The Atlas of Cultural Heritage of the Polish Village ( a Project ) *

The ethnographic atlases hitherto published in Europe have been created to meet the needs of particular countries and nations rather than with any prospect of comparative studies in mind. Thereby, it is difficult to find maps which are comparable when it comes to systematics and chronology. Therefore, we believe it necessary to interpret anew source materials deposited in Cieszyn workshop of the Polish Ethnographic Archives – to deepen the systematics of mapped phenomena along with their chronology and earmark for future development and studies topics that appear in other European atlases. The resultant maps are to compose an innovative edition, tentatively entitled The Atlas of Cultural Heritage of the Polish Village. The present article familiarizes readers with the concept of the planned endeavour, including aims, preliminary assumptions of the project, and the methodology of research.

In 1998, the PEA archives were moved to the University of Silesia in Katowice, Department of Ethnography in Cieszyn (currently the Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology). Several volumes of "Komentarze do Polskiego Atlasu Etnograficznego" have come into being here -all authored by Agnieszka Pieńczak and Anna Drożdż. Under the scientific supervision of Zygmunt Kłodnicki and both these researchers, almost 70 master and bachelor degree theses have been written on the basis of the materials collected in the atlas archives. 5 The next works on birth and wedding rituality and on folk medicine are planned.
However, we are still hesitatant whether to print the unpublished PEA booklets (Nos. VII-IX). They were prepared in the 1980s in the academic centre in Wrocław. The methodological foundations do not differentiate these maps from hundreds of the previous ones, published in booklets I-VI -they take into account the expert literature, archival data and the data from ethnographic museums. With no doubt, it would be valuable to make supplementations with the earlier data, provided they are appropriately marked on the maps. 6 What seems a drawback is the same symbol in maps both for the lack of data and for negative statements, that is, no occurrence of particular phenomena or artefacts. The verification of these issues would require enormous work. 7 Therefore, the publication of these several hundred maps is suspended, especially due to some differences which have been found between the legends and the maps. 8 In January 2018, the first edition of Polski Atlas Etnograficzny -opracowanie naukowe, elektroniczny katalog danych, publikacja zasobów w sieci Internet [The Polish Ethnographic Atlas -research study, electronic database, publication of the resources on the Internet], was completed. The grant was funded as part of the National Programme for the Development of the Humanities. 9 The project aimed to conduct a research study and share the results of selected atlas materials lodged in the Cieszyn section on the Internet. 10 Owing to the web applicadziecka. Wrocław-Cieszyn 2010; Zwyczaje, obrzędy i wierzenia urodzinowe. Vol. 9. Part 2: Zwyczaje, obrzędy i wierzenia związane z matką i dzieckiem. Cieszyn-Wrocław 2013. 5 The list of diploma theses, online at: http://www.archiwumpae.us.edu.pl/exhibits/show/prace -dyplomowe-oparte-na-mate [accessed: 3.07.2018]. 6 Mostly those drawn from the 19th century volumes of Oskar Kolberg and from later published materials based on his studies as well as ethnographic journals -"Wisła, " "Zbiór Wiadomości do Antropologii Krajowej, " "Materyały Antropologiczno-Archeologiczne i Etnograficzne, " "Ziemia. " 7 These serious corrections of maps should be consulted with the authors; some of them have already passed away. 8 The list of unpublished maps, see: Z. Kłodnicki: Polski atlas etnograficzny -historia, stan obecny i perspektywy. " Lud" 2001, Vol. 85, pp. 244-254. The access to these maps can be provided in the archives of the PEA Section in Cieszyn, after an earlier appointment with Agnieszka Pieńczak (agnieszka.pienczak@us.edu.pl;tel. 0048 338546176). 9 Project coordinator: Ph.D. Agnieszka Pieńczak, rejestration number: 11H 13 0162 82. 10 With the view to implement this project in the Faculty of Ethnology and Education at the University of Silesia, in 2015, the Digitalization Section of the Polish Ethnographic Atlas and Agnieszka Pieńczak became its head. What also came ad hoc into being was a team of tion on the digital platform Cyfrowe Archiwum Polskiego Atlasu Etnograficznego [Digital Archives of the Polish Ethnographic Atlas] (www.archiwumpae.us.edu. pl), the access has been provided to 12 181 black-and-white photographs (from 1947-1971), 770 published atlas maps  and over 470 questionnaires on collecting wild plants, comprising the earlier mentioned herbaria (from 1947-1953). Our purpose is to create a coherent, synthetic, digital collection of archival sources and their further professional sharing in the public interface. However, due to the size of the PEA collections -this is a long-term activity. 11 What has become a measurable effect of the first edition of the project is a large publication entitled

The Atlas of Cultural Heritage of the Polish Village -Aims, assumptions, methodology
The ethnogeographic method, applied to the data from larger areas, allows to conclude about the origins of the examined artefacts and other cultural phenomena. Still, the atlases in Europe were made to fulfil the needs of particular countries or nations, with no regard to the needs and potentialities of comten researchers. For the detailed description of the project, see: Z. Kłodnicki  . 11 Currently, another grant is financed -it concerns the digitalization and scientific elaboration of another unique collection of photographs (owned by Zygmunt Kłodnicki) and of 700 questionnaires dedicated to birth and funeral rituals. parative studies. 12 As a result, it is a difficult task to find maps which would be comparable in terms of systematics 13 and chronology. 14 The (well-known to us) PEA output and the familiarization with ethnographic maps of the majority of European countries 15 have made us undertake certain plans, which will be presented here in a more detailed way. In our opinion, of importance is the elaboration of a series of ethnographic maps concerning Polandthe maps which would be more appropriate for broader comparative studies than the existing ones. Therefore, the systematics of the mapped phenomena and their chronology should be developed and the issues appearing in other European atlases should be selected for elaboration. 16 The maps will constitute a work, preliminarily entitled Atlas dziedzictwa kulturowego wsi polskiej [The Atlas of Cultural Heritage of the Polish Village]. The present article focuses on the familiarization with the concept of the planned undertaking, its goals, preliminary assumptions and research methodology.
The planned research activities will enable to preserve the knowledge pertaining to the cultural heritage of the Polish village. 17 An equally important aim 12 Only the first volume has been published "Forschungen zum Ethnologischen Atlas Europas und seiner Nachbarländer". Die Termine der Jahresfeuer in Europa. Erläuterungen zur Verbreitungskarte. Ed. M. Zender. Göttingen 1980. 13 An attempt at unifying the systematics of flails in Europe was undertaken many years ago by Z. Kłodnicki, E. Kłosek andA. Szymański (1982-1983), who created a classification of these tools (Zur Systematik der Dreschflegel in Europa. "Ethnologia Europaea", Vol. 13, booklet 1, pp. 85-96). The researchers mostly followed here G. Wiegelmann (Erste Ergebnisse der ADV-Umfragen zur alten bäuerlichen Arbeit. "Rheinische Viertelsjahrblatter" 1969, Vol. 33, pp. 208-262). This systematics was supplemented by M. Trojan (see: Dreschflegel in Europa. Metodische Probleme einer Karte. "Ethnologia Europaea" 1983, Vol. 13, pp. 203-226), who made a map comprising the territory from the Bug River to the Rhine. 14 Recently, Agnieszka Pieńczak has made an attempt at comparing the maps of the PEA and Atlas der deutschen Volkskunde, which differ in chronology (see: A. Pieńczak: Obrzędowość narodzinowa na Górnym Śląsku (izolacja położnicy). "Polski atlas etnograficzny" i "Atlas der deutschen Volkskunde" w perspektywie porównawczej. In: "Prace Naukowe Uniwersytetu Śląskiego w Katowicach", No. 3543. Katowice 2016). 15 This output comprises over ten thousand maps, out of which the first 4600 were presented in a large annex (see: Z. Kłodnicki is the dissemination of the PEA output at home and abroad. For the ethnological environment in Poland and abroad, this will involve an in-depth research into methodology, some studies with references to materials and with comprehensive use of the ethnogeographic method. The choice of the subject matter and systematics of cultural products presented on the maps should allow for, or at least improve the stage of juxtaposing the maps with the cards in atlases of other countries, that is, comparative studies. Apart from the new topics, the planned maps will present some topics which have been already undertaken. Special attention will be paid to unifying the chronological cross-sections by introducing "natural" caesuras (discussed below).

Research team
In order to elaborate Atlas dziedzictwa kulturowego wsi polskiej [The Atlas of Cultural Heritage of the Polish Village], it will be necessary to create a larger research team. At the present moment, its specialist core are the researchers from the University of Silesia who have been dealing with the atlas works for many years -Zygmunt Kłodnicki (the choice of research subject matter and systematics) and Agnieszka Pieńczak (the elaboration of materials in the form of maps and synthetic descriptions). We hope to collaborate with other researchers who know both the specificity of atlas collections and their potentialities for comparative works of interdisciplinary character -especially with Anna Drożdż and Łukasz Łuczaj. We also make efforts to employ a research assistant. 18 What also seems to be useful is the work hitherto conducted by several students of ethnology as part of their didactic classes at the third year (Atlas dziedzictwa kulturowego wsi polskiej [The Atlas of Cultural Heritage of the Polish Siwki -żywa tradycja w Wielkopolsce. Ed. A. Jełowicki. Szreniawa 2018; Podkoziołek, Bery, Cymperżywa tradycja w Wielkopolsce. Ed. A. Jełowicki. Szreniawa 2019). It should be added that the term "cultural heritage" is differently interpreted in the humanities, therefore it is hard to define it unambiguously. In compliance with one of the definitions, it can be treated as: "the goods of culture, inherited from the past and currently functioning, which may have the physical (material) form -such as, for example, monuments, historical objects, works of art, archives, historical parks, gardens, preserved landscapes and archaeological sites -or the spiritual (non-material) one -such as: traditions, rituals, customs, handcraft skills, traditional knowledge (folk medicine, etc.), tales, legends, or the memory of this legacy" (see: B. Skaldawski: Wstęp: W: Polacy wobec dziedzictwa. Raport z badań społecznych. Ed. R. Lewandowska. In: "Dziedzictwo kulturowe w badaniach", Vol. 1. Warszawa-Kraków 2017, p. 12). The researchers emphasize that there are some problems with defining the notion of "folk culture, " which by changing its scope currently becomes a product which is processed depending on the recipient's needs (see, e.g.: A.W. Brzezińska The maps presented in the Atlas will include a short synthetic text in Polish and English. At the bottom of the commentary, there will be references to the relevant literature as well as to other European atlases. 21 The arrangement of maps is planned to be similar to the one in the first volume of the series "Biblioteka Polskiego Atlasu Etnograficznego" [The Library of the Polish Ethnographic Atlas]. 22 The work will be published in the form of one or more volumes issued within this series.

Choice of problems
The choice of research problems is an important issue. It is assumed that the choice of maps comprised in Atlas dziedzictwa kulturowego wsi polskiej [The Atlas of Cultural Heritage of the Polish Village] should be based on several partially overlapping criteria: 1. The issues concerning the cultural elements which seem characteristic of the rural culture in Poland (e.g., beetroot soup, stuffed dumplings, wooden wall structures).
2. The issues which have their counterparts in other European atlases -that is, comparable topics (e.g., wooden plows, reaping grains and drying them in stacks, flails, braided leather shoes, boiled grain stew -kutia, etc.).
3. The issues which were originally planned for publication within the suspended project Etnologiczny atlas Europy [The Ethnological Atlas of Europe]. 23 19 The classes were conducted by Agnieszka Pieńczak. 20 The map cards created in this way will be provided with appropriate information on coauthorship and scientific supervision. 21 The following atlases will become our models: Suomen kansankultturin kartasto -Atlas der finnischen Volkskultur -Atlas of Finnish Folk Culture (1976) and Atlas kultury ludowej w Polsce (1934)(1935)(1936) 4. If only possible, the preferred issues pertain to spiritual and social culture and are the counterparts of the maps published in other European atlases.
5. The issues still not published (including the maps made by the researchers from Cieszyn).
6. The issues concerning innovations in the PEA materials (e.g., introducing closed stoves -the so called English type -at the beginning of the 20th century).
The size of the volume depends on the obtained funds and research staff. What is assumed is the publication of one or two volumes with 100 maps each.

The suggested list of maps
The list presented here will be still discussed and supplemented: -fishing (bones for stinging fish, Fish traps -self-fishing devices), -agriculture (coulters, wooden plows, grain sowing -containers, grain drying -stacks, hay barracks), -breeding (suspender vessels and other barrel stave vessels for carrying water and watering cattle, hay carrying in straw yokes and loops, home animals), -food (kutia -a ritual dish served on Christmas Eve, beetroot soup), -construction (construction and wall materials in cabins, buildings combining residence and farming functions under one roof), -transport (forms of household baskets, sheets for transport by human powers, two-and four-wheel hand carts, paired sleighs or sleighs with a drag, harnessing with a thill and a light bowed shaft, cattle harnessing yokes), clothing (braided phloem shoes and braided leather shoes), -family rituals (who brings children, cradles, bans for a birth-giving woman, protecting a child against evil forces, godparents (number of couples), -wedding rituals (names for people dealing with couple matching, motives for choosing a matchmaker as an intermediary in couple matching, pre-marital contract, names for engagement, a wedding bestman, social collaboration in wedding rituals, symbolic behaviour patterns during the wedding, pouring at the bride or the newlyweds during the wedding, wedding yeast cakes, carrying the bride to the bridegroom's house), -funeral rituals (foretelling the approaching death, the figure of death, the aim and way of equipping the dead person with money, the form of the dead person's soul), -annual rituals (annual fires, Marzanna -a straw figure representing winter), masqueraders, games with Easter eggs, water pouring and twig lashing, May tree rituals, Christmas tree).

Methodological problems -The process of mapping
Collecting data and their analysis, which results in creating maps is a process with many stages. What should be aimed at is that the reader could control, assess and use it in its whole.
The advancement of information technologies is revolutionizing historical sciences and the humanities, the access to digitalized research materials is becoming the norm. The time becomes quite imminent when a researcher will be able to or even will have to present the whole research process via the Internet -from (stage 1) the demonstration of the data (or at least indicating the access to them) and their evaluation, 24 through (stage 2) ordering their systematics and placing them in tables before further cartographic works, to (stage 3) maps or appropriate tables, taking into account all possible aspects of the examined phenomena. These maps and lists can become a basis for (stage 4) creating simpler and more readable maps, for example, illustrations in various time cross-sections or the spatial locations only of some selected aspects of the mapped phenomenon or artefact. If necessary, the readers will be able to create their own maps from the material presented in the tables (stage 2) or directly from the published materials (stage 1). There is no need to print this all, the aim is to provide a reader with the online access to this whole process. In this way, the researcher's work will become verifiable, as it takes place in natural and technical sciences. 25 What is written here is surely not innovative -the researcher goes through this whole process to present the final outcome, yet so far the reader has not been able to control this. Some elements of this procedure have appeared earlier. J. Gajek, the editor of the PEA, took care for placing in PEA map legends the questions asked during field studies (parts of stage 1 and 2). This allows for preliminary evaluation of the quality of answers and of data systematics. Zygmunt Kłodnicki and Edyta Diakowska-Kohut (2015) have presented a suggestion for elaborating the systematics of demonic creatures, quoting some selected descriptions (stage 1) and organizing them according to the qualities attributed to these demons (stage 2). 26 24 The quality of the obtained materials largely influences the value of the prepared maps. In the foreground, there is the questionnaire with its implicite preliminary systematics, then -the choice of an informant (informants). This is complicated, especially in villages that the atlas points with mixed (autochthonous and inflowing) population. There are fairly many villages in which the researchers did not find autochthonous residents. The researchers were usually ethnographers, but they did not always conduct sufficiently good studies. After many years, an accurate assessment of these materials is not always possible -we refrain from depreciating some of them as most of the researchers have already died and cannot defend their rights. 25 The authors are very grateful to Prof. Rastislava Stolična, a co-author of Etnografický atlas Slovenska, for the discussion on this topic. 26  The maps prepared for Atlas dziedzictwa kulturowego wsi polskiej [The Atlas of Cultural Heritage of the Polish Village] should be prepared anew, which means that the following is to be done in the indicated order: examining the research material, revising the systematics or preparing a new one, working out unified (standardized) chronological intervals. This will facilitate comparing hundreds of different maps (especially within the borders of Poland).

A map sample
As an illustration of the specificity of the planned atlas, a map sample prepared by us and entitled Zanikanie konwi klepkowych i wiader [Dying out of Stave Water Jugs and Buckets] will be presented here. A brief presentation of the suggested procedure is placed below. Our focus is on chronology. What has emerged out of our discussion is a concept of the shape and type of signs which enable to specify the chronology in the collected research material (see Table 2). It is possible that during the editorial works some minor modifications will be necessary.
The map is based on the PEA materials collected in the 1960s in the form of two PEA questionnaires -Nos. V and VI. In this case, the research network comprises 352 villages (see the Annex). […] Draw with measurements and photograph the encountered stave vessels, […] precisely specify the former and current functions of such vessels. Examine carefully whether in the past jugs with a handle were used for carrying water (Card XII, illustr. 1, 10) or buckets with a bow handle (as on Card XII, illustr. 14, 15). When did they disappear? 28 27 The studies were conducted in 1960-1968 according to J. Gajek: Kwestionariusz nr 5. Transport i komunikacja lądowa. Opracował Józef Gajek dla celów Polskiego Atlasu Etnograficznego. In: "Archiwum Etnograficzne" No. 22. Wrocław 1960, p. 36. 28 The studies were conducted in 1964-1969 according to J. Gajek: Kwestionariusz -notatnik dla kartograficznych studiów etnograficznych. Ludowa kultura materialna (zagadnienia wybrane). In: "Archiwum Etnograficzne" No. 27. Wrocław 1964, p. 128. The basic systematics (jugs, buckets) is comprised in the questionnaires, the spontaneously appearing information on their varieties (e.g., jugs with small bow handles) has not been taken into consideration as its image on the map can be questioned.
Some exemplary excerpts from archival materials are presented below: Questionnaire No 5: "The so called water jugs used since about 1930 for carrying water [here: a sketch of a jug with a handle]. Used by women and men. Earlier, "when there was no well, about 1890, mostly men carried it from the Czerniejówka (a small river). " In summer -in (hollow like) slings, in winter also on small sleighs. Wooden stave buckets -from immemorial times used for drawing water from wells and carrying it, but less frequently than water jugs. " 29 Questionnaire [until] about 1940 5. Water by women 6. After arrival, settlers did not use them any longer. " 31 Questionnaire No 6: "Jugs for carrying water. Buckets for carrying water. They went out of use in the interwar period. Water was carried in wooden buckets on carrying poles and in hands in jugs. " Besides this, water was carried in a barrel and poured into jugs at home. Everything before 1918. " 32 Focusing on capturing exact chronology is associated with certain difficulties. Even with the assumption that the informant was selected in the optimal way, the obtained data concerning the appearance or disappearance of the examined phenomenon might have the nature of generalization or may refer to the dates of the appearance of the examined artefact or of the last case of its use. In both cases, the obtained information will be divergent.
What will become an important element of the map are question marks (?)so far rarely used in atlas works. They will be used in particularly doubtful cases, when the information seems unclear or not reliable.
While creating the presented map and selecting relevant field data, two criteria were taken into account. Firstly, the information confirming the occurrence of wooden vessels was considered (therefore, other -for example tin ones -were omitted); secondly -the use of both the discussed vessels only for transporting water (the data concerning, for example, their secondary use for watering cattle or transporting food for pigs were ignored).   Table 2 contains seven basic chronological expressions. Some of them comprise the categories that can be accurately specified during the analysis of the data collected in the PEA archives (points 1-5): the time period of conducting field studies (depending on the research problem, these are usually either the 1950s or the 1960s), the post-war period (between 1945 and the time of the studies), the interwar period (between 1918 and the end of World War II), the beginning of the 20th century (the period till the end of World War I) and the most distant period -the 19th century (inaccurately specified last decades).
What requires more precise explanation are the two last categories pertaining to the lack of accurate chronology. This might take place in two cases. In the first (point 6), it is stated that the discussed cultural element has disappeared or appeared in an unspecified (impossible to indicate in a precise way) time, as in the source material there is only a general category "disappeared" or a "new" phenomenon. In the second case (point 7), the analysis of the source material has not revealed any information on the chronology of its disappearance or ap-taking into account all the aforementioned caesuras (Map 1), the second -the abbreviated chronology, limited only to the general confirmation of the disappearance of jugs (Map 2).
While demonstrating Map 1, which presents stave vessels for carrying water, we are aware that it belongs to stage 3. Working on it allowed for the verification of the chronological intervals suggested by us. Yet, our assumption is that the maps of Atlas dziedzictwa kulturowego wsi polskiej [The Atlas of Cultural Legend: 1. Stave jugs were still used, often or occasionally, during field studies in the 1960s. 2. The use of jugs had already stopped. 3. No information on chronology, stave jugs were used. 4. According to informants' memory, the lack of stave jugs. 5. No information on the use of stave jugs. 6. Doubtful information on the use of stave jugs.

Map 2. Disappearance of stave jugs
Elaborated by Zygmunt Kłodnicki and Agnieszka Pieńczak. Heritage of the Polish Village] should be as legible and comprehensible as possible. This refers both to the applied graphic solutions and to the selection of the presented subject matter. Contrary to the previously published large-format cards (PEA, booklets 1-6), new maps should be understandable to the reader almost immediately, "at first sight. " Thus, the focus will be on stage 4 -the maps which will prevail in the planned Atlas.
The cartographic work, therefore, is aimed at choosing graphically simple signs, at the use of contrasting colours and at limiting the presented research issues to such an extent that there should be no more than one, two or maximally three signs in particular points. To preserve the legibility of a map, the information on the lack of answer (-) will be reduced as well. It will be marked only in the case when, in a particular research point, no other information appears. If positive answers occur, negative ones will be omitted. For instance, if the information appears on the map about the use of jugs, the statement that the researchers have no information about buckets is not marked. However, if the researcher has a note that informants in a particular village did not remember the use of wooden buckets -this information will be marked (=).
In the process of creating the map, in some justified cases, surface signs (hatchings and linear ranges) will appear as well as some more complicated maps, for example, such that present co-occurrence of two cultural phenomena (see Map 1). Owing to them, it is possible to investigate the interdependencies concerning the dynamics of changes (e.g., the pace of their popularization or abandoning). Therefore, elaborating them seems well-founded in certain cases.

Research network
The value of the collected materials depends on the choice of villages for the research as well. During the PEA studies, most of them were inhabited by the population who had lived there for at least several generations. The situation was different in the West and North of Poland (mainly Lower Silesia and Western Pomerania, Ziemia Lubuska, Warmia and Masuria), where the autochthonous population had moved away as an aftermath of World War II. In some villages, indigenous inhabitants had remained until the research time or even longer (the region of Opole, partially Warmia and Masuria). The inflowing population sometimes preserved some of the cultural load of previous residents or they remembered it. Thus, it will be necessary to prepare a map of villages in which the field studies were carried out. 33

Conclusion
It is 2019 and many studies on the cultural heritage (mostly in its non-material aspect) are being carried out, therefore the time has come for syntheses, for trying to read out what ethnographic maps tell. What we have planned to present in Atlas dziedzictwa kulturowego wsi polskiej [The Atlas of Cultural Heritage of the Polish Village] are mostly the maps which are related by systematics and chronological cross-sections to the biggest number of maps in other European atlases. Our intention is to elicit some cognitive values of the atlas materialshence the elaboration of certain issues anew. This will enable other researchers a more critical use of these sources.
Chronology was our particular concern. The earlier materials of the Polish Ethnographic Atlas allow for reaching as far as the end of the 19th century; the more recent ones -the interwar period. Yet, the data drawn from literature make it possible to move back further in the past. Obviously, they need to be appropriately marked on the map, for example, with a hue, serif, underlying or surface sign (hatchings and linear ranges). Introducing the older information facilitates both ethnographic and retrogressive concluding.
By using the ethnogeographic and retrogressive method, 34 researchers make attempts to reconstruct the history of certain artefacts and other cultural phenomena or their complex occurrences in particular geographic environments. However, they also require falsification. Undoubtedly, what seems most difficult to reconstruct is the changeability itself and the associations between the examined phenomena and human groups. Thus, ethnogeographic studies should be more strictly related to historical sciences than so far. The matchless expert in this field was Kazimierz Moszyński. 35 The data from ethnographic literature can complete maps in another way. While comparing maps from various atlases, it can often take place that a certain area will be a blank space -cartographical data will be missing. Then, using 34 The retrogressive method applied for ethnological studies was focused on by Zygmunt Kłodnicki, see, for example, Z. Kłodnicki, A. Pieńczak, J. Koźmińska: Polski atlas etnograficzny, pp. 58-62. The ancient written sources, enabling the verification of conclusion by the retrogressive method, are scarce, because the Greek and Roman literature refer mostly to the Mediterranean region -very rarely to the Central or North Europe. Later Arabic sources are of much bigger value, which has been confirmed in the works by Urszula Lewicka-Rajewska, for example, Ibrāhīm Ibn Ja'qūb o przedmałżeńskiej swobodzie seksualnej Słowian. In: Ibrahim Ibn Jaqub i Tadeusz  the materials drawn from the literature becomes indispensable. Placing such information on a collective map will improve concluding.
There are not many ethnogeographic studies concerning Central and Eastern Europe allowing for an insight into the old times due to the lack of broader cartographic conceptualizations. 36 New maps are expected to make comparative studies easier. The existing studies mostly show the origins of artefacts and only few works deal with cultural phenomena in the sphere of spiritual and social culture. Many articles have been published, in which the mapping of material culture is taken into consideration (e.g. those devoted to the North-Eastern ethnographic borderland in Poland 37 ). What have been noticed by us, however, is that the ranges of archaic phenomena of the so called spiritual culture (such as the times of ritual fires in Europe 38 or some bans concerning birth and a birthgiving woman) are "arranged" differently. On the huge territory between the Rhine and the Bug River, small children used to be told that babies are brought by storks. 39 It is possible that the beliefs and rituals, especially those archaic ones which had survived till the ethnographic studies in vast areas of Europe, enable drawing the conclusions about their ancient age -that they had been spreading not for hundreds but thousands years. Therefore, the planned atlas -apart from the maps presenting material culture -will comprise also the ones pertaining to spiritual culture.