Getting to know the history of the Middle Ages thanks to chronicles, documents, everyday objects is easy. This time, scientists analyzed the history of the medieval road, Via Marchionis, which led through Tuchola Forest (Polish: Bory Tucholskie), found in the sediments at the bottom of the lake.
What has emerged from this research? In short: when the number of people was declining in the area – for example as a result of wars, plagues, attacks – the wild nature quickly (within a few decades) returned to places where there were previously cultivated fields. This has happened many times in history.
It was deduced that human tragedies – enabling the return of the forest – were related to the presence of a medieval hiking and trade route in the area – the vVa Marchionis road. It was a fragment of a very important medieval route connecting Brandenburg with Malbork, Gdańsk, and Królewiec.