Human impact on the landscape can be conceptualized in terms of socially governed ecological systems. In the past, the adaptive capacity of human cultural systems had been emphasized, though currently, a shift towards modified views can be recognized. In this study, resources are discussed as prerequisites for establishing complex human societies. This also includes a more biologically minded view from the standpoint of the humanities. In such a view, human societal complexes can be understood as systems that manage energy and matters. The concept of social-metabolic regimes has developed in...