Do historical maps show the maximal anthropopressure in the Carpathians?

Abstract

Many landscapes bear the marks of historical land use. These marks can be the basis for a reconstruction of a historical land use structure as some of them are typical of different types of human activity. The aim of this paper is to determine whether Austrian cadastral maps from the 19th century present the image of the most transformed environment in the Western Carpathians as a result of agricultural activity. Land use structure and terrain forms were detected based on Austrian cadastral maps from 1848, airborne laser scanning and field studies. In two of the test areas, the percentage of arable fields was higher among the plots with stone mounds than the percentage among the plots without them. In the third test area, the relationship was reversed. Also, lynchets, terraces and stone walls sometimes occur in plots that were not arable fields in 1848. Thus, the Austrian cadastral maps from 1848 could not reflect the maximal range of arable fields in the Carpathians in the 19th century. However, it is impossible to determine the historical structure of land use precisely. Nevertheless, an inventory of terrain forms can be used to assess land use when historical maps have not preserved or when available maps do not present land use in detail.