Research of temporal and spatial development of borders and borderlands is an important aspect of landscape archaeology.
As barriers, borders usually have an inclusive and, at the same time, an exclusive function. They define areas of administration, mark private property or the area of activity of a cult. The archaeological evidence when crossing a border or of border lines varies accordingly.
The compilation of the research results to date shows how closely the cultural and historical development of the Bärnau–Tachau borderland is linked to the prevailing political system and the influence of trade and exchange on the “Golden Road”.
It is necessary to examine which features can be recognized along the traffic axis, i.e. within the bilateral transition zone between Bärnau and Tachau, and whether a kind of “mixed culture” has established itself in a kind of transition corridor.
The thesis of an overlapping corridor or transit corridor is mainly based on trans-regional cultural-historical connections. Those can already be well understood in this borderland for the periods from the Late Middle Ages to the modern era through a cross-disciplinary approach.
It can clearly be shown that the course and the frequency of use of the Golden Road trade route had a major influence on the development of the borderland. Only when transit traffic had ceased it became clear how much the peripheral regions had previously benefited from it. It should be emphasized that the economic upswing in the borderland was strongly connected to the promotion of the Golden Road by Charles IV to upport the region.
Language is a special connecting element. Already in medieval times this bilingualism was highlighted in the choice of place names. Here the results of the detailed settlement analysis on the basis of the historical place names are to be emphasized. The commonly used resources of the Upper Palatinate Forest also contributed to cultural exchange.
Archaeologically, there are no major differences in the findings of building or in the material culture, but a detailed material culture analysis – in particular on the basis of the pottery – will still take place, so that further results are to be expected.
With the reconstruction of Paulusbrunn the research project will contribute – as we hope – to international understanding in this region by combining perspectives with its binational and cross-disciplinary structure and thus crossing borders.