In archaeology, spatial information is far more important than in other historical disciplines. Archaeological sources do not contain a message in the form of a text, but their message is included in their material form and spatial context. Spatial distribution of artefacts is, therefore, one of the key factors for the understanding of them. Maps and plans of various scales and types appear in all phases of the archaeological research. In the field, plans are an important part of the primary documentation which, in the end, substitutes the archaeological record itself since this is inevitably destroyed by the very excavation. The secondary documentation of finds uses maps, too, mainly for the study of distribution of archaeological types - only in the form of a map it is possible to visualize their spatial patterns and to understand their meaning. There are, however, at least two types of maps the contents of which necessarily go beyond the empirical data; both of them find a wide use in contemporary archaeology. The reconstruction maps are generally understood as maps completing the missing parts of the objects of the map and/or presenting the objects of the map in their expected past form. Predictive maps in archaeology appeared as a consequence of new research chances brought by the technology of geographical information systems in 1990s. Predictive maps are based upon the study of the relation between the past settlement behaviour and some of the landscape features. Altitude, distance from the water source, slope gradient and orientation, visibility and visual dominance of a place, as well as geology and soil cover should be mentioned as elements upon which predictive maps of the archaeological potential may be constructed. The search for the predictive value of various landscape features can largely contribute to a theoretical understanding of the economic, social but also symbolic systems of the past societies. Next to this, predictive maps can find a wide use in the archaeological resource management, e.g. in planning the building and mining areas as well as in planning archaeological rescue excavation within them.
Based on analyses of available historical, geographical and statistical materials, the authors had tried, in one of their previous studies, to describe the basic historical and geographical definition of the Blansko Region in the scope of administrative and cadastral unit (a judicial district). This time the authors focused on the utilisation of cartographic materials as an independent reflection of gradual landscape changes. They utilised the map sets from the second and third military mapping as a visual basis for reconstruction of some selected landscape phenomena. They divided the studied territory into three levels whose area differs. Subsequently they focused on a certain landscape phenomenon in each of them whereas the category of utilisation was a unifying feature. The first level focused on the whole territory of the Blansko judicial district (its settlement structure, line elements, density of population); the second level focused on its geographic axis which is the valley of the River Svitava and which was defined as Blansko land use. And finally the third level was the conglomeration of Blansko itself (location of industry, development of housing).
Reconstruction maps and cartographic models are commonly used as methods and resources of scientific research (historical, geographical, archaeological, urban etc.) and tools used for processing results of scientific work. The term 'reconstruction maps' started to be used for topic-based maps including historical ones and is commonly used in the professional 'non-cartographic' community. Reconstruction maps have their own genesis and history. We can find maps of this type in historical atlases from the 18th century. At present there is an immense number of reconstruction maps published independently, in atlases or as parts of scientific studies and publications; at the same time, new maps are being created. There is no or completely insufficient registration system of these works. A reconstruction map shows results of research by means of modern methods based on another general geographic and cartographic work, mostly a modern one, but possibly an old one too. Simply said, the term 'reconstruction map' covers in various types of topic-based maps focused on historical matters (archaeological, historical, historical-geographical etc. maps). A reconstruction map is not a cartographic 'terminus technicus', cartographic terminological dictionaries do not know this term and so they do not list it. The thing is that the map reconstructs processes or phenomena which occurred in the past and for the reconstruction modern cartographic tools are used. Archaeologists, historians, historical geographers, ethnologists, people responsible for the preservation of cultural heritage and other specialists use the term 'reconstruction map'. This term is known by specialists in many other disciplines, such as geography, historical geography, geoinformatics, architecture, urbanism, landscape ecology and others. A 'reconstruction map' is, unlike a historical map, a broader term. A 'historical map' is a cartographic 'terminus technicus'. It ranks among topic-based maps, and this could include maps of various social phenomena provided we sort maps according to their contents. The term historical map is also used in connection with historical atlases for schools and the public, and in connection with the popularisation of history. It has its own history reaching back to the 18th century when the first historical atlases were created. Reconstruction maps became an integral part of historical work and research in other related disciplines. What are their prospects? We can expect that in the process of creating reconstruction map, more and more scientific methods will be used. Besides, philosophical aspects of the relationship between people and landscape will be emphasized and we can expect ecological approach to be employed when dealing with issues from the late 20th century. It is beyond doubt that computer simulation and interactive, dynamic electronic maps will be increasingly used in the process of creating reconstruction maps. National as well as professional literature and cooperation with other fields of science provide inspiration for work with reconstruction maps.
There are various ways how to monitor changes in the functional utilisation of the Vltava banks from the geographical point of view. We can understand the Vltava as a symbol of national identity, as a factor influencing the development of neighbouring areas and regions (namely tourism and recreation), as a communication path or as a barrier. The paper focused on three main sources of geographic information, the data from population census, the data on changes in the utilisation of areas (years 1845, 1948, 1990 and 2000) and briefly also information obtained from pictures (photographs of identical places at various times). The changes were assessed in four typologically different villages situated near the Vltava: the upper reaches (the Sumava Mountains), the Ceske Budejovice basin, the middle reaches (Central-Bohemian Highlands) and the lower reaches (from, and including, Prague to the confluence). As far as the number of inhabitants before the Second World War is concerned, the upper reaches were more densely populated than the middle reaches, in spite of worse natural conditions. The canyon in the middle reaches of the Vltava represented a serious barrier, and therefore, its banks became only an edge of inhabited area, while population centres were situated further away from the river. Another interesting feature is similar development of area utilisation along the upper and middle reaches in spite of very different historical development after 1945 (arrival of new settlers after the departure of Czech Germans versus permanent settlement). The similarity results not only from the construction of waterworks, but also from the reduction of the proportion of agricultural land for the benefit of other activities (mining, special utilisation etc.). A higher proportion of man-made categories in land utilisation (developed and other areas) and their gradual increase is typical of villages in the Ceske Budejovice Basin, of Prague and of villages situated north of it (the lower reaches). In future we can expect increased utilisation of the Vltava banks in both the urban regions as well as in the attractive, recently 're-discovered' Sumava Mountains. On the other hand, the middle reaches will be different, we can expect stagnation of recreational utilisation of this area and further marginalisation of this area which ranks among so called internal peripheries of Bohemia.
'The Historic Towns Atlas' has been published in the Czech Republic since 1995/1996. By 2007 seventeen volumes have been published. The atlases have included not only vedute, old postcards and photos, but also reconstruction maps from the very beginning. They show namely the development of housing in towns, fortification systems, the location of archaeological finds etc. Lots of attention is paid to administrative maps. At present maps are processed by means of modern computer methods, including digital models of landscape and negative plans. A significant portion of this paper is an index of reconstruction maps used in the Historic Towns Atlas, volumes 1-17.
The catalogue of reconstruction maps of Bohemian character is designed as a part of a project called 'The Atlas of Czech History' which is being worked on by the Historical Institute within the current research intention 'Czech Historical Space within the European Context. Diversity, Continuity, Integration'. In September 2006 it was suggested to prepare and publish this catalogue, either with an atlas or as an independent volume. The catalogue of reconstruction maps will not include all reconstruction maps from the atlases and will have annotations. The main criterion for including individual maps into the catalogue is their professional value (maps with obsolete contents and those surpassed by later research, derived maps, the ones taken over from other works or re-printed, often simplified, maps published just for information shall not be included in the catalogue). The excerption focused on the period after 1945, however, older maps, if still valuable, shall be registered as well. Map contents will be specified by explanatory comments. The catalogue (index) structure - which needs to be clear and user-friendly - will result from continuous confrontation between the primary rough concept, derived from the general concept of Czech history, and specific materials obtained from excerpts. From the technical point of view, there are two basic approaches available - a text and a database; the possibility of fulltext searching places a text file to the same level as a database from user's point of view, whereas the profit resulting from the possibility to ask more complicated 'multiple-level' questions (as we know them from library and bibliographical databases with dozens or hundreds of thousands of items) seems to be hardly apparent in the given situation. It is assumed that beside a printed issue (with a list of authors, geographical locations and possibly also subject matters), the text - or possibly the database if this form is selected - of the catalogue will also be published in the electronic version, either on the Internet or as a CD-ROM.
The purpose of the submitted paper was to contribute to better understanding of historical agricultural strategies on a specific example of villages established during the late-medieval colonisation. Based on an analysis of plans of agricultural land surrounding villages and on written materials from the 16th-18th centuries, the main features of field systems in selected villages were described and explained, including the extent of their stability and their ability to cope with harvest variances. Lots of attention was paid to the study of relations between the settlement form and the field system. On the other hand, the effort to reconstruct the formal arrangement of agricultural land around villages remained unnoticed since it reflected the property and legal relations and the economical and ecological situation at that time etc, which means changeable and oftentimes short-term factors. All the searched locations showed close relations between the settlement form and the method of using agricultural areas. This enabled us to word model assumptions about agricultural strategies and economic principles of villages in extremely bad nature conditions. As far as villages situated on infertile and hardly differentiated sandy soils are concerned, it was possible to document agricultural production based on undemanding 'three-sectional' field systems and in some areas also on 'alternate field systems'. Varied pressure on agricultural production was also reflected by the arrangement of agricultural land around villages whose main structure was maintained by a more stable settlement form. There was only one village where we could document a clear division of agricultural land into a portion with intensive agricultural production and a portion with extensive production; such situation resulted from the fact that the land owned by the village included also high quality soil. This division increased the efficiency of agricultural work significantly since it focused on suitable areas only. The risk of yield variations was fairly low. The development of the above described field systems during the early Middle Ages can be studied on the example of the village of Lhota na Kri. However, an analysis of this medieval village, which does not exist any more, will be dealt with in another essay.
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