Evaluation of the Development Changes and #reats for the Early Medieval Settlement Complex in Giecz and Its Vicinities

Abstract

The article concerns the evaluation of the development changes and threats connected with the early medieval settlement complex in Giecz. Its authors strive for an attempt at answering the questions of how for hundreds of years the way of spatial development in the vicinities of the Giecz complex has been changing and what potential threats can be detected on the basis of the analysis of presented information. Introducing the issue, the authors rely on various supplies of data, which make an analysis of this kind considerably easier. The vast array of non-invasive methods enabling to investigate and comprehend the past of our lands has become more and more often a common practice in throughout Poland. The data that follows are presented and analyzed in relation to the discussed subject: the results of the surface survey conducted as a part of the Polish Archaeological Record (further: PAR, abbreviated in Polish as AZP), aerial photographs, spatial data (satellite imagery, orthophotomap, topographic map), historic maps as well as information obtained from the zoning plan of the commune within which the Giecz settlement complex is located. All the resources mentioned above were integrated by means of the GIS software. The authors point out the need of data integration in the context of national heritage protection and they also emphasize general access to information and software that facilitates the analysis of integrated data bases gained using a variety of non-invasive methods. The article presents the analysis of the development of the early medieval stronghold on the basis of data dated back to different times. It shows how an integration of this information in the GIS environment has eased the evaluation of infrastructure and buildings within the analyzed area. Numerous threats resulting from e.g. urban processes were put forward and attention was paid to direct factors influencing the security and condition of archaeological relics. These reflections were exemplified by specific cases provided with appropriate illustrative material. Phenomena like: intensive agriculture, illegal activity of detectorists, the draining of bogs and the regulation of river channels were recognized and described among the threats as well as ignoring the PAR data in land use plans. On the basis of existing materials the authors made a few demands which might be helpful in protecting the supplies of archaeological heritage on the presented example of the stronghold in Giecz. These suggestions, apart from stipulating the further need of non-invasive research, do not require considerable financial resources. One of the demands was for closer cooperation between archaeologists, the conservation and preservation service and civil servants responsible for the administration of a given area. The authors perceive also a need of standardization and dissemination of a specific way of integrating the information obtained by the use of various methods within the spatial data base. Data integrated accordingly to the point of view of restoration protection and archaeological interpretation are of immense value and enable protection much better than hitherto of non-renewable stores of national heritage