Słowiński, M, et al. 2024. Human impacts on environment in the
preindustrial forest landscapes in Poland—An overview. Elem Sci
Anth, 12: 1. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.2023.00065
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Human impacts on environment in the preindustrial
forest landscapes in Poland-An overview
Michał Słowiński1,*,y , Tomasz Zwi˛azek2,y , Paweł Swoboda3 , Michał A. Niedzielski4 ,
Sandra Słowińska5 , Michał Konopski6 , Jerzy Jonczak7 , Bogusława Kruczkowska7 ,
Aleksandra Chojnacka8 , Dominik Róg9 , Krzysztof Szewczyk1 , and Dariusz Brykała10
Keywords: Human impact, Relict charcoal hearths, Onomastics, Landscape legacy, Spatial analysis,
Deforestation, Kingdom of Poland, Early Modern period (prior to 1600 AD)
1. Introduction
Forests have been an important component in assembling
the landscape of the European lowlands. They also served
as a source of shelter, food, and building materials and
thus played an important role in human life. Until the
early Middle Ages, the main form of economy in Polish
forest areas was slash-and-burn agriculture, which
involved clearing and burning of forests to harvest and
fertilizing new agricultural areas with ash. The soils were
cultivated until they became sterile, and settlers moved to
other locations (Poklewski-Koziełł, 1975; Fokt, 2012). The
Middle Ages also saw a surge in the development of rural
and urban settlements, construction, and crafts, all of
which required wood as a relevant raw material. Forest
and woodland areas were increasingly exploited for grazing livestock, preparing hay, and making bedding for
winters (Samojlik, 2016). Furthermore, raw materials from
forests were used on a larger scale in the manufacture of
household utensils, wheel righting, and artistic sculptures
as well as in leather-working by shoemakers, who used oak
bark, wood ash, and tar. In the Polish lands, the first era of
large-scale forest clearance (colonization) began in the
13th century, with the development of new settlement
structures (Ślaski, 1951; Broda, 2000; Buczek, 2005;
Kaplan et al., 2009; Brykała and Podgórski, 2020; Ellis
et al., 2020). Land grabbing by authorities led to the imposition of various obligations on the peasant population.
Trees also provided financial security for landowners.
However, as time passed, forests ceased to be an unknown
and mysterious space and became a source of raw materials for industrial development (Fossier and Cochrane,
2012; Ellis et al., 2013; Geremek, 2017). During the Early
1
Department of Past Landscape Dynamics, Institute of
Geography and Spatial Organization, Polish Academy of
Sciences, Warszawa, Poland
7
Department of Soil Science, Warsaw University of Life
Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
8
2
Department of Geoecology, Institute of Geography and Spatial
Organization, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warszawa, Poland
Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Warsaw
University of Life Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
9
3
Institute of Polish Language, Polish Academy of Sciences,
Kraków, Poland
Institute of History, The John Paul II Catholic University of
Lublin, Lublin, Poland
10
4
Department of Urban and Population Studies, Institute of
Geography and Spatial Organization, Polish Academy of
Sciences, Warszawa, Poland
y
5
Climate Research Department, Institute of Geography and
Spatial Organization, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warszawa,
Poland
6
Department of Rural Geography and Local Development,
Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization, Polish
Academy of Sciences, Warszawa, Poland
Department of Environmental Resources and Geohazards,
Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization, Polish
Academy of Sciences, Warszawa, Poland
These authors contributed equally.
* Corresponding author:
Email: michal.slowinski@geopan.torun.pl
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Quantification of human impact on past forest ecosystems becomes more challenging as one goes deeper into
the past.This is primarily due to a scarcity of appropriate source materials. It is well-known that the inclusion
of the Polish lands in the zone of economic ties with Western Europe at the end of the 15th century enabled
the intensive export of cereal and forest products. In this article, we have used place names established
before 1600 not only to demonstrate how ancient forests were exploited but also to reflect on the
various environmental effects of these past activities. By analyzing the naming material, we distinguished
3 basic types of names related to logging, industrial production, and wild beekeeping. In addition, we have
included several theoretical considerations related to environmental consequences of forest exploitation.
Art. 12(1) page 2 of 26
Słowiński et al: Multidimensional tracking and consequences of the usage of forest products
2021). These mechanisms have occurred alternately in the
long postglacial history of vegetation in the European
lowlands and are crucial not only because a large portion
of forest is lost but also because they have led to new
processes, such as increased physical and chemical denudation, that is, intensification of slope processes, changes
in meso- and microclimatic conditions, and modification
of surface runoff (Dietze et al., 2016; Słowiński et al., 2016;
Ott et al., 2017; Słowiński et al., 2021; Wieckowska-Lüth
et al., 2021).
The cascading nature of environmental processes and
their strong connection to human history have resulted in
a growing number of scientists representing research
fields related to paleoecology being invited to study past
landscapes (Izdebski et al., 2016; Zwi˛azek et al., 2023b).
The high-resolution analyses that can be performed on
biogenic cores (peat and lake sediments) and in dendrochronological studies (Muigg and Tegel, 2021) are very
promising sources for information. These natural archives
provide information on how ecosystems have responded to
changes in land use, deforestation, or drainage in the past
(Słowiński et al., 2018; Łuców et al., 2020; Mroczkowska
et al., 2021; Bonk et al., 2022). Additionally, they can indicate the duration of these modifications and also explain
whether these changes were related to natural phenomena
or human activity that transformed (for instance) forest
areas into cultivation fields (Czerwiński et al., 2021;
Słowiński et al., 2021). Analysis of paleoecological, cartographic, or written historical data separately did not allow
us to understand or interpret certain effects, particularly
environmental consequences that do not follow the natural
pattern of progression (i.e., vegetation succession).
In this article, we describe the range of activities related
to forest management and production carried out until
the 16th century in the areas of the Kingdom of Poland
based on toponymy (place names). In analyzing the collected data, our main focus was on the potential environmental effects associated with: industrial production,
logging and export of timber, as well as wild beekeeping. We consider these activities as the most important from the perspective of the transformation of forest
landscapes in the past. In exploring these matters, we
particularly intended to depict the complexity of issues
related to the multifaceted use of the environment by
humans in the past. Each of these activities required the
initiation of different types of settlement processes that
affected the local environment to varying degrees. We
consider proto-industrial exploitation to be the most
influential process, while honey extraction is the least
intrusive on the ancient environment. Logging ranks
between these 2 activities (Samojlik et al., 2013). Geographic names may constitute an auxiliary source of information on the forest activities and often—due to lack of
historical data—they may be the only evidence of activities
that were performed in a given area (Groenewoudt et al.,
2022). In this study, we focused in particular on forest
landscapes, which we believe provide a more comprehensive grasp of the subject presented here.
Here, we have focused on the place names used in the
area of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland by 1600 AD.
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Modern period, forests in the Polish territory were overexploited by different groups of people (mostly noble
owners) who had permits (granted by Polish kings) to cut
trees freely. The lack of a forest protection policy contributed to the catastrophic loss of forest areas in Poland in
_
the 16th–18th centuries (Zabko-Potopowicz,
1965). During this period, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
became one of the largest exporters of forest products
(Rybarski, 1928; North, 2011). The inclusion of both
Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the sphere
of trade in wood raw materials was possible largely due to
the victory in the so-called Thirteen Years’ War (1454–
1466) between the Polish Crown and the Teutonic Order.
All the economic and settlement phenomena described
here were reflected in place names. Thus, they are an
extremely sensitive indicator testifying to the place, scale,
and strength of human activity on the past landscapes.
Until the end of the 18th century, forests were mainly
exploited for export to Western Europe (timber, mast
wood, firewood, etc.) and other processes such as beekeeping, ore smelting, and production of charcoal, ash, and
potash (Kutrzeba and Duda, 1915; Rybarski, 1928;
_
Zabko-Potopowicz,
1965). Development of protoindustries such as glasswork or forges in dense forests led
to an increase in settlement, which reflected in the emergence of various types of forest enclaves (Heymanowski,
1969; Róg, 2021). On the other hand, in terms of the
economic context, the main form of forest exploitation
in the period in question was the self-renewal of forest
_
complexes (Zabko-Potopowicz,
1965). This means that the
largest and most valuable trees in an area were felled first,
while the rest was left untouched for a certain period of
time. This type of forest management, which was not
guided by any principles, contributed to a gradual shortage of wood material in the long term (Warde, 2006;
Zwi˛azek, 2017). Regular forest management (in today’s
understanding), which aimed at reacting to critical events,
was introduced in Polish lands as late as the 18th–19th
century due to the impact of Prussian and Austrian stan_
dards (Mager, 1960; Zabko-Potopowicz,
1967; Blackbourn,
2007; Hölzl, 2010). Despite limited timber resources in
particular geographical regions in the modern era, until
the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, natural forest
reserves in Poland, Ruthenia, and the Grand Duchy of
Lithuania were quite large and diverse, allowing for the
export of forest products to Western Europe via the most
important waterways—Vistula, Warta, Oder, Niemen, and
Dvina rivers (Ślaski, 1951; Buczek, 1960; Chojnacka, 2007).
Needless to say, the size of these forests shrank with each
passing century and as the so-called “industrial
revolution” gained momentum, the natural forest gradually receded into the commercial forest with all its attendant consequences.
When studying settlement or economic issues related
to the functioning of past societies, it is often very difficult
to focus on the profound and complex environmental
consequences of past human activities. For instance, fires,
floods, or strong winds may cause important forest transformations (Seidl and Rammer, 2017; Dietze et al., 2018;
Dietze et al., 2019; Słowiński et al., 2019; Łuców et al.,
Słowiński et al: Multidimensional tracking and consequences of the usage of forest products
Therefore, we analyzed only the names used in this period
in part of today’s Polish territory and excluded the names
of today’s western (Silesia, Western Pomerania, Pol. Śl˛ask,
Pomorze Zachodnie) and northeastern (Warmia and
Masuria, Pol. Warmia i Mazury) territories of Poland, which
belonged to other countries in the 16th century. Moreover, as our research concerns only the toponymy of the
Polish lands of the Kingdom, the eastern areas of contemporary Poland, which belonged to other districts of the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (Duchy of Lithuania,
Red Ruthenia) in the 16th century, were also excluded.
A reason for limiting the scope of the study to the 16thcentury toponymy of the Polish lands of the Crown is the
availability of complete research material (Section 2.1).
2.1. Onomastics-Key to understand the past
People have named the near and distant surroundings for
centuries. The naming is an important proof of human
“taming” of the landscape. The establishment of a basic
linguistic framework not only familiarized people with the
natural (primeval) landscape but also was necessary to
form further economic, social, and consequently, legal
structures. Onomastics is the science concerned with the
study of geographical names—their history, origin, and
function. It is also a field of knowledge on the borderline
between linguistics (of which it is considered a subdiscipline), historical, and social sciences—as it deals with various aspects of the formation and functioning of proper
names. Onomastic research allows one to delve into the
past. Geographic names (and proper nouns in general)
serve primarily in marking and distinguishing the objects
in space. On the other hand, toponyms are not merely
empty label as they inform about the topographic, cultural, economic, and various other features of a given
region in the near and distant past. Several works have
aimed at reconstructing the past cultural or natural landscape through linguistic data contained in toponyms (Barabach, 2018; Seidl, 2019). In this article, we searched for
traces related to the management and use of forests
employing the 16th-century toponymy of the Polish lands.
This type of onomastic research falls under the category of
cultural onomastics (Rzetelska-Feleszko, 2007), aiming at
analyzing proper names in the context of historical stratification, where a name acts as a transmitter of cultural
forms and a link between past and present. Although the
term cultural onomastics has only been coined recently
(Mrózek, 2004), toponomastic works, which mainly focus
on the linguistic analysis of proper names, traditionally
refer to extralinguistic phenomena that have affected the
process of toponym formation while also being more or
less explicitly reflected in them. This is evidenced by the
fact that most authors of Polish (and Slavic in general)
regional toponomastic monographs have used the
semantic-etymological classification proposed by Taszycki
(1946), with later modifications by Borek (1988), according to which names are classified as follows: topographic,
cultural, ethnic, possessive, patronymic, servile, and professional, as well as ancestral, familial, and relational (particular types refer to a fragment of reality related to
natural properties or human activity). This classification
resulted from historians’ belief that certain types of place
names are associated with the stages of Slavic settlement
(Rzetelska-Feleszko, 1998). Thus, (top)onomastics, by definition, may depict the broadly defined cultural (as well as
natural) landscape reflected in geographical names.
The abovementioned toponomastic monographs have
mostly focused on the scope of the classification referring
to the functioning of names of a given type, which indicate specific natural, settlement, or cultural features of
a given area. However, in a number of Polish and international works, toponymic material has been used to determine the borders of areas and the chronology of specific
human economic activities or the occurrence of particular
natural qualities (Atik and Swaffield, 2017; Barabach,
2018; Seidl, 2019).
Studies aiming at reconstructing ethno-settlement
boundaries based on the linguistic features of toponyms
include the work of Górnowicz (1978), who investigated
the extent of Slavic and Baltic settlements in Lower Vistula
Valley (Pol. Powiśle Gdańskie) region in the Middle Ages. In
his article, Górnowicz (1978) reported on the possibility of
reconstructing plant and animal cover based on nomenclatural data. Furthermore, Qian et al. (2016) attempted
reconstructing the extent of migration of various ethnic
groups in China.
The practical applications of onomastics have been
mentioned in the works concerning the plant diversity
of ecotones of Spain (López-Leiva and Tort-Donada,
2018) or the spatial distribution of tree species in Romania (Simon et al., 2018). Wójcik (2013) used local nomenclature to determine the extent of economic organization
associated with the Piast monarchy in modern Poland.
Examples of research that directly address the issue discussed in this article are those focusing on the nomenclatural traces of the slash-and-burn agriculture in
Switzerland (Conedera et al., 2007), Poland (Zierhoffer and
Zierhofferowa, 2008–2009), and Northern Scandinavia
(Cogos et al., 2019), as well as publications on the chronology of the emergence of local names such as Rumunek
and Rumunki (derived from German Räumung “emptying,
clearing, removing” [here: forest, thickets]) associated with
the Dutch-type settlements in forest areas in central and
northern Poland (Szewczyk, 1981).
2.2. Spatial dataset
The research material was obtained from the spatial database of settlements in the areas of the Kingdom of Poland
in the 16th century (Figure 1).1 This database provides
information about the type of settlement, as well as its
localization, function, and ownership, referring to both
modern and 16th-century names (place names, oikonyms).
Due to the availability of a comprehensive and representative historical database, the study examined toponyms
only from this area in the 16th century instead of entire
1. Map of the Polish lands of the Crown in the 16th century.
Source: Atlas Fontinum spatial database, https://atlasfontium.
pl/?page_id¼848&lang¼en.
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2. Materials and methods
Art. 12(1) page 3 of 26
Art. 12(1) page 4 of 26
Słowiński et al: Multidimensional tracking and consequences of the usage of forest products
contemporary Poland. Although several historical and
toponomastic works have described the toponymy of
other territories mentioned earlier, there is no spatial
database comparable to the one used here covering the
Crown of Poland. There are of course complete databases
of contemporary toponymy, such as the PRNG (National
Register of Geographical Names), which contains information on the names of over 124,500 settlements and
141,500 physiographical objects and could serve as
a source of research material. However, the current Polish
place name system is very complex. In the case of western
and northern territories (Silesia, Western Pomerania, Warmia, and Masuria), a number of artificial names were introduced after the Second World War, which may resemble
the names that were searched for, but do not actually
reflect the Medieval or Early Modern reality.
The analysis of the research material involved semiautomatic (supervised) extraction of toponyms derived from
Old Polish or Proto-Slavic lexis related to the use of the
forest and its resources (specific examples of words and
toponymic derivatives are provided in Table 1). Information on vocabulary was collected from the dictionaries of
Old Polish and Proto-Slavic languages, as well as from
etymological and toponomastic studies, in which the
meanings of words forming toponyms were reconstructed
if there was no attestation for a common word.
At the end of the analysis, a total of 507 settlements
with names related to forest economic activities were
obtained from about 24,000 objects. We distinguished 3
basic semantic categories being associated with:
1. forest clearings and timber harvesting,
2. extraction and processing of raw materials, and
3. honey harvesting (beekeeping).
Place names used in the analysis date back to the second half of the 16th century, but their origins stem from
the colonization processes of the Late Medieval times. To
a large extent, these are settlements established between
the 13th and 15th century and the terms identifying them
refer rather to the time of their founding. Numerous settlements may have changed their ontological status (Garbacz et al., 2018; Myrda et al., 2020) in the late 16th
century and their inhabitants may have been engaged in
agriculture instead of logging. Unfortunately for several
hundred villages, it was not possible to trace the exact
history of their settlement development. However, it was
assumed that when researching such a vast material, the
sheer number of place names should compensate for the
lack of detailed studies. In addition, in the Medieval and
Early Modern times, the level of anthropogenic pressure
increased relatively slowly. A greater dynamics of change
in the forest landscapes (and settlements) can be observed
in the Polish territories only since the turn of the 16th and
17th centuries (Wyrobisz, 1968a; Róg, 2021; Zwi˛azek,
2022).
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Figure 1. Study area. Poland in the 16th century in the context of various historical onomastic layers.
Słowiński et al: Multidimensional tracking and consequences of the usage of forest products
Art. 12(1) page 5 of 26
Table 1. List of names related to forest exploitation in the Polish lands in the Early Modern period
Lexical Bases
Meanings
Settlement Names (Examples)
Names associated with clearing of forest areas for timber harvesting and/or land cultivation (development of
settlement structures)
settlement of forest workers
Buda, Budnie, Budziska, Budy, Kolbudy, Strysza Buda,
and Kosobudy
drwal
lumberjack
Drwale, Drwały, and Drwalewo
drwa, drzewo, drewno
tree; wood; timber
Drzewca, Drzewce, Drzewica, and Drwienia
gorzeć, perf. pogorzeć,
zgorzeć
to burn
Zgorzelec, Zegrze, Z_ egrze, Zgierz, Pogorzele, Zgorzelica,
Gorzeń, and Pogorzałki
kopanina also called nowina
in Polish
clearing taken under cultivation
Kopanina and Kopaniny
łaz
arable land in place of cleared forest
Łazy, Łaziec, Łaziska, Łaźniki, and Łaz˛eki
palić perf. opalić
to burn
Opalenica, Opalenka, and Opalenie
Piła
saw mill; saw
Piła, Pieła, and Pilna Wólka
R˛ebać, por˛eba, zar˛ab, zar˛eba,
zar˛ebie “ts.”
to cut or chop the trees, a place where the
forest was cut down
Por˛abka, Por˛eba, R˛abienie, Rembowo, R˛ebowo, Zar˛eba,
Zar˛ebki, and Zar˛eby
sałasz, szałas
primitive forest cottage, hut
Szałas
trzebić, trzebinia, trzebina
to clear, clearing taken under cultivation
Trzebinia, Trzebiele, Trzebień, Trzebieniec, Treblina, and
Trebień
z_ ar, zdziar, z_ dz_ ar
area of burned-out forest taken under
cultivation
Z_ ary, Z_ arki, Z_ aryniec, Z_ dz_ ar, Z_ dz_ arka, Z_ dz_ arówka,
Z_ dz_ arzec, and Z_ ardki
z_ ec (<Proto-Slavic *žegti),
poz_ ega, poz_ oga
to burn, to destroy with fire, fire; burned-out
forest
Z_ agań, Z_ eglce, Z_ egielnice, Z_ egrowo, Poz_ egowo, and
Poz_ ogi
Names related to the extraction and processing of raw materials
dziegieć
tar, pitch
Dziegietnia, Dziekciniec, Dziekczyno, Dziektarnia,
Dziektarzewo, and Dziechtarzewo
hamer
ironworks (<German Hammer)
Hamer, Hamer Oleski, Hamrzysko, Hamerski Młyn,
Chomrzyska, and Chamrzyska
huta
ironworks (<German Hütte)
Huta, Chuta, Uta, Hucisko, and Ucisko
koper
copper (<Middle German kopper)
Kopernia and Kopermil
kuźnica
ironworks
Kuźnica, Kuźnice, Kuźniczki, Kuźnica Herbułtowska,
and Zawadzka Kuźnica
miedź
copper
Miedzianka and Miedziane Góry
młot
hammer
Młoty
piec
blast furnace
Piec, Piecki, Pieczyska, and Pieczyski
Ruda, adj. rudny
ore; ironworks (usually with ore mine)
Ruda, Rudy, Rudnik, Rudniki, Rudzica, Rudny Młyn,
Rudnica, and Rudniczysko
Smoła, adj. smolny
tar, pitch
Smoleń, Smolina, Smolnica, Smolsko, Smoluhy,
Zgliczyno Smolne, Smołdzino, Smolany, and Smołki
st˛epor
type of hammer
St˛epor
szkło
glass
Tymianka-Szklarze, Szklana Huta, Szklanów, and
Szklary
Z_ elazo, adj. z_ elazny
iron; a thing made of iron
Hamer Z_ elazny, Z_ eleźnica, Z_ elazy, Z_ elazna, Z_ elazko,
Z_ elazówka, Wola Z_ elezna, and Z_ eleźnikowa
z_ up
ironworks
Z_ upawa
(continued)
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Buda, adj. budny
Art. 12(1) page 6 of 26
Słowiński et al: Multidimensional tracking and consequences of the usage of forest products
Table 1. (continued)
Lexical Bases
Meanings
Settlement Names (Examples)
Names associated with honey harvesting
barć bartnik, bartodziej
hive, beehive, beekeeper
Bartnia, Bartniki, Bartodzieje, and Wola Bartodziejska
miód
honey (<Proto-Slavic *měd8)
Miedary (16c. Niedary), Miedzwno, Miednik, and
Miedzna
obelnik
beekeeper
Obelniki
otoka
an area of forest with hives
Otoka
pasieka
apiary, bee-garden (<forest clearing)
Pasieka and Pasieki
2.3. Statistical approaches
We used spatial and inferential statistics to determine the
similarities and differences in the spatial distribution of
the 3 types of toponyms in relation to all other villages.
First, the local point patterns were examined using a distance-based analysis. The mean distance to the nearest
neighbor was considered to verify if the distribution of
the locations of each toponym type was random, clustered, or dispersed. Subsequently, an analysis was carried
out to test whether the 3 toponym types and other villages were equidistant from rivers and towns. Since the
Shapiro–Wilk W normality test revealed that the distributions of both distances by each toponym type were not
normally distributed, a nonparametric Kruskal–Wallis test
was used to identify if at least one of the distances differed
from others. Dunn’s pairwise comparison post hoc test
with Bonferroni adjustment was performed to determine
which specific distances were different compared to
others.
Then, spatial autocorrelation was tested to determine
the relationships between village locations within each
toponym group (except for beekeeping-related villages
due to small sample size), in order to identify statistically
significant clusters and outliers. We used the Optimized
Outlier Analysis tool in ArcGIS to aggregate the village
locations into raster cells. The cell size and analysis scale
were optimized based on the characteristics of each village
group. Then, using the 8 nearest neighbors within the
optimized distance threshold for each cell, local Moran’s
I statistic was run, after correcting for multiple testing and
spatial dependence using the false discovery rate method.
Statistical significance was obtained by repeating the analysis 999 times while varying the values around each zone
using a randomization process. Finally, as described above,
we investigated the variations in distances to a river and
a town by each local Moran’s I cluster/outlier group. We
spatially joined the cluster/outlier label to the village locations and then averaged the distances by each cluster/
outlier group.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Place names dataset
Place names dating from the 16th century were classified
into 3 main types (see Table 1 and Tables A1, A2, and A3).
The first group includes oikonyms related to forest clearing and exploitation of agro-pastoral character. The second
group includes names that are directly related to industry
(forges, ironworks, etc.). The last and least numerous
groups include the names of settlements that are relics
of beekeeping activities.
It should be noted that this list does not include all the
names that could be associated with the activities that are
the subject of this article. We have selected only those
names for which their primary semantics can be clearly
identified, while we had to omit names with ambiguous
motivation. Examples of such toponyms are names like
W˛eglewo, W˛eglno, or D˛ebniki. Their bases may have
included lexemes related to forestry activities (w˛egiel
“coal”, d˛ebnik “a man tanning leather with oak bark”), but
in many cases, it is possible that they are based on words
with a different semantics, for example, W˛egiel (personal
name), w˛egieł “corner, angle,” and d˛ebnik “young oak
forest.”
3.2. Spatial analysis
Spatial and inferential statistics were employed to determine the similarities and differences in the distribution of
the 3 types of toponyms and other villages. First, we apply
point pattern analysis 4 times to examine the spatial distribution of each village type and other villages based on
distances between the villages of each type only. The
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Some of the place names were excluded from the
analysis, as they resulted from the consequences of colonization processes and settlement development in the
study area. The parish of Zar˛eby located in the vicinity of
Andrzejewo, a town (nowadays a village) on the eastern
edge of the White Forest (Pol. Puszcza Biała), may be
considered as an example. Theoretically, this name
should be interpreted as referring to tree felling. However, this oikonym is related to a noble coat of arms that
was popular in Greater Poland (Pol. Wielkopolska) and
eastern Mazovia (Mazowsze) during the Middle Ages.
Therefore, the village of Zar˛eby Kościelne, at that time,
served as a center of local gentry using the aforementioned coat of arms. This has an impact on the local
toponymy, as various settlement names contain the root
word “Zar˛eba” (e.g., Zar˛eby Leśne, Ciemne Zar˛eby, Zar˛ebyBiendugi, Zar˛eby-Bolendy) (Słoń and Słomska-Przech,
2021).
Słowiński et al: Multidimensional tracking and consequences of the usage of forest products
group was disaggregated. The results revealed that isolated timber villages were closer to rivers and towns, while
high-density clusters were farthest away. Furthermore,
high-density clusters of raw material villages were closer
to rivers while isolated places were most distant. Regarding distance to towns, this spatial pattern seemed different, as isolated raw material villages were closer and highdensity places were farthest. For other villages, the variation in distance to rivers by local Moran’s Ii group was
insignificant, but when considering the distance to towns,
isolated other villages were closer to towns while other
high-density villages were farthest from them.
Statistical analysis of distance from towns and rivers
showed some significant correlations between the type
of settlement (its name) and its location. As Table 2
shows, settlements with names related to honey harvesting are the closest to towns. This is probably related to
the fact that among these names, the so-called servicerelated names (Pol. nazwy słuz_ ebne) have the largest share
(Miedary, Bartniki, Bartodzieje, and Obelniki). This is a specific
type of names closely related to the economic organization
of the Polish state of the Piast era (cf. Wójcik, 2013). Such
settlements were originally inhabited by a specialized
population referred to in historiography as ministeriales
(Pol. słuz_ ebnicy), who were obliged to perform duties
toward the seat of the monarchical authorities; hence, they
were usually located in its vicinity. Names originally referring to servants are also recorded in case of settlements
associated with the extraction and processing of raw materials (Rudniki and Szklary), but their share of the total corpus is much smaller than in the case of names associated
with honey harvesting.
On the other hand, settlements with names related to
the extraction and processing of raw materials are statistically closest to the rivers. This can be explained by
the fact that many of these sites are original mill settlements, forges, smelters (e.g., Hamer, Huta, Kopermil).
Their functioning required a constant supply of energy,
of which the most effective and stable source was water
flowing in rivers or streams; hence, they were located
close to them. This was, so to speak, the sine qua non
of their existence. It may of course be asked why villages
with names associated with timber harvesting were
located further away from rivers—after all, this was the
best way to transport harvested timber at the time. However, this seems to have to do with the rather large
typological diversity of these settlements and their
names. Only some of them indicate settlements whose
primary function was logging and timber processing
(e.g., Buda, Drwale, Piła), while in most cases, they simply inform about how the land for the establishment of
settlements was harvested (burning and clearing), but
these names were not necessarily related to the primary
activity of their inhabitants.
Furthermore, spatial data used make it theoretically
possible to identify forests that were most exploited in
the Middle Ages and especially in the 16th century. These
were complexes along the main rivers—the Vistula, Narew,
Bug, and Warta. For this purpose, the reconstruction of
forest cover from the late 18th and early 19th centuries
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analysis showed that the sites related to timber (n ¼ 198)
and raw material (n ¼ 281) were significantly clustered
because the real mean distance is statistically significantly less than the random expectation (timber:
mean/expected distance ¼ 14.53 km/17.58 km, P ¼
0.000; raw materials: mean/expected distance ¼ 10.83
km/14.57 km, P ¼ 0.000). The places related to honey (n
¼ 28) were dispersed because the real mean distance is
greater than the expected distance but it is not statistically significantly different from a random distribution
(mean/expected distance ¼ 46.77 km/39.48 km, P ¼
0.062). Comparatively, other villages (n ¼ 18,681) were
significantly clustered (mean/expected distance ¼ 1.67
km/2 km, P ¼ 0.000).
Second, we compared distances from each of the 4
villages types to the closest river and closest town. The
nonparametric Kruskal–Wallis test showed a statistically
significant difference between all 4 groups (w2 ¼
123.203, 3 df, P ¼ 0.000) in terms of distance to a river.
Dunn’s pairwise comparison post hoc test with Bonferroni adjustment indicated that the locations related to
raw material were significantly closer to a river compared to other villages (z ¼ 11.1, P ¼ 0.000), timber sites
(z ¼ 7.16, P ¼ 0.000), and honey sites (z ¼ 3.23, P ¼
0.004). The sites of timber (z ¼ 0.037, P ¼ 1.000) and
honey (z ¼ 0.138, P ¼ 1.000) were found to be equidistant to a river compared to other villages, whereas the
sites of honey (z ¼ 0.116, P ¼ 1.000) were equidistant
compared to those related to timber. In terms of distance to a town, a statistically significant difference was
observed between all 4 groups (w2 ¼ 10.082, P ¼ 0.018).
Dunn’s post hoc test with Bonferroni adjustment
showed that honey locations were significantly closer
to a town compared with other villages (z ¼ 2.862,
P ¼ 0.013) and sites of raw materials (z ¼ 3.019,
P ¼ 0.008). Timber (z ¼ 0.98, P ¼ 0.981) and raw material (z ¼ –0.951, P ¼ 1.000) sites were equidistant to
a town compared to other villages; raw material (z ¼
1.37, P ¼ 0.512) and honey (z ¼ 2.334, P ¼ 0 .059)
sites and other villages were equidistant compared to
timber locations and other villages and timber sites were
equidistant compared to raw material places. Spatial
autocorrelation tests show (Figure 2) that villages
related to timber and raw materials present 2 highdensity clusters.
One high-density timber village cluster is concentrated
in the area around the 2 main Mazovian towns of Warsaw
(Warszawa) and Płock, congruent with the north-central
high-density cluster of other villages. The timber cluster
also extends north-east of Warsaw, which has an average
density of other villages. The high-density raw material
village cluster is located between Warsaw and Cracow
(Kraków), which is an area with an average density of other
villages.
In the next stage of research, we investigated variations
in distances to a river and a town by each cluster/outlier
group. The cluster/outlier label was spatially linked to the
village location and subsequently distances were averaged
for each cluster/outlier group, as shown in Table 2. Essentially, the difference in mean distance by local Moran’s Ii
Art. 12(1) page 7 of 26
Art. 12(1) page 8 of 26
Słowiński et al: Multidimensional tracking and consequences of the usage of forest products
was used.2 The juxtaposition of these data with place
names directly related to logging shows 2 essential things.
First, it can be seen that the forests at the confluence of
the Vistula, Bug, and Narew Rivers (area A in Figure 3)
were most intensively logged for export in the Early Modern times. In this context, it is not surprising that Poland’s
king Stefan Batory issued a document in 1579 prohibiting
the exploitation of royal forests (Batory, 1579). Secondly,
the juxtaposition of place names with the reconstructed
forest area indicates that forests in the south of the
country (area B on Figure 3) must have been cut down
before 1600—perhaps even as early as the 15th or 14th
century. Therefore, the combination of place names,
2. Source: https://data.atlasfontium.pl/layers/datafontium_
data:geonode:lasy (accessed 08.07.2023).
forest cover, and major rivers on a single map makes it
possible to delineate some potential zones for forest
use in the past. These are underpinned by written
sources, as evidenced in written sources. Forests that
belonged to the king and were close to navigable rivers
were exploited to a greater extent than complexes
that were further away from the watercourses (Zwi˛azek
et al., 2023a).
3.3. Forest-connected settlements with their
environmental context and consequences
Permanent forest colonization is one of the factors of
settlement landscape that usually appears relatively late.
In Central Europe, the first forest settlements were associated with the development of the so-called German law
system (Bartlett, 1993). However, so far, some observations
show that the biggest quantum leap came much later—in
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Figure 2. Local Moran’s Ii results by toponym group. High–high cluster is a statistically significant high-density
grouping (a lot of neighbors), low–low cluster is a statistically significant low-density grouping (few neighbors,
isolated villages), high–low outlier is a high-density pocket of many proximate villages surrounded by a few
isolated villages, low–high outlier is a low-density pocket of few villages surrounded by a high-density pocket of
many villages. Not significant is an area of distances not statistically different from the mean distance.
Słowiński et al: Multidimensional tracking and consequences of the usage of forest products
Art. 12(1) page 9 of 26
Table 2. Average (Avg) and standard (SD) deviation values for local Moran’s Ii clusters based on Figure 2 and
all village locations by toponym group (LL ¼ low–low, LH ¼ low–high, HL ¼ high–low, HH ¼ high–high, and
NS ¼ not significant)
Village
Group
Timber
Raw
materials
Honey
Avg Distance to
River (km)
SD Distance to
River (km)
Avg Distance to
Town (km)
SD Distance to
Town (km)
15
HL
0.918
1.532
4.398
4.552
71
HH
1.760
1.429
6.795
4.017
112
NS
1.439
1.199
6.523
3.405
198
All locations
1.515
1.325
6.459
3.755
12
HL
1.390
1.395
5.182
5.396
75
HH
0.580
0.935
8.315
3.900
194
NS
0.990
1.489
6.620
3.954
281
All locations
0.898
1.371
7.011
4.080
1,641
LL
1.662
1.838
5.737
4.508
628
LH
1.704
1.501
6.470
3.193
911
HL
1.615
1.626
5.447
4.205
10,293
HH
1.527
1.379
7.041
3.410
5,208
NS
1.571
1.495
6.372
3.335
28
All locations
1.540
1.507
4.964
3.658
18,681
All locations
1.561
1.475
6.643
3.570
the 17th and 18th centuries (Śl˛aski, 1954; Heymanowski,
1969). In fact, permanent forest colonization must be
treated as a long-term effect of progressive colonization
and landscape opening by human societies, as well as
a consequence of the rapid development of industrial
techniques and societal changes (Kizwalter, 2020; Czerwiński et al., 2021; Słowiński et al., 2021; Izdebski et al.,
2022). With each passing century, the forest cover shrank,
due to progressive felling of trees for agriculture and livestock grazing, and also disproportionately slower regener_
ation of natural tree stands (Zabko-Potopowicz,
1965). The
export of forest products to Western Europe in the 15th
and 16th centuries was caused by the intensive development of this part of the continent, resulting in drastic
shrinkage of forest cover in countries such as England,
France, and the Netherlands (Warde, 2006; Kaplan et al.,
2009; Jedwab et al., 2020). As the demand for wood grew,
people began to search for new markets that could supply
this valuable raw material. Furthermore, rapid economic
development necessitated not only consistent food supply
but also materials for construction and crafting for the
manufacture of everyday products—both ordinary and lux_
urious (Zabko-Potopowicz,
1965).
The social development in Western Europe paved the
way for the exploitation of primeval forests in Central
and Eastern Europe. A large number of forests in the
Vistula river basin were cut down during the 15th and
16th centuries, which triggered discussions on their protection. For instance, Queen Constance of Austria
(1588–1631), wife of Polish King Sigismund III Vasa,
issued a decree stipulating the protection of Tuchola
Pine Forest (Pol. Bory Tucholskie) located in Northern
Poland (Słowiński et al., 2021). The lack or inadequate
control of tenants who took over individual estates
(royal, noble, and ecclesiastical) for a specific period,
paying an annual fee to the owners, and exploited the
forest stands beyond their means, did not make matters
any easier (Zwi˛azek et al., 2023a). The so-called forest
entry rights granted to the nobility by Polish monarchs
were also detrimental. Using these privileges, the nobles
harvested timber without interference from forestry officials. Jan Kochanowski, a Renaissance poet, described
the intensive forest clearing in the Kingdom of Poland
in his poem emphasizing the construction of ironworks,
forge burning of charcoal, and production of tar and tar
pitch (Kochanowski, 1930).
Due to the scarcity of statistical records describing the
scale of deforestation in Polish lands in the Middle Ages
and Early Modern Times, we relied on indirect data.
Sources indicating an increase in cultivated acreage with
a simultaneous shrinkage of forest cover are relevant in
this scenario (Gidaszewski et al., 2013). According to tax
documents from the 16th century, between 1533 and
1569, there was a 150%–250% increase in cultivated area
in the eastern part of the then Crown of Poland and an
80%–100% increase in taxed cultivated area in the central
part (in Greater Poland, Pol. Wielkopolska and Cuyavia, Pol.
Kujawy; Boroda, 2016). This has been interpreted primarily
through the changes associated with the development of
settlement structures in the successive stages of internal
colonization of Early Modern Poland (Kowalczyk-Heyman
and Gochna, 2018) or economic issues conceived through
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Other
villages
Local Moran’s Ii
Cluster
n
Art. 12(1) page 10 of 26
Słowiński et al: Multidimensional tracking and consequences of the usage of forest products
readaptation of agricultural wastelands (the so-called
empty fields, Lat. mansi deserti) as well as the development of the nobleman’s manor (Boroda, 2016). However,
it should be highlighted that researchers who have
explored Poland’s economic history have focused only
on assessing cereal commodity export, usually overlooking
the importance of forest commodities in their macroanalyses (Małowist, 2006). Nevertheless, the geographic features of the studied areas and their proximity to the
Vistula river basin point to an intensive exploitation of
local primeval forests at first and only in the next stage
the encroachment of regular settlement structures into
_
the forests (Zywirska,
1973).
In general, 2 basic types of forest settlements can be
distinguished in various historical sources. The first group
includes seasonal settlements, which were not permanently inhabited. Most often, these were the shacks of
coal burners or peasants gathering hay from the fields
located in the middle of the forests. These settlements are
difficult to track in written sources, but at times, they can
be located on old maps. Researchers frequently presume
their existence based on the macro- or microtoponymic
layer. The second group includes rural or industrial settlements located on the settlement peripheries. Nevertheless, in this case, we did not analyze cities and towns,
which have a considerably varied impact on the surrounding environment.
In the Polish literature, the practice of forest exploitation
is referred to as “predatory” until the introduction of modern forest management in the 18th and 19th centuries
(Broda, 2000). However, this term is misleading and creates
unnecessary antagonism, while implying the superiority of
conventional forest management in the context of timber
harvesting. The term “selective management” would be
more appropriate as in those times forests were used
mainly for harvesting the finest (i.e., largest, straightest, and
most valued species) of trees. Moreover, it is not true that
the past societies had no concerns about the environmental
consequences of overexploitation of biomass (Zwi˛azek,
2017). However, in many cases, the logging was fully intentional due to the desire for obtaining the highest possible
income from estates leased for a certain period. Forest
exploitation in the preindustrial era, at the scale of the 3
important groups of economic activity, not only led to the
emergence of midforest clearings or breaking (and thus
extension) of forest borders but also caused changes in the
species composition of individual tree stands.
3.4. Clearing of forest areas for timber harvesting
Oikonyms related to forest clearing can be divided into
2 subcategories. The first category includes names
(i.e., buda, kopanina, łaz, and z_ ar) indicating management resulting in the formation of midforest clearings
(Figures 4 and 5). They were known to be established as
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Figure 3. Distribution of most intensively exploited forests at the end of the 16th century, alongside the
network of major rivers and local names associated with timber exploitation. Source data based on: spatial
datasets from https://data.atlasfontium.pl/layers/?limit¼5&offset¼0 (accessed 08.07.2023).
Słowiński et al: Multidimensional tracking and consequences of the usage of forest products
Art. 12(1) page 11 of 26
a result of tree felling for charcoal burning, or for tar or ash
production, or due to natural factors such as windstorms,
fires, or insect outbreaks. In modern times, these were frequently used as a natural source of hay for locals and animals also grazed on them (Wawrzyńczyk, 1962). Initially,
simple huts were built in these locations, but with time
permanent settlements were established and inhabited by
people—dwellers and builders—living on the margins of the
contemporary society. Both dwellers and hutters earned
their living by felling trees, burning tar, and making ashes.
The activity of the hutters in modern times led to the
clearing of vast areas of old tree stands throughout the
Early Modern times (Heymanowski, 1969; Róg, 2021).
Interestingly, these people, who were living away from the
rest of society, were not well received (Figure 6). At the
turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, they were often
referred to as idlers, scoundrels, and criminals leading an
adventurous life in the forests.
Between the late 15th and the end of the 16th century,
timber trade on the territory of the Polish Crown reached
_
its peak (Zabko-Potopowicz,
1965). The areas of Mazovia
and Central and Lesser Poland (Pol. Małopolska places
around Cracow, contemporary capital city) were heavily
exploited (Figure 4). According to researchers dealing
with the subject of trade in forest products, the exported
goods can be divided into 2 basic groups.
The first group was referred to as productive resource
(used to build ships, masts, buildings, barrels, chests,
and other products) and the second as firewood
_
(Zabko-Potopowicz,
1965). Nonetheless, in the recent,
dendrochronological research showed that wood
obtained from the areas of Poland and the Grand Duchy
of Lithuania was used in arts and crafts in Western Europe (Waz_ ny, 2002; Haneca et al., 2005; Daly and Tyers,
2022). Based on the evidence collected so far, it can be
concluded that at the turn of the Middle Ages and Early
Modern times, the Polish and Lithuanian lands supplied
Western Europe with basic forestry goods, thereby promoting its rapid development. However, this state of
affairs did not last long, as later (especially in the 17th
century), Sweden became a monopolist in this market,
entering the most dynamic phase in the development of
its statehood in the Early Modern era (von Sundberg
et al., 1995).
The second category consists of all names associated
with tree felling for raw materials, such as timber logs,
firewood, or other forestry semifinished products. These
include all oikonyms with word roots, such as drew, piła,
r˛ab/r˛eb, and trzeb. Wood was not only harvested by people
for their own use, but, above all, it was floated down the
waterways—most often in the form of raw (Pol. kłodzina)
or pretreated logs (Pol. dyle).
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Figure 4. Spatial distribution of the place names connected with timber harvesting. The red color indicates
a spatially significant accumulation of place names of a certain type within the borders of the Polish Crown (excluding
Red Ruthenia) at the end of the 16th century.
Art. 12(1) page 12 of 26
Słowiński et al: Multidimensional tracking and consequences of the usage of forest products
3.4.1. Environmental consequences
In written sources, we find information that deforestation
contributed to a significant decline in animal biomass.
Forests in the central part of Mazovia may serve as an
example of this phenomenon. Royal officials who visited
these forests in the mid-16th century pointed out that
“the [wild] animals no longer have the peace and quiet
they used to have” (Zwi˛azek et al., 2023a). In addition,
pressure from the opening up of the forest landscape and
the grazing of the midforest pastures contributed to the
extinction of the aurochs (Bos primigenius), which is mentioned in the manuscripts of the time (Dymek, 2007).
These documents also mention that the deforestation process itself may have been very violent. The forests known
from the king’s estates inspection in 1564–1565 may have
been completely cut down in the perspective of the following year. Apart from regular logging in connection
with floating of timber products, another problem was,
firstly, the deliberate starting of fires in the forest in order
to quickly gain land for cultivation and to remove the
deadwood from forest ecosystem (Poniatowski, 1781).
Anthropogenic deforestation, which was usually associated with timber harvesting or opening of the landscape
in the direct catchment of wetlands or lakes for agriculture, had a significant impact on these ecosystems
(Lamentowicz et al., 2019b; Feurdean et al., 2020; Kittel
et al., 2020; Kruczkowska et al., 2021; Łuców et al., 2021;
Słowiński et al., 2021). Firstly, most of them are located in
depressions in the landscape, which forces slope processes
(e.g., Butz et al., 2017; Ott et al., 2017; Zawisza et al., 2019;
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Figure 5. Gradual encroachment of settlements into the forest. (A) Establishment of a settlement at the forest
wall. (B) Beginning of people’s migration into the forest. Establishment of seasonal huts. (C) Transformation of
temporary settlements into more permanent units. (D) Stabilization of forest settlements resulting in intense
human impact. Illustrations by Tomasz Ryger.
Słowiński et al: Multidimensional tracking and consequences of the usage of forest products
Art. 12(1) page 13 of 26
_
Zarczyński
et al., 2019). As a result, opening of the landscape by felling, burning, or wind throwing can cause
erosion and denudation on the slope, as well as chemical
denudation (its intensity is dependent on the species
structure). Due to landscape opening and consequently
erosion downslope, dust and nutrients are delivered to
basins, causing eutrophication (Kołaczek et al., 2013;
Dietze et al., 2016; Mroczkowska et al., 2021; Słowiński
et al., 2021). Depending on their magnitude and the resilience of the ecosystem, these disturbances (e.g., deforestation caused by logging or fire) can trigger a cascade of
events (Fialkiewicz-Koziel et al., 2016; Kinder et al., 2019;
Graham et al., 2021; Łuców et al., 2021). These, in turn,
may potentially affect the transformation of vegetation
cover, change trophic status, and ultimately affect the
functioning of ecosystems, shifting their ecological state
(Lamentowicz et al., 2019a; Zawisza et al., 2019).
3.5. Extraction and processing of raw materials
Civilization of the Middle Ages and Early Modern period
required increased volumes of processed iron raw material
of high quality (Sigaut, 1998). This in turn escalated tree
felling for timber, the basic raw material providing energy
for steel production (Kander et al., 2014). Steel was commonly traded in the Polish lands in the form of iron bars
or rails (Figure 7; Rybarski, 1928). Raw material production was carried out in forges. These were settlement units
that interfered with the forest landscape, as these formed
highly developed hinterlands of a more permanent nature
around them (Crossley, 1972). Forges were widespread in
the Polish lands already in the late Middle Ages and
increasing in number in each succeeding century (Zientara, 1954; Kuraś, 1959; Guldon, 1974; Laberschek, 1996).
In addition to the essential fuel (charcoal), forges required
access to iron raw material, which could be (especially in
Pomerania) imported from countries such as Sweden
(Kiarszys, 2015) or (more commonly) obtained from the
local deposits of the so-called iron bog ore. Thus, the
construction of a forge in a given area was determined
mainly by the access to meadow iron (Ratajczak and Skoczylas, 1999), flowing water for building a water mill, and
finally, deciduous trees for firing energetically caloric charcoal (Smil, 2017; Brykała and Podgórski, 2020).
Documents and privileges issued by landowners to
forges often allowed unrestricted exploitation of the surrounding natural environment (Kowalczyk-Heyman,
2017). Water-powered forges usually had 3 water wheels,
one for driving the hammer that crushed the ore, one for
the bellows, and the third one, hammer, for forging iron
bars (Zientara, 1954). The complexity of these sites is
apparent in the economic inventories describing the personnel working at such sites. Coal burners, smokers, blacksmiths, and washers were among the tax sources
identified from the 16th-century records (Zwi˛azek, 2017).
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Figure 6. Effects of anthropopressure on the shortening of the forest wall line in the past. (A) Extraction of
arable fields and pastures. (B) Establishment of fields and clearings in the middle of the forest. (C) Establishment of
midforest settlements. Archival maps from late 18th century from Central Archive of Old Records in Warsaw, Stare
Archive in Lublin and Department of the Historical Atlas (Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw).
Art. 12(1) page 14 of 26
Słowiński et al: Multidimensional tracking and consequences of the usage of forest products
Forge works were mostly constructed remote from rural
settlements. This forced the landowners to provide bog
iron-processing workers in order to establish an adequate
economic base in the form of a workforce engaged in crop
cultivation or animal husbandry (Muszyńska, 2012). The
expense of maintaining such an industrial plant was high
enough to abandon it once the raw material was
exhausted. Hence, forge settlements were transformed
over time into regular agricultural villages, while the workshop used for crushing and processing bog ore was converted either into simple water mills producing flour,
malt, or specialized cloth-producing facilities.
In the Early Modern period (i.e., 16th–17th centuries),
glassmaking started to flourish in the Polish lands, supplying local markets with poor-quality raw material in the
form of glass and simple vessels (Wyrobisz, 1968b; Mucha,
1991; Mucha, 2000; Bis, 2020). While forges tended to
remain in their location, glassworks migrated from site
to site, due to the exploitation of the nearby wood
resources (Černá and Tomková, 2017). The first mention
of glassworks in the Polish lands appeared in written
sources at the end of the 14th century (Wyrobisz,
1968b). Glassworks were located in environments that had
favorable conditions for production. The most important
determinants of these conditions were the occurrence of
quartz sand deposits (outwash plains, also called sandurs)
in the immediate vicinity and proximity of large forest
complexes and water reservoirs or rivers. Similar to forges,
glassworks were located in areas rich in high-energy wood,
especially deciduous species. The most desired wood
material was beechwood needed (in the form of ash) for
glass production (Mucha, 1984). Water, on the other hand,
was used to rinse sand for eliminating components that
can reduce the quality of the raw material produced. Sand
was a major source of silica, while ash contained potassium, calcium, and magnesium compounds (Rubnikowicz,
1995; Markiewicz, 2009; Markiewicz, 2014). Initially, forest
smelters operated for a relatively short time. In the Middle
Ages, contracts for glass producing and timber harvesting
sites were signed up for a term of 15 years. When the
forest in proximity was cut down, the habitats were abandoned and glassworkers moved to a new, not particularly
remote location. In some cases, they continued to operate
in the same place for several decades (Markiewicz, 2014).
Tar production was another branch of forestry that
used wood as a raw material (Broda, 1959). Tar was
obtained by burning wood (mainly pine) in the presence
of a small amount of air. The obtained product was used
mainly as an impregnating agent for wood and to seal
ship hulls. Birch tar was also used as a disinfectant.
3.5.1. Environmental consequences
The presence of production facilities in the forests led to
significant pollution of the local environment with,
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Figure 7. Distribution of local names indicating the industrial exploitation of former forests. The red color
indicates a spatially significant accumulation of place names of a certain type within the borders of the Polish Crown
(excluding Red Ruthenia) at the end of the 16th century.
Słowiński et al: Multidimensional tracking and consequences of the usage of forest products
Art. 12(1) page 15 of 26
among others, heavy metals (Cembrzyński, 2014). Moreover, the satisfaction of industrial needs has contributed
to dynamic deforestation, which can lead either to a lowering of the water table or to deforestation of the dunes. In
either case, the cascade of changes had the effect of worsening the living conditions of the surrounding rural communities (cf. with Heymanowski [1970]). The presence of
industrial facilities in the forests also forced the development of settlement structures and provision of adequate
living conditions for the people working there—this, too,
was associated with a steady increasing human impact
(Zwi˛azek, 2022). Sometimes, natural disasters provided an
impetus for the establishment of villages and forest production. For example, as a result of a massive storm that hit
the Solska Forest in 1791, many hectares of forest were
destroyed. Zamoyski Ordinate, the owners of this land,
decided to establish a potash factory there and soon afterward a village called Aleksandrów, where hutters from the
surrounding area and willing residents from other villages
settled (Archiwum Państwowe w Lublinie, 1650).
Potential environmental effects associated with industrial production in forests are quite easily observable. Initially, clay-lined earth pits were used for tar distillation.
The size of the pits varied, with small ones holding from
1–1.2 m3 up to 60–70 m3 of wood (Figure 8). The pits had
a diameter of a dozen or so meters and a depth of about
1.5 m in the central part. In technologically advanced tar
furnaces, about 365–402 kg of tar was obtained from
a single fathom of wood, while the amounts were much
lower in the most primitive forms (obtaining tar in pits;
Broda, 1959). At the beginning of the 15th century, ash
was floated by merchants from Mazovia (Zakroczym,
W˛asosz, Łomz_ a, Ostroł˛eka, Róz_ an, Maków, and Świedziebnia). There are no records of transport of thermal wood
processing products down the Vistula River from other
parts of Poland (Hirsch, 1858; Sattler, 1887; Kutrzeba,
1922). Prior to the intensive exploitation of coal and lignite deposits in Central Europe in the 19th century, the
predominant high-energy fuel was charcoal extracted by
dry distillation (Smil, 2017). Charcoal hearths were used
for firing charcoal. These were round piles of wood sifted
with a layer of soil and forest litter, in which the energy
raw material was combusted (Figure 8). The diameter of
charcoal hearths ranged from a few meters to tens of
meters. The distribution of relict sites of charcoal production (relict charcoal hearths, RCH) was irregular (Groenewoudt, 2005; Schmidt et al., 2016). Some of the factors
determining the location of charcoal production sites
were the availability of wood substrate, local market
demands, and the possibility of long-distance transport.
The works of Schwedes (1983) and Schmidt et al. (2016)
revealed several RCH locations in former oak, hornbeam,
alder, and birch forests. The estimated density of RCH was
1 per 4.3–7.7 ha (Schmidt et al., 2016). Frommhold (2010)
stated that each charcoal production site used wood from
around 2 ha. These findings demonstrate that charcoal
production is a potential factor modifying soil cover.
Deforestation played an important role in initiating the
remobilization of surface deposits and soil erosion (Rösler
et al., 2012; Jonczak et al., 2013). One may presume that
these were indirect effects of charcoal production.
Removal of natural forest vegetation (sometimes multiple
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Figure 8. Progression of stages and environmental consequences of establishing and operating charcoal
hearths. (A) Locating charcoal hearths site and forest logging. (B) Developing and operating of charcoal hearths.
(C) Site abandoning after charcoal production. (D) Spontaneous regeneration and introduction of pioneer vegetation.
Illustrations of the 3 phases were drawn by Tomasz Ryger.
Art. 12(1) page 16 of 26
Słowiński et al: Multidimensional tracking and consequences of the usage of forest products
first phase, at the time of site selection for charcoal hearth,
the trees in a small area were completely cleared. The
formation of a midforest clearing resulted in sudden
changes in microclimatic conditions at that place, as well
as in the surrounding edge of the forest, making them
more sensitive to macroclimatic conditions (De Frenne
et al., 2021). Compared to the forest interior, forest
“clearings” are exposed to higher amounts of solar radiation and precipitation (due to lower interception) reaching
the ground. These effects increase with the size of
“clearings” but vary within the midforest clearing. The
differences are especially large in dense coniferous and
mixed forests (Chen et al., 1995). Deciduous forests experience greater seasonal fluctuations. Microclimate differences are determined by the diameter of the “clearings”
and its position relative to the sun, the height and structure of the surrounding forest, as well as the climate,
season, and weather patterns (Geiger et al., 1995; Abd
Latif and Blackburn, 2010; Chojnacka-Oz_ ga et al., 2020;
Słowińska et al., 2022). The study on global buffering of
temperatures under forest canopy by De Frenne et al.
(2019) showed that the mean and maximum understory
temperatures were, on average, lower than the macroclimate mean temperatures by 1.7 C ± 0.3 C and 4.1 C ±
0.5 C, respectively. On the other hand, the minimum temperatures of the forest understory were 1.1 C ± 0.2 C
warmer compared to mean temperatures outside the forest. These values may differ based on the forest “clearings”
and stands, but the direction of these averaged differences
should be the same. However, at the time of charcoal
hearths functioning, the “clearings” could be characterized
by much higher air and soil temperatures and therefore
reduced soil moisture and air humidity. After the charcoal
kilns stop functioning, microclimatic differences with the
surrounding forest gradually reduce as a result of plant
succession. However, the high proportion of carbonaceous
material remaining in the soil after burnout reduces the
heat capacity of soil, causing greater thermal fluctuations
compared to ambient soil plots (Schneider et al., 2019).
3.6. Names associated with honey harvesting
Foreigners visiting Poland in modern times were
enthralled by the state of the native environment, pointing to the quality and abundance of honey obtained from
the forests of Prussia, Mazovia, Podlasie, Ruthenia, and the
_
Grand Duchy of Lithuania (Zukowski,
1965). These claims
were supported by the geographical distribution of the
names associated with honey production from beehives
(Figure 9).
According to the available literature, beekeepers (especially during the Middle Ages and Early Modern period,
that is, before the 17th century) were primarily engaged in
agriculture, while beekeeping was a secondary activity.
They formed unified communities that were subordinated
to the so-called honey harvesting law (BorkiewiczCelińska, 1974). The accounting unit was the honey forest,
covering approximately 60 pine (less frequently spruce)
trunks, forming a strongly distinctive landscape layer
(Samojlik et al., 2020). Historical research data show
that trunk distribution within individual forests was
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times in the same site) led to the succession and development of secondary, seminatural, or unnatural plant communities. Carrari et al. (2017) reported that the
environmental conditions at charcoal production sites
favor plant succession due to the availability of light and
nutrients. However, in long term, the conditions become
unfavorable due to changes in soil and rapid leaching of
labile forms of nutrients. Augusto et al. (2002) showed
that any modification in the composition of forest species
can potentially alter the properties of associated soils. Soil
cover of the sites affected by historical charcoal production forms a mosaic system dominated by seminatural
soils with patches of strongly modified soils of RCHs. The
RCH soils are characterized by specific features, of which
the most typical ones are the presence of a single layer or
layers of charcoal particles, ash, tar, and other products
resulting from burning and pyrolysis (Knicker, 2011;
Aldeias et al., 2016; Raab et al., 2019). These products are
highly resistant to decomposition and can persist in soils
over millennia (Valese et al., 2014). The RCH soils also
exhibit other properties: (a) lower bulk density as compared to reference soils (Borchard et al., 2014; Criscuoli
et al., 2014; Schneider et al., 2018); (b) ability to strongly
modify water regime, infiltration, and retention (Doerr
et al., 2000); (c) presence of charcoals causing changes
in the thermal regime, including daily, seasonal, and
annual temperatures; (d) varying soil hydrophobicity
(Schneider et al., 2018) and high proportion of soil organic
matter due to charring and site preparation (Knicker,
2011; Mataix-Solera et al., 2011; Hirsch et al., 2018); (e)
ability to influence soil pH (Hardy et al., 2016); (f) higher
sorption capacity as compared to the reference soils (Mastrolonardo et al., 2018); (g) ability of thermal processing
causing changes in the biogeochemical cycles of chemical
elements, including their content, forms, mobility, and
bioavailability (Hirsch et al., 2017; Mastrolonardo et al.,
2018); and (h) enrichment with other nutrients, such as
K, Ca, Mg, Na, Mn, and Zn (Mastrolonardo et al., 2018).
The impact of “charcoal hearths” on forest ecosystems
ought to be considered in 2 aspects. The first facet of
deforestation is related to the clearing of forest stands and
their direct effect on the processes of landscape opening,
followed by vegetation succession and its consequences
(Słowiński et al., 2022). The second aspect is directly linked
to the products that were targeted. For instance, in case
when charcoal was the intended product, wood could
come from different tree species, while if the desired outcome was potash, the wood that could go into the miller
had to be species, such as Fagus, Carpinus, or Pinus. Therefore, one can assume that the production of potash or, for
example, tar or charcoal selectively influences and shapes
the structure of vegetation in forest ecosystems (Słowiński
et al., 2022). To a certain extent, the formation of new
forest ecosystems can be viewed as a process affecting the
species structure of the forest, which is dictated by the
demand for products (Słowiński et al., 2022). These behaviors can be called the protoplast of forest management. It
should be remembered that deforestation can modify the
forest microclimate. The microclimatic effect of charcoal
hearths was multiphase and changed with time. In the
Słowiński et al: Multidimensional tracking and consequences of the usage of forest products
Art. 12(1) page 17 of 26
determined by the availability of suitable trees on which
a beehive and local site conditions were established
_
(Zukowski,
1965; Niklasson et al., 2010). Often, trees
located on riverside meadows, midforest clearings, or in
ravines were chosen for beehives (Kielak, 2004). A single
hive yielded about 10 kg of honey per season. Individual
apiary could be located between 8 and even 12 km from
the beekeepers’ residence. Additionally, it is known that
beekeepers earned their living from other activities, such
as hunting, fishing, trading, and timber floating
(Połujański, 1859). Because of their work, beekeepers
enjoyed considerable freedom—they were permitted to
hunt birds and small forest animals and occasionally to
chop wood from the forest for their own needs. The
activity of beekeepers, which involved frequent use of
fire inside larger forest complexes, left clear traces. They
regularly burned the lower layers of the forest to improve
the honey yield of the plants around the beehives
(Niklasson et al., 2010). Certainly, the activities of the
beekeepers had an impact on the environment and the
forest stand. In the second half of the 18th century, in
connection with the process of organizing a professional
forestry service to counteract devastation of the forest
stand in the Zamoyski Family Entail forests, a gradual
process of decline in beekeeping began. This was continued from the beginning of the 19th century. In 1817,
Stanisław Zamoyski decided to liquidate beekeeping in
his estate. At the same time with the decline of beekeeping, there were numerous instances of bees being
removed from the forests and placed in homemade apiaries (Jez_ -Jarecki, 1962).
4. Conclusions
Historical onomastic data have not been analyzed so far in
terms of possible environmental consequences on past
forests landscapes. The indirect information provided by
these data fills the information gap regarding not only the
time of a location but also the rationale behind its name,
which in terms of economic development and environmental consequences is very important. Unfortunately,
during settlement development, most of the villages changed their original functions, and agricultural activities
(e.g., ploughing) erased their traces. Competent tracking
of onomastic information allows us to draw the following
conclusions:
– Onomastic research provides a spatial and quantitative description of the processes involved in various
means of forest exploitation in the past.
– Exploitation of forest for logs, staves, and other raw
materials was closely linked to the network of major
navigable rivers. Wood was exported in huge quantities to Western Europe, which resulted in significant deforestation of the Polish lands in the Early
Modern period. The main regions that were heavily
exploited during the 16th century were Lesser
Poland (Pol. Małopolska) and Mazovia.
– Spatial accumulation of names related to industrial
exploitation indicates that this form of exploitation
occurred throughout the entire Polish territory at
that time.
– The sites of industrial exploitation were in close
proximity to small streams that could set in motion
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Figure 9. Spatial distribution of the place names associated with honey harvesting.
Art. 12(1) page 18 of 26
Słowiński et al: Multidimensional tracking and consequences of the usage of forest products
As medieval societies developed, one may observe an
increasing demand for both land (agriculture) and forest
products (e.g., as building blocks) but most importantly
for energy (wood and with time more caloric charcoal).
Increasingly intensive encroachment into forest space created new ecological niches and thus obviously opening up
the landscape. However, deforestation contributed to
forming new types of landscape, with meadows, farmland,
clearings, or orchards. In these aspects, we may, by no
means unequivocally state whether the role of people was
exclusively negative (as today many types of cultural landscape are protected), but certainly in establishing the new
sorts of human-created forms of land use, there was one
feature in common. Namely, when creating a new entity,
people had to supply a considerable amount of energy to
the system, but it also costs a lot of energy to maintain
that landscape, so that it could sustain its functionality
whether it was a farmland, a meadow, or an orchard. Apart
from dimensions of time and space in this process, there is
no escaping from the political, historical, and cultural
context that had accelerated or slowed down setting
events on a different course. Therefore, comprehensive
spatial analysis of onomastic data and possible consequences of past exploitation of forest landscapes has given
us a new potential research field for long-term means of
understanding the processes and geography of past natural resource exploitation. With the observations made
here, it will be possible to better understand the importance of waterways in the exploitation of the past forests
and to reflect on the deeper economic and—above all—
political significance of past deforestation. The forests
were not only part of the political spectacle of the monarchs but also represented a real value that translated into
economic benefits. The phenomena described here took
place during the “golden age” of the development of the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, but the entire 17th
and much of the 18th centuries were marked by the
decline of this state. In this context, it is worth examining
in the future whether the complex phenomena of the
crisis had also influenced the state and structure of Polish
and Lithuanian forests. A wide capture of the issues
addressed that we highlight only about the cascade of
certain events and consequences caused by the consumption of forests in the broadest sense (whether it is simply
deforestation or the complex environmental relations
associated with production of charcoal) is only a contribution and even a suggestion to undertake research in an
interdisciplinary team that, through co-operation, will be
able to raise and provide answers to new cutting-edge
questions.
Data accessibility statement
All the data that were the basis for onomastic analysis
are collected and placed in the Supplemental
Appendix_1.
Supplemental files
The supplemental files for this article can be found as
follows:
Appendix_1. Docx
Acknowledgments
The authors thank an anonymous reviewer, Professor
Dr. Bert Groenewoudt, and Editor Professor Dr. Steven
Allison for their critical and helpful comments.
Funding
The research was funded by the National Science Centre
project, “Impact of charcoal production on environmental
changes in Northern Poland—a novel ‘multi-proxy’
approach” no. 2018/31/B/ST10/02498. The work of
Tomasz Zwi˛azek was funded by a grant from the Polish
National Science Centre, grant no. 2021/43/B/HS3/
02636 (“Bishops’ Trees: The Environmental History of the
White Forest”). Studies conducted by Dominik Róg were
funded by a grant from the Polish National Science Centre,
grant no. 2021/43/O/HS3/01373 (Hutters in the
Zamoyski Family Entail—History of an environmentally
conditioned social group).
Competing interests
The authors have no competing interests to declare.
Author contributions
Conceived and designed the study: MS and TZ.
Conducted the onomastic analysis: PS.
Planned and performed statistical analyses: MAN.
Wrote the paper, analyzed the data, prepared figures
and/or tables, authored or reviewed drafts of the paper,
and approved the final draft: MS, TZ, and coauthors.
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Domain Editor-in-Chief: Steven Allison, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
Associate Editor: Anna Harper, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA
Knowledge Domain: Ecology and Earth Systems
Published: January 18, 2024
Accepted: October 22, 2023
Submitted: May 1, 2023
Copyright: © 2024 The Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
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How to cite this article: Słowiński, M, Zwi˛azek, T, Swoboda, P, Niedzielski, MA, Słowińska, S, Konopski, M, Jonczak, J,
Kruczkowska, B, Chojnacka, A, Róg, D, Szewczyk, K, Brykała, D. 2024. Human impacts on environment in the preindustrial forest
landscapes in Poland—An overview. Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene 12(1). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/
elementa.2023.00065