Improving energy literacy through student-led fieldwork – at home

“Energy literacy” is of great interest to those researching sustainable consumption, particularly with regard to its relationship to domestic energy use. This paper reflects on the pedagogic aspects of fieldwork recently carried out by undergraduate geography students in their own homes to assess energy-related technologies and practices, and how these come together into a singular, aggregated number produced by the energy meter. Conceptualising energy literacy as comprising cognitive, affective, and behavioral domains, we evaluate the experiences reported by the students, and discuss next steps in expanding the exercise and learning.     

Iron Age animal husbandry in the wetlands of the western Netherlands

During the Iron Age a subsistence economy based on mixed farming existed in the Dutch wetlands. A model based on subsistence is put forward and tested against the archaeozoological data of 27 sites in order to gain insight into the role of animal husbandry. The model confirms that cattle husbandry was the dominant form of animal husbandry but pigs and sheep were also important at some sites. Although a high number of pig bones were expected, their role is mostly insignificant. An explanation is sought in their lack of secondary products and their competition with humans for the scarce cereals in the wetlands. The mortality profiles for cattle are largely in accordance with the subsistence model. Older cattle are used for traction, milk and herd security and sheep were mainly kept for their meat but also for their milk and wool. Differences in animal husbandry between sites also exist. At two sites more cattle were killed for their meat and at three sites the proportion of older cattle was larger than expected. Although this first test renders the subsistence model viable, it needs to be tested against more sites with larger bone samples.     

A Late‐18th‐Century Merchantman Wrecked in the South Edinburgh Channel,Thames Estuary,England

The South Edinburgh Channel wreck consists of the remains of a large, unidentified armed merchant ship whose cargo included a rare consignment of Swedish plate‐money, among other goods. The wreck was lost some time in the later part of the 18th century in the Thames Estuary and was uncovered briefly by natural means between 1972 and 1977. This allowed archaeological investigation, which was undertaken in very poor environmental conditions in the early days of maritime archaeology in the UK.