Wleń/Lähn District in the Sudetes Foothills, Poland: A Case Study of Cultural Landscape Evolution of an East Central European Settlement Microregion From the Tenth to the Eighteenth Centuries

Abstract

The aim of the study is to reconstruct the evolution of the cultural landscape of a settlement microregion located in Central-Eastern Europe, in the Sudetes Foothills. The microregion selected for the research, Wleń, is a good example to study and describe phenomena that are also typical of other similar administrative and economic territories in this cultural zone during the medieval period and the modern era. Archaeological evidence, written and cartographic sources, Airborne Laser Scanning, Geographical Information System and geomagnetic research were used to reconstruct the development and forms of particular elements of the settlement and the economic structure.