The role of Medieval road operation on cultural landscape transformation

Connecting pathways are essential for cultural and economic exchange and play an important role in human life. Commonly, historians investigate the role of routes for cultural development, whereas the environmental consequences of historical route construction attract less attention. Here we present, for the first time, a high-resolution reconstruction of the impact of the major trade route via Marchionis in the southern Baltic lowlands on landscape evolution since its construction more than 800 years ago. We utilize precisely dated annually laminated lake sediments from Lake Czechowskie located alongside Via Marchionis to establish multiproxy data at 5-year resolution for an integrated interpretation with historical data. The transformation from a quasi-natural to a cultural landscape was promoted by the operation of Via Marchionis and occurred in three main phases. Superimposed on the long-term development were repeated interruptions by short-term downturns related to societal crisis caused by wars and partly overlapping with climatic deterioration.