Research of Deserted Medieval Villages Conducted by the Institute of Archaeology at Charles University in Prague. Deserted Spindelbach (Ore Mountains), Kří and Hol (Central Bohemia)
Abstract
The main ambition of the research of deserted villages, which is implemented by the Department of Archaeology of the Faculty of Arts at Charles University, is the inclusion of archaeological findings in the current study of late medieval and early modern economic history. Our aim is to understand the dynamics of the development of the rural milieu in the 14th to 16th centuries, and to provide an effective comparative and interpretive framework for archaeological records.
At the centre of our focus is the concept of the so-called Late Medieval Transformation and the closely related study of the beginnings of the socio-economic diversity of the individual European regions (i.e. the Little Divergence). In terms of heuristics, we attribute crucial importance to the testimony of villages situated both in mountainous areas and in enclaves with agriculturally weak soils in the middle of an otherwise fertile areas.
The following article presents the objectives, progress and results of the research of the three most interesting locations.