From hunter-gatherer subsistence strategies to the Agricultural Revolution: Disentangling Energy Regimes as a complement to cultural phases in Northern Spain

Abstract

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.

Energy regimes help tackle limitations with the prehistoric cultural‐phases approach to learn about sustainable transitions: Archaeological evidence from northern Spain

“…The structuring of the Standard Solar regime underpinned by archaeological data was organised on the basis of four characterising sets of indicators: mobilities, economies, overexploitation and societal complexity. These sets of indicators were previously identified from specific literature on hunter‐gatherer societies in Cantabrian Spain considered up to and including the early farming and pastoral communities (Martinez et al, 2022). Various proxies have been used to document each indicator (Table 2).…”

“…14.7k cal a bp to ca . 12.9k cal a bp ) (Martinez et al, 2022). Hunter‐gatherer groups started to exploit these new environments and set up seasonal camps at the confluence of eco‐zones where they could access different resources at different times of the year (Zeder, 2012).…”

“…Previously, Zeder (2012) has stated that with the reduction of mobility, and the development of the notion of ownership of resources and land, territories became better defined, understood and exploited. The energy return provided by territories was sufficient to make it worth investing and defending them (Martinez et al, 2022). Therefore, the Neolithic period is associated with the transitional phase from the Standard Solar to the Agrarian Solar regime (Table 1).…”

“…24 000 cal a bp , until and including the first farming communities in Cantabrian Spain ca . 6300 cal a bp (Martinez et al, 2022). We thereby identified the following indicators of Standard and Agrarian Solar regimes: human mobilities, economies, overexploitation of resources and societal complexity.…”

“…We thereby identified the following indicators of Standard and Agrarian Solar regimes: human mobilities, economies, overexploitation of resources and societal complexity. With this new work we propose to expand the potential of ERs by using actual archaeological data to add empirical evidence to the theoretical framework of ERs previously developed (Martinez et al, 2022). The goals of this paper are: 1) to identify a list of proxies for use as an indicator of ERs and related transitions; 2) to compile a database of archaeological material evidence that can be used as proxies of ERs; 3) to investigate the robustness of these proxies and indicators through relevant statistical analyses; and 4) to complement traditional cultural phases with the new, functional framework of ERs in order to help inform sustainability transitions in the use of resources and energy.…”