Relicts of the Deserted Villages at the Masurian-Mazovian Borderland. Interdisciplinary Research Project

The paper presents the proposal for an interdisciplinary, humanistically oriented analysis of extinct settlements on the example of the results of the author’s research project realized on the territory of the Pisz county in the Warmińsko-Mazurskie voivodship. The project, embedded in the current research trend on the transformations of the contemporary landscape, was focused on the analysis of the relics of the 20th century extinct settlement structures and their material heritage. The research topic was based on the compilation of theoretical assumptions of historical geography (e.g. Koter 1994; Figlus 2016) and fieldwork methodology developed through historical archeology, including contemporary archeology (e.g. Vařeka et al. 2008). The results of the study were published in the article on the case study of the disappearing village – Sokoły Górskie. The research results presented both in the form of cartographic synthesis and field surveying studies conducted within landscape structures show the large quantitative and qualitative dimension of transformations that were taking place as a result of violent socioeconomic changes of the 20th century (e.g. rapid depopulation), which were the effect of global armed conflicts.