Rethinking the Agrarian Transition through the lens of long-term history of subsistence strategies and use of energy and resources in Cantabrian Spain

Abstract

<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>