We review palaeoenvironmental proxies and combinations of these relevant for understanding hunter-gatherer niche construction activities in pre-agricultural Europe. Our approach consists of two steps: (1) identify the possible range of hunter-gatherer impacts on landscapes based on ethnographic studies; (2) evaluate proxies possibly reflecting these impacts for both the Eemian (Last Interglacial, Middle Palaeolithic) and the Early–Middle Holocene (Mesolithic). We found these paleoenvironmental proxies were not able to unequivocally establish clear-cut differences between specific anthropogenic, climatic and megafaunal impacts for either time period in this area. We discuss case studies for both periods and show that published evidence for Mesolithic manipulation of landscapes is based on the interpretation of comparable data as available for the Last Interglacial. If one applies the ‘Mesolithic’ interpretation schemes to the Neanderthal record, three common niche construction activities can be hypothesised: vegetation burning, plant manipulation and impact on animal species presence and abundance. Our review suggests that as strong a case can be made for a Neanderthal impact on landscapes as for anthropogenic landscape changes during the Mesolithic, even though the Neanderthal evidence comes from only one high-resolution site complex. Further research should include attempts (e.g. by means of modelling studies) to establish whether hunter-gatherer impact on landscapes played out at a local level only versus at a larger scale during both time periods, while we also need to obtain comparative data on the population sizes of Last Interglacial and Holocene hunter-gatherers, as these are usually inferred to have differed significantly.

Human societies face challenges in transitioning towards low-carbon economies and sustainable management of land use and natural resources. Documenting and learning from past transitions helps policy-makers cope with such challenges. The agricultural revolution in Cantabrian Spain (ca. 7000 cal a BP) was one major adaptation of hunter-gatherers to a changing environment that started with the Last Glacial Maximum (ca. 24 000 cal a BP) and lasted until the Mid-Holocene (ca. 5300 cal a BP). Classic approaches to documenting prehistoric cultural timelines are based on manufacturing and technology, thus limited in their ability to describe the sustainability of past societies. Energy regimes, a functional societal approach independent from time, investigate and consider patterns of resource and energy use in various cohabiting and cooperating cultural phases. To examine past energy regimes, a database of archaeological remains was compiled to document four indicators: mobility, economy, overexploitation and societal complexity. Statistical analyses were conducted to elucidate trends, changes and continuity in subsistence strategies by hunter-gatherers and sedentary societies. Results show that energy regimes act as a complement to cultural phases, adding novel functional analyses of past societies to cultural stratigraphy units common in archaeology, shedding light on the sustainability of past societal transitions.

The Holocene is defined by the impact of agricultural societies on their natural environments and resources, a paradigmatic shift triggered by the Agricultural Revolution. In Cantabrian Spain, the adoption of a sedentary economy (ca. 7000 cal yr BP) remains misunderstood, with contemporary Mesolithic and Neolithic sites apparently random dispersed. Energy Regimes, a time-independent and functional analysis of past societies, considers two cultures that cohabit and/or cooperate, based on their differential pattern of use of energy and resources, as well as on the variation in land-use strategies. We test and implement the framework of Energy Regimes through a targeted review, to examine the hunter-gatherer subsistence strategies in Cantabrian Spain. Archeological proxies such as demography, mobility, complexity of society, economy, and overexploitation of resources identified in 95 articles and books, allow us to apply Energy Regimes to reexamine transitions in hunter-gatherer societies. Neolithization in Cantabrian Spain is the result of a long process that started with the Solutrean cultural phase ca. 24,000 cal yr BP, during the Last Glacial Maximum. Hunter-gatherers developed onward novel subsistence strategies with subtle changes in energy use until the transition toward a sedentary economy. Energy Regimes provide new insights for other regional contexts where time-bounded analyses conceal the complexity of energy transition processes in Europe and beyond.

<p><span>Human-triggered climate change</span><span> is widely </span><span>acknowledged</span><span> as a </span><span>salient</span><span> challenge to </span><span>societal sustainability and welfare</span><span>. </span><span>Yet, o</span><span>ur understanding of how human social systems </span><span>may react to</span><span> future </span><span>change scenarios</span><span> remains </span><span>largely </span><span>incomplete. </span><span>However, human societies are the result of a long history of changes and adaptations to c</span><span>hanging</span><span> climate</span><span>s</span><span> and environment</span><span>s</span><span>. </span><span>U</span><span>nderstand</span><span>ing</span> <span>how</span> <span>individuals</span><span> and their cultures have </span><span>reacted and adapted to environmental changes over history and what effects these changes have had on landscapes could help us to more effectively design transition strategies towards low carbon societies</span><span>. </span><span>Hunter-gatherer societies in Cantabrian Spain b</span><span>etween</span><span> the Last Glacial Maximum (ca. 20,000 BP) a</span><span>nd</span><span> the Agricultural Revolution during the Mid Holocene (ca. 6,000 BP) </span><span>evolved within a context of strong climate and environmental changes, as well as through societal changes via the adoption of a sedentary economy</span><span>. </span><span>Energy Regimes is a time-independent and functional theoretical and analytical tool of past societies, useful to identify and document past transitions</span><span>. </span><span>Statistical tests and analyses w</span><span>ere</span><span> used on archaeological data to document p</span><span>roxies such as d</span><span>emography, mobility, </span><span>societal </span><span>complexity, economy and overexploitation. </span><span>The results w</span><span>ere</span><span> interpreted in the framework of Energy Regimes </span><span>to better understand the changes and adaptation of human societies </span><span>leading to the Agricultural Revolution a</span><span>nd beyond in</span><span> the context of changing environment and climate. </span><span>Finally, </span><span>quantification of energy use </span><span>was</span><span> extrapolated from the data and </span><span>compared to the framework of social-metabolism, a quantitative approach </span><span>similar to Energy Regime</span><span>s</span><span>. </span><span>This work is part of the TERRANOVA programme. TERRANOVA is a Marie S</span><span>kłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Networks (H2020-MSCA-ITN) project between Humanities and Science, </span><span>which</span> <span>aims to map</span><span> past environments and energy regimes, a</span><span>nd to rethink</span><span> human-environment interaction and designing land management tools for policy.</span></p>

<p>TERRANOVA is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Networks (H2020-MSCA-ITN) project (2019-2023) training 15 PhD students in a new learning initiative between Humanities and Science: Mapping past environments and energy regimes, rethinking human-environment interaction and designing land management tools for policy. TERRANOVA will produce an unprecedented atlas with layers of reconstructed and modelled land-use and vegetation dynamics, climate change and mega-fauna history in Europe from the Eemian (Last Interglacial) and the Holocene from the start up until the present day. This paper describes the intermediate results of two years of research into Atlas building. Communication and data exchange, as well as the process of atlas generation work flow, have been undertaken, including examples of datasets from deep history, ancient landscapes, energy regimes and climate scenarios. The atlas database implements state-of-the-art standards for increasing the interoperability of spatiotemporal datasets. It is currently formed by four main data types: Archaeological data, Climate data, Land cover data, and Megafauna (i.e. large mammals) distribution. The intermediate publication concludes with listing the next steps to stream the Terranova atlas as a tool for communicating the European history of environmental change, including support for future landscape management policies.</p>