Evolution Of Vegetation, Relief And Geology In Central Poland Under Anthropopressure

Published in: Origin of Relief of Central Poland and Its Anthropogenic Transformation in Łódź University Geographical Research, edited by. E.Kobojek, T.MarszałThe review of the localities with biogenic, slope, fluvial and aeolian deposits in which the indirect impact of human activity on their ori gin is recorded, shows that evidence of changes of the vegetation pat tern and evolution of the relief and geological structure are in Central Poland particularly numerous. The exact correlation of the sites is beyond the scope of this chapter, due to the strictly local nature of prehistoric anthropopressure and a variety of environmental condi tions. Nevertheless it is possible to draw some general remarks. 1. More significant changes in the relief and geology of Central Poland that occurred under human pressure date back to the Neo holocene (the Early Subboreal Period and Subatlantic Period). More pronounced transformation of the slopes, river valley bottoms and aeolian landforms occurred since the Middle Bronze Age, around 3500 years ago. 2. The punctuated changes, in both vegetation and abiotic com ponents of the environment, were marked at the earliest in the large river valleys (e.g. Warta, Ner, Bzura rivers) and minor valleys within the Warsaw-Berlin pradolina. In higher lying parts of Central Po land, these changes on a similar scale emerged much later, only after ca. 2000–2500 years. It was connected with much worse conditions for the settlements in areas of more diversified relief configuration, with poorer soils and limited access to water. 3. The transformation of the vegetation, relief and geological structure took place gradually, along with the expansion of prehis toric settlement of the Trzciniec Culture , the Lusatian Culture and the Przeworsk Culture, whereas in the historical period – along with Early Medieval settlement. Less important for these changes were the impact of people of the Neolithic cultures, and short-stay of peo ple of the Pomeranian Culture in the Central Poland area. 4. The studied transformations were driven by both natural factors, particularly climate, which has changed during the Holo cene repeatedly (but on a relatively moderate scale), and by anthro pogenic factors, the importance of which was growing rapidly in the expansion phases of prehistoric cultures. These influences are rela tively easy to distinguish in the palynological profiles by a well-de fined group of plants accompanying the settlement and economy, whereas their distinguishing in the relief and geology transforma tions is much more difficult. However, it should be stressed that the development of the slopes and aeolian geosystems, and superim posing increased fluvial activity, in many cases were synchronous. This synchronous response, noting at the same time in different sed imentary environments, rather indicates the dominance of anthro pogenic factor, because the humid climate, favourable to stimulate fluvial and slope processes is less favourable for the simultaneous development of aeolian relief. Favourable natural conditions un doubtedly facilitated breaking the balance of the geosystem and the initiation of processes and their more efficient course under anthro pogenic changes of the environment. 5. The trends of the Neoholocene relief transformations were very different. Both processes, leading to local increases of relief and diversified terrain morphology (e.g. gully erosion, so-called wheel erosion, formation of agricultural terraces, accumulation of series overlaying of Late Glacial dunes) and the processes of op posite trends (e.g. aggradation of valley bottoms, tillage erosion, dismant ling of old dunes). Most Neoholocene morphogenetic pro cesses resulted in the increased lithological differentiation, soil for mation and increasing geodiversity of the environment. 6. A number of processes that affected the nature of the vegeta tion, relief and geology was a targeted, intentional and direct inter ference (e.g. land clearance in order to obtain arable fields, energy raw materials and building materials, construction of embankments in river valleys, exploitation of till, sand and other aggregates). How ever, most of the changes should be regarded as unintended and negative, so to speak, a side effect of centuries of settlement and economy. There may be mentioned here: planation of slopes used for agriculture, gully erosion, wheel erosion, the spread of poor aeo lian areas or the increase in the frequency and scale of floods in the Central Poland rivers as a result of an accelerated water circulation on the vegetation-free slopes. 7. Obviously, the Holocene morphogenetic cycle occurred in the past (and is still occurring) under human impact, which proves the J. Dylik’s thesis quoted in the Introduction. This cycle, superim posed on the periglacial morphogenesis, partially obliterates its ef fects and partially only modifies them. Taking into account the short duration of the Holocene cycle, it is characterised by a large dynam ics of the processes being accelerated and intensified by man

Late Glacial organic sediments in palaeogeographical reconstructions (cases from the Łódź region)

Late Glacial organic succession is recorded at the Żabieniec and Koźmin Las sites, in the Łódź region. A multiproxy approach provides a palaeogeographical assessment and yields a new insight into the old morainic area of the Polish Lowland. Additionally, the key profile Witów contributes in the reconstruction. It is demonstrated that the Late Glacial organic sediments of the Łódź region contain signs of environmental changes, starting from the first warming just after the Weichselian ice-sheet retreat from the Polish territory. Records at Żabieniec, apart from registering biotic and abiotic conditions which influenced functioning of a peatbog, provides information on the permafrost behaviour throughout the Late Glacial. At Koźmin Las, a unique discovery of the in situ riparian forest accompanied by organic sediments led to a high-resolution study of a series of events taking place on the floodplain during the Younger Dryas

RECORDS ON ANTHROPOGENIC ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES IN SMALL RIVER VALLEYS IN THE VICINITY OF ŁOWICZ (CENTRAL POLAND): THEIR SIGNIFICANCE FOR THE RECONSTRUCTION OF LATE HOLOCENE SETTLEMENT TENDENCIES

Based on palaeobotanical analyses of organic deposits, as well as geomorphological and geological studies at four sites in various geomorphological locations in relation to tributaries of the Bzura River, the presence of traces of human activity, its intensiveness, and classification to cultural levels were analysed. A pattern of later and later settlement in areas remote from the axis of the Warsaw–Berlin streamway was observed along with the gradual introduction of settlement from river valley bottoms to watershed zones

Limnic past of peatlands in the Łódź Region

Studies of infills of present-day peatland basins of the Łódź Region revealed the presence of lacustrine sediments underlying peats. They usually rest on mineral bottoms of basins, and their accumulation began in the Late Vistulian and continued in the Holocene. Out of 17 objects subjected to geological and palaeoecological examinations such arrangement was found in 8 of them. In the locality of the Żabieniec peatland 16.4 m of biogenic sediments was documented. The essential part of the profile contains detrital gyttja (at the bottom – detrital-clay gyttja, above – fine detrital gyttja). Within the Ner-Zawada peatland the thickness of biogenic sediments is 4.70 m and lake sediments are represented by clay- calcareous gyttja and calcareous gyttja. The thickness of biogenic sediments in the Ługi peatland reaches to 2.90 m. At this locality detrital- calcareous gyttja and detrital gyttja accumulated on the mineral substratum. In the Rąbień peatland basin the thickness of lacustrine sediments and peat reaches 6.2 m; on sandy bottom rest detrital-clay gyttja and detrital gyttja. In the Silne Błoto-Witów peatland only the 3.5 m long profile of the so- called “west island” contains lacustrine deposits covered by herbaceous peat. In the bottoms of a few other peatlands of the region, biogenic lake deposits were found, but their thickness is small (such as Korzeń, Bęczkowice, Parchliny). Therefore it may be assumed that some peatlands of the Łódź Region are of limnic origin. The presented examples of lake sediment series in the basins of contemporary peatlands in the Łódź Region allow to conclude that during the last fifteen thousand years, lakes occurred in this area, not only in numerous oxbow basins, but also in plateau depressions and aeolian landforms. Lake basins were more frequent during the late Vistulian, and survived in the Holocene until the Subboreal period. All water bodies of wetlands of the Łódź Region, except for oxbows, which are observed today, are of an anthropogenic origin.Analiza wypełnień mis współczesnych torfowisk regionu łódzkiego wykazała pod torfami obecność osadów jeziornych. Zalegają one zwykle na mineralnym dnie mis, a ich akumulacja rozpoczęła się w późnym vistulianie i trwała jeszcze w holocenie. Spośród 17 obiektów poddanych szczegółowym badaniom geologicznym i paleoekologicznym taki układ osadów stwierdzono w ośmiu z nich. W misie torfowiska Żabieniec udokumentowano 16,4 m osadów biogenicznych, a zasadniczą część profilu stanowi gytia detrytusowa (w dolnej części detrytusowo-ilasta, a powyżej gytia drobnodetrytusowa i grubodetrytusowa). W obrębie torfowiska Ner-Zawada miąższość osadów biogenicznych wynosi 4,70 m, a osady jeziorne reprezentują: gytia ilasto-wapienna i gytia wapienna. Miąższość osadów biogenicznych w obrębie torfowiska Ługi sięga 2,90 m, na mineralnym podłożu zalega gytia detry- tusowo-wapienna i gytia detrytusowa. W torfowisku Rąbień miąższość torfu i podścielających go osadów jeziornych sięga 6,2 m, na piaszczystym podłożu zalegają: gytia detrytusowo-ilasta i gytia detrytusowa. Torfowisko Silne Błoto-Witów dokumentuje jedynie profil z tzw. wyspy zachodniej o miąższości 3,5 m prezentujący głównie osady jeziorne, przykryte przez torf zielny. W podłożu torfów kilku innych torfowisk regionu stwierdzono biogeniczne utwory jeziorne, ale ich miąższość jest niewielka (m.in.: Korzeń, Bęczkowice, Parchliny). Uznać więc należy, że część torfowisk regionu łódzkiego ma pochodzenie limnogeniczne. Zaprezentowane przykłady serii osadów jeziornych w misach współczesnych torfowisk regionu łódzkiego pozwalają stwierdzić, że w trakcie ostatnich 15 tysięcy lat jeziora występowały na tym obszarze nie tylko w licznych starorzeczach, ale także w obniżeniach wysoczyznowych i wśród form eolicznych. Zbiorniki jeziorne funkcjonowały liczniej w okresie późnego vistulianu, a w holocenie przetrwały aż do okresu subborealnego. Wszystkie zbiorniki wodne na obszarach mokradeł regionu łódzkiego, poza starorzeczami, obserwowane współcześnie, mają charakter antropogeniczny

Drugie życie pieczęci urzędowej. Na przykładzie kolekcji typariuszy pieczęci urzędów PRL z lat 1945–1975 w zbiorze sfragistycznym Działu Numizmatycznego Muzeum książąt Lubomirskich w Ossolineum

In accordance with the legal provision on the manufacture and destruction of official seals, in force in the Polish People's Republic since 1955, seal matrices that had been withdrawn from use were returned by official bearers to the State Mint for disposal. In 1975, the Ossoliński National Institute, as an institution where historical seals were also collected, petitioned the government to stop the execution of the statutory order to destroy the seal matrices of county offices - eliminated as a result of the current administrative reform - and transfer them to the institution's collection for ownership. Following a positive response from the Polish Peopple’s Republic authorities, nearly 3,000 seals used by county offices and other local authorities in the period 1945–1975 (with exceptions until 1977) ended up in the Numismatic Department of the Ossolineum. The article takes a closer look at this little-known episode in the history of official sphragistics of the Polish People's Republic, outlining its genesis, course and outcome, while discussing the legal conditions for the production and destruction of official seal matrices during the Second Republic and the Polish People's Republic. In the second part of the text, based on the literature on the subject, the few preserved archival sources, and on the basis of the sphragistic material itself, so numerous in one collection, and thus constituting a representative value for the present research, reference is made to various issues relevant to sphragistics in the context of the State Mint as a manufacturer: the form and content of seals, the technique of manufacture, the material, the dimensions of the various elements of the matrices, signs and identifying features, heraldic issues.Zgodnie z przepisem prawnym dotyczącym wytwarzania i niszczenia pieczęci urzędowych, obowiązującym w PRL od 1955 r., wycofane z użytku tłoki pieczętne (typariusze) były zwracane przez urzędowych dysponentów do Mennicy Państwowej w celu ich kasacji. W 1975 r. Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich jako instytucja, w której gromadzono także historyczne pieczęcie, zwrócił się z petycją do rządu, aby ten zatrzymał wykonanie ustawowego nakazu zniszczenia tłoków pieczęci urzędów powiatowych – zlikwidowanych na skutek bieżącej reformy administracyjnej – i przekazał je na własność do zbiorów instytucji. W następstwie pozytywnej odpowiedzi władz PRL do Działu Numizmatycznego Ossolineum trafiło blisko 3 tys. pieczęci używanych przez urzędy powiatowe i  inne terenowe władze w okresie 1945–1975 (z wyjątkami do 1977 r.). Artykuł przybliża ten mało znany epizod z historii sfragistyki urzędowej PRL, przedstawiając jego genezę, przebieg i rezultat, omawiając przy tym prawne uwarunkowania wytwarzania i niszczenia pieczęci urzędowych w okresie II RP i PRL. W drugiej części tekstu w oparciu o literaturę przedmiotu, nielicznie zachowane źródła archiwalne oraz na podstawie samego materiału sfragistycznego, tak licznie zgromadzonego w jednym zbiorze, a przez to stanowiącego reprezentatywną wartość dla niniejszych badań, odniesiono się do różnych kwestii istotnych dla sfragistyki w kontekście Mennicy Państwowej jako wytwórcy: formy i treści pieczęci, techniki wyrobu, materiału, wymiarów poszczególnych elementów tłoków, znaków i cech identyfikacyjnych, kwestii heraldycznych

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