Municipal Defensive Walls in Western Poland: The Example of Żagań

Abstract

ABSTRACT Many relics of municipal fortifications are preserved in multiple cities in the Silesian — Lusatian region. Research works are mainly focused on area such a history, architecture or technical state, without correlation between these areas. The correct approach is to identify walls, or sections of them, as part of parallel, interdisciplinary research that covers the history and chronology of transformations, expansion phases, and their state of preservation which was also the primary and main goal of the research in case of Żagań municipal defensive walls. Thanks to architectural and archaeological analysis, it was possible to determine the chronology of the transformations and layers of the walls. Combining the results of the chronological analyses (C-14, dendrochronology) of wood samples from putlog holes with the results of architectural research allows hypotheses regarding the chronology of constructing objects to be confirmed or excluded. During the study it was found, that it is recommended to correlate the results of archaeological research conducted within the area of excavations next to the foundations of city walls with the results of the structural analyses of soil and water conditions. It is then possible to conduct a comparative analysis of the identified soil and anthropogenic layers. The correlation of architectural research in the field of the chronology of the construction of city walls with the results of the analyses of the cross-sectional deformation of their structure (based on 3D laser scanning) enables answers about the causes of the walls’ inclination to be obtained. The proposed algorithm for interdisciplinary cooperation in research of historical municipal walls is presented.