and executed or banished many slave rebels, encouraged a "general impression … of a very extensive conspiracy," and "greatly magnified" the threat of what in reality was a very immature plot, which, "as soon as discovered … ceased to be dangerous." Bennett insisted that "the scheme has not been general nor alarmingly extensive."1 Bennett and Johnson's view, however, remained that of a small minority. A large majority of white Charlestonians embraced the view of the incumbent Charleston intendant James Hamilton and his allies on the Vesey court. Hamilton, a scion of the Lowcountry rice aristocracy, painted a dark picture of a bloodbath narrowly avoided by bold and timely action by city and state authorities, and of a relentless investigation that carefully and impartially followed every lead to its end. "There is nothing you are bad enough to do," Hamilton warned Charleston's enslaved majority and anyone else who sympathized with the alleged rebellion, "that we are not powerful enough to punish."2 The Court's official report concluded that the thwarted plot was wide-ranging, meticulously planned, and capable of much destruction and bloodshed. The Vesey conspiracy, the Court concluded, was a plot whose sophistication and scope justified the swift and severe actions of the Court. "By the timely discovery of the plot," the Report concluded, "South Carolina has been rescued from the most horrible catastrophe with which it...

Sophia Chambers, Founder of the Holiness Church: A Case Study of Victorian Entrepreneurial Religious Leadership

ABSTRACT The Holiness Church, founded by Sophia Chambers (1838–87), is one of the rare religious denominations in any country founded and led by a woman. The central primary source is the periodical created and edited by Chambers, the Holiness Advocate. The article argues that Sophia Chambers's leadership approach provides an additional exception to common scholarly conceptions of women's ministry, leadership, and gender roles of the late Victorian period. To make this argument, the extant sources for Sophia Chambers and the Holiness Church are provided, narratives of her life and of the history of the Holiness Church during her lifetime are reconstructed, and her theological framework is examined. At her death, she left the leadership in the hands of four of her male subordinates. The developments in the transition of power and their effect on the church are examined before reflecting on her approach to leadership. It demonstrates that the ‘two spheres’ paradigm is not adequate for understanding Chambers.

Horum iudex proprius erat praefectus fabrum. Vegezio e la praefectura fabrum

Vegetius and the praefectura fabrum The post of praefectus fabrum was granted by a magistrate cum imperio on the basis of trust, loyalty, and competence. In general, the appointees have been described as ‘senior officers on the staff’ of the appointing magistrates. However, little is known about the tasks attached to the post, even if the praefectura fabrum is well attested both in literary texts and inscriptions. The Epitoma rei militaris is the only extant source devoting a passage to the duties of the prefects of engineers. In spite of being a detailed description of the post, this passage has generally been dismissed – notably by H. Maue and B. Dobson – as untrustworthy or the Epitoma’s composition, the praefectura fabrum was no more than a relic, or a name in ancient texts and inscriptions. According to Vegetius, the prefect led the corps of technicians attached to the legions. Moreover, he was put in charge of siege machines and the supply of projectiles and other materials. Even if this description and what is known about the praefectura fabrum are not consistent, a re-examination of the passage and of the text as a whole is needed. In fact, the Epitoma reveals a deeper knowledge of the importance attached to the post than expected in such a late source. A focus on this text will offer some useful insights on the sources available to Vegetius, and to what they stated about the tasks attached to the praefectus itself. In addition to this, it will be possible to trace the duties of the post back to its origins and investigate on how the praefectura fabrum became the institutional and political office which we known from the available sources.

The Fifth Crusade and its Aftermath: Crusading in the Southeast of the Holy Roman Empire in the First Decades of the Thirteenth Century

The Fifth Crusade was a major event of the crusading movement in the southeast of the Holy Roman Empire, particularly in the eastern Alpine area, comprising the medieval territories of Austria, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, Friuli and Tyrol. The leading princes (the Babenbergs and Andechs-Meranians) and King Andrew II of neighbouring Hungary, with strong kinship ties, featured prominently in the first phase of this crusading enterprise in 1217–18. According to extant sources, the participation from here was the highest of all major crusades (80 confirmed crusaders). The aftermath of the Fifth Crusade and the problem of the unfulfilled crusading vow of Emperor Frederick II also generated a lively activity in the third decade of the thirteenth century. Six major princes from the southeast were actively involved in the diplomacy between the pope and the emperor and were credited with the conclusion of the final agreement at San Germano in 1230. The crusading fervor for the Holy Land rapidly faded after the emperor’s crusade of 1228–29 while new crusade fronts were gradually becoming popular. Prussia as a crusading goal first appears in the sources already in 1244; little-known crusading in Bosnia against the Cathar heresy is also attested, and fervent crusading activity was under way in 1241–42, when the Mongols threatened Austria. The article thus sheds light on crusading in a usually overlooked but nevertheless important area of the medieval Holy Roman Empire.

Fecha, modalidades y legado de la abdicación de la dictadura de Sila. Un estudio de la política siliana

Sulla’s paradoxical dictatura legibus scribundis et rei publicae constituendae has ever remained the subject of controversy, amongst both the ancients (on which see now comprehensively Eckert 2016) and modern Roman historians. One major issue that continues to divide scholarship is that of the tempus legitimum of his dictatorship and, in particular, the approximate time of his abdication, with proposed dates ranging from as early as mid-81 to the summer of 79. This chapter revisits this question and attempts a resolution of the matter by virtue of a careful reappraisal of the extant source material. As a result, this inquiry also casts a new light on the modalities of Sulla’s abdication, his rationale, and, last but not least, the ramifications for our understanding of the transition from the late triumviral to early Augustan era. Against the background of this study, a brief postscript revisits the timing and circumstances of the notorious execution of Q. Lucretius Ofella and considers the issue of Sulla’s professed and ulterior motives.

Who was Agrippinus?

AbstractIt is generally assumed that Agrippinus was one of the earliest known bishops of Carthage, if not the earliest. He probably presided over the first recorded council of bishops in North Africa around AD 220. It was presumably Agrippinus who opposed Tertullian when the latter attacked the church’s practice of forgiving sexual sins in his work De pudicitia. This article will first provide a historical overview of the development of what has become the commonly accepted image of Agrippinus, combining the hypotheses just mentioned, and will then re-examine the extant sources and popular arguments for the dating of his term of office. It will conclude that the sources do not support a dating of the first council in Carthage before AD 230. Furthermore, there is not much evidence in the available sources to substantiate the commonly held belief that Agrippinus was Tertullian’s episcopal opponent.

Sites of Controversy: Jews Debating Philosophy between Iberia and Occitania in the Fourteenth Century

Abstract The extant sources of the Maimonidean controversies demonstrate that medieval Jewish intellectual culture was sited in actual encounters and interactions. Such interactions often took place around the practices of writing, conveying, receiving, and discussing letters, social activities governed by communal norms. Whether in the course of collaborating with co-writers, seeking signatories in support of a proposition contained in the letter text, or congregating at an established meeting to discuss a newly arrived letter, those involved in the controversies were actively, socially engaged in addressing the problems raised by the incompatibility of the Greco-Islamic rationalist tradition with rabbinic principles. Through a careful examination of the rich letter collection Minḥat Qenaʾot from the Maimonidean controversy of 1304–1306, this paper details the modes of encounter among discussants in the acrimonious cultural debate.

Born on the Street

To describe maternal morbidity, birth outcomes, and neighborhood characteristics of urban women from a racially segregated city with the use of a geographic information system (GIS).Exploratory neighborhood-level study. Existing birth certificate data were linked and aggregated to neighborhood-level data for spatial analyses.Southern city in New Jersey.Women and their 7,858 live births that occurred between 2009 and 2013.Secondary analyses of extant sources were conducted. Maternal health and newborn birth outcomes were geocoded and then aggregated to the neighborhood level for further exploratory spatial analyses through our GIS database. An iterative process was used to generate meaningful visual representations of the data through maps of maternal and infant health in 19 neighborhoods.The racial and ethnic residential segregation and neighborhood patterns of associations of adverse birth outcomes with poverty and crime were illustrated in GIS maps. In 43% of the births, women had a documented medical risk. Significantly more preterm births occurred for Black women (p < .01) and women older than 35 years of age (p = .01). The rate of diabetes was greater in Hispanic women, and the rate of pregnancy-related hypertensive disorders was greater in Black women.Data-driven maps can provide clear evidence of maternal and infant health and health needs based on the neighborhoods where mothers live. This research is important so that maternity care providers can understand contextual factors that affect mothers in their communities and guide the design of interventions.

Queli monasteries: from the West to the East

ABSTRACTAccording to extant sources, there are three Queli 雀離 monasteries recorded in Chinese documents. The first was located in ancient Gandhāra (now Peshāwār), the second at the Subash Site 蘇巴什 in Kucha 庫車, and the third in Yecheng City 鄴城 of the Northern Qi Dynasty (now Linzhang, Hebei). Because the same name exists in three places, the author is inclined to combine related documents with archaeological remains of these sites. As a result, I establish an evolutionary model of stūpa structures and the layout of the monastery complex as Buddhism spread from West to East.

The Early Modern Invention of Late Antique Rome: How Historiography Helped Create the Crypt of the Popes

Abstract:At some point in late antiquity, most scholars believe, Christians reversed the powerful valence of death pollution and considered corpses and bones to be sacred. The rise of the ‘Cult of the Saints’ or ‘cult of relics’ is widely accepted as a curious social phenomenon that characterized late antiquity. This paper argues that although present elsewhere in the late Roman Empire, no such ‘corporeal turn’ happened in Rome. The prevailing assumption that it did – fostered by the apologetic concerns of early modern Catholic historiography – has led us to gloss over important evidence to the contrary, to read our own assumptions into our extant textual, material, and archaeological sources. As a ‘case study’, this paper considers the so-called ‘Crypt of the Popes’ in the catacombs of Callixtus, which is universally presented unproblematically as an authentic burial chamber attesting to an age of persecution and the strength of Catholic apostolic succession. This paper argues, by contrast, that the chamber is not what it seems; it is, rather, a case of early modern historiographical artifice masquerading as late antique Roman Christianity.

Inclusion in the United States: correlations between key state variables

ABSTRACTThe United States (U.S.) Department of Education reports that the range for all students with disabilities included for at least 80% of the day in the general education classroom in different states is between 83.6% and 36.9%. Such a range also exists for individual disability groups. While other studies have noted these differences, none have attempted to determine factors associated with them. In the present study, using the 50 states as subjects, extant data sources were used to determine correlations between the percent of three groups of students included for at least 80% of the day in each state, and key state variables representing states’ political leanings, educational levels, financial conditions, and formal complaints as allowed under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1400. 2004). Also analyzed was the relationship between states’ educational achievements and levels of inclusion. Findings are reported in terms of correlations between the variables and the variance accounted for in inclusion by different variables.

The genus Cyamiocardium Soot-Ryen, 1951 (Bivalvia: Cyamiidae) in sub-Antarctic and Antarctic waters

For more than 50 years the genus Cyamiocardium was regarded as represented by three species: Cyamiocardium denticulatum (with Cyamiocardium rotundatum as a synonym), Cyamiocardium dahli, and Cyamiocardium crassilabrum. However, in the last years, the latter was removed from Cyamiocardium, alternatively being placed into Perrierina. All these species were mainly based on the general shell morphology of a reduced number of specimens, with scarce (or no) information on their anatomy and reproductive traits. The present study provides the first systematic revision of the species of Cyamiocardium occurring in sub-Antarctic and Antarctic waters. For that, an extant source of material was available; and several characters not studied (in detail) before, such as prodissoconch morphology and microsculpture, gross anatomy, and reproductive characteristics, were investigated. As part of this study, the identity of C. denticulatum (the type species of the genus) and that of C. dahli are clarified. In addition, C. rotundatum is revalidated as a full species, and C. crassilabrum is transferred again to Cyamiocardium. Furthermore, three new species were detected and are described herein: Cyamiocardium chuanisinense new species, Cyamiocardium namuncurense new species, and Cyamiocardium yeskumaala new species. The new information arising from this study is used to redefine the genus Cyamiocardium, and to re-analyze the similarities/differences of this genus with other cyamiids.

Using Geographic Information Systems to Visualize Relationships Between Perinatal Outcomes and Neighborhood Characteristics When Planning Community Interventions

ObjectiveTo describe maternal morbidity, birth outcomes, and neighborhood characteristics of urban women from a racially segregated city with the use of a geographic information system (GIS). DesignExploratory neighborhood-level study. Existing birth certificate data were linked and aggregated to neighborhood-level data for spatial analyses. SettingSouthern city in New Jersey. SampleWomen and their 7,858 live births that occurred between 2009 and 2013. MethodsSecondary analyses of extant sources were conducted. Maternal health and newborn birth outcomes were geocoded and then aggregated to the neighborhood level for further exploratory spatial analyses through our GIS database. An iterative process was used to generate meaningful visual representations of the data through maps of maternal and infant health in 19 neighborhoods. ResultsThe racial and ethnic residential segregation and neighborhood patterns of associations of adverse birth outcomes with poverty and crime were illustrated in GIS maps. In 43% of the births, women had a documented medical risk. Significantly more preterm births occurred for Black women (p < .01) and women older than 35 years of age (p = .01). The rate of diabetes was greater in Hispanic women, and the rate of pregnancy-related hypertensive disorders was greater in Black women. ConclusionData-driven maps can provide clear evidence of maternal and infant health and health needs based on the neighborhoods where mothers live. This research is important so that maternity care providers can understand contextual factors that affect mothers in their communities and guide the design of interventions.

The mystery of Achilles’ death

This paper will seek to explore the problem of Achilles’ death as foreshadowed in the Iliad. Through the works of authors ranging from Homer to John Tzetzes, associated with iconographic evidence, it will establish three potential versions of the episode and evaluate the extant evidence for a canonical “Achilles’ heel” in ancient literature, in order to reveal what our extant sources do tell us about the hero’s final moments in life.

Why Reid was no dogmatist

According to dogmatism, a perceptual experience with p as its content is always a (defeasible) source of justification for the belief that p. Thomas Reid has been an extant source of inspiration for this view. I argue, however, that, though there is a superficial consonance between Reid’s position and that of the dogmatists, their views are, more fundamentally, at variance with one another. While dogmatists take their position to express a necessary epistemic truth, discernible a priori, Reid holds that if something like dogmatism is true, it is a mere contingent truth, discernible a posteriori. Owing to Reid’s epistemological naturalism, it might have been false that a perceptual experience is, by itself, a source of justification. On account of regarding something like dogmatism as only contingently true, then, Reid accepts the demand for a meta-justification of a sort that dogmatists squarely reject, and purports to meet it. Given that dogmatism essentially involves the rejection of the demand to meet this kind of meta-justification, it would seem that Reid should not be construed as endorsing dogmatism at all. I close by briefly considering how Reid’s view fits amongst dogmatism’s competitors.

Capital punishment in precolonial Africa: the authenticity challenge

ABSTRACTThe modern debate over death penalty abolition in Sub-Saharan Africa frequently references the precolonial period. Has the death penalty truly existed since time immemorial, or is it largely a European imposition? The extent to which precolonial societies used capital punishment is difficult to discern, as many of the anthropological and legal sources that document this period were influenced by colonialism. These sources nonetheless show that the use of capital punishment in the precolonial period was tied to notions of political authority and the spirit world, though legal procedures and even methods of execution varied enormously among societies. This article considers the reliability problems of the extant sources and attempts to make tentative conclusions as to the existence of the death penalty prior to the onset of European rule, bearing in mind that these conclusions are not exhaustive or even necessarily representative of the continent's diversity.