HISTORICAL SETTLEMENT GEOGRAPHICAL INVESTIGATIONS IN BÁCS-KISKUN COUNTY 2011-2016

Abstract

The aim of the present paper is to summarize the investigations of the geography of medieval settlements in Bács-Kiskun county in the last five years. The goal of our investigations was the reconstruction of medieval settlement network. Our investigations encompass the period from the 13th century to present times as there are only a few data from the 10-12th centuries. Therefore, our oppinion is the research of the period before the 13th century should be the archaeologists’ task.

Our primary goal was to specify the centers, the core areas of the medieval villages and to sketch the village borders and the „nodes” (hills, meadows, valleys, rivers, marshes) of the borderlines. Our secondary goal was to specify the „timeline”, or „life-line” of the settlements from their first appearance on the scene of the history and the major breakpoints of their existence (destructions, dislocations).

This paper is focusing on the methodology of our researches based on a huge database. This database contains spatial and written datas about the villages and cities of Bács-Kiskun county. We developed a search process based on specified keywords and so-called patterns. The keywords used for searching in maps and written datas and with some keywords these two types of sources can be connected. Patterns are used for investigation on aerial photos.