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Castles were centres of the socio-economic life. In the last centuries castles were gradually disappearing from the landscape of Central Europe. It was mostly due to changes in a social order, but also because of natural disasters which happened during that time. In few cases this happened so suddenly and fully that today we even can't point out their approximate location. This is especially true for castles functioning between 14th and 16th century in the Zgorzelec Wilderness (south-west Poland), in places known nowadays as Prędocice, Nowoszów, Pieńsk and Piaseczna. To identify castles' oikumenes authors decided to re-analyse known historical evidences and execute a field research. The latter one was targeted to recognize not only cultural heritage such as ruins of buildings or earthworks, but also changes in the natural environment, such as biotope's transformations. As a result of dual humanistic-environmental studies remains of a medieval building were found in Nowoszów. They were assumed to be vestiges of the castle's oikumene, maybe a tower house, functioning at the manmade isle on the Czerna Wielka river. The other result of the research was identifying other artificial islands, in these cases, on the Lusatian Neisse river that with a big probability contain remains of castles in Prędocice and Pieńsk. Castles in the Zgorzelec Wilderness didn't deviate from other structures of this type and were built in naturally defensive locations. River valleys' neckings and natural elevations within river fluvial valleys were accordingly transformed to better serve its purposes. Rivers and streams in addition were used as an economic base, for example to power hammer forges. A natural environment's transformations caused by castles' inhabitants were so vast, that these changes dated back to Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Period to this day are clearly visible in ecosystems of the Zgorzelec Wilderness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]