Abstrakt
One of the important contributions of Czech and Moravian archaeology for knowledge of the property and socio-economic differentiation of the peasant milieu of the High Middle Ages are completely known layouts of the deserted villages. The interpretation of these layouts opens the question whether the differentiation in the size of the yard lots directly reflects the property differentiation between the peasant homesteads.
The core of the submitted articles is an analysis of the villages with almost identical layouts, deserted Hol and as-yet existing Vrbová Lhota in Central Bohemia. As a result, it is possible to state that at the time of the establishment of both villages the difference in the size of their yard lots could have really reflected the property differences between the relevant homesteads (middle of the 14th century).
During the further development, however, the changes of the property and socio-economic structures were not accompanied by corresponding changes in the layout scheme of the villages. Therefore, it was no longer possible in the Early Modern Period to identify directly the differences in the size of the yard lots with the property differentiations of the villages, but extreme property differences still remain differentiable relatively reliably.
The socio-economic position of the homesteads is testified to rather by the appearance of the built-up area than by the width and size of the yard lots.