Demarcation Technique and Geometric Analysis of Village Boundaries Resulting from Delineation of Land Areas ( ujazd ) in the Middle Ages in the Wielkopolska Region (Poland)

The paper presents the genesis of village borders’ shape formed in the Middle Ages and presents rules according to which demarcations were made. The hypothesis that the borders formed in the Middle Ages had a shape similar to a circle or segment of a circle was accepted. This hypothesis was confirmed by geometric analysis of borders from that period. Geometric elements of the boundaries were calculated: types of arcs, their radii, lengths and central angles. The center of the newly granted area was analyzed, as this location played a major role in the delineation of the boundary. Accuracy of measurements was determined and influence of errors on the presented results was analyzed. Wielkopolska was chosen as the research area because natural conditions had no influence on the shape of the borders. The starting materials were topographic maps in the scale of 1:25,000 (Messtischblätter) from the years 1887–1890. The research confirmed the hypothesis of a circular shape of borders formed in the Middle Ages in the studied area. In the original allocations, the area took the shape of a circle, which was a specific pattern for the villages to be founded. Later, as the settlement developed, the villages took on the shapes of circle segments. Considering the demarcation technique, the accuracy of the boundary staking was high. The deviation from a perfect circle did not exceed approximately ± 60 m, and the length of the arc radius varied between 1500 and 2200 m. The historical village boundaries from medieval times, preserved to this day in their residual form, have a historic character due to their antiquity and should be protected.