Dacian silver treasure found in Romania

A collection of Dacian silver jewelry has been discovered in Breaza, Romania. The style of the jewelry dates them to around the 1st century B.C. The discovery is the first archaeological evidence that there was a previously-unknown Dacian settlement in the Breaza area.

There are six pieces in the collection: a circular bar bracelet with slightly widened overlapping ends decorated with vegetal motifs, a matched pair of knot fibulae with an elongated rhomboid plate connecting to the spring, a smaller fibula with four knots, a neck chain decorated with three long, nail-shaped pendants, a belt of alternating rings linking six large oval plates and two small ones, and a rectangular plate engraves with solar symbols that was probably part of the belt originally. The three knot fibulae have hinged bows with large springs and are characteristic of the Dacian late La Tène culture (125-75 B.C.).

These were luxury items that must have belonged to a high-ranking member of the Dacian aristocracy. All together the jewelry weighs 550 grams and would have been a symbol of the owner’s wealth and social status. They could have been buried as religious offerings or to cache portable wealth during turbulent times.

The artifacts were discovered by two metal detectorists this spring and were immediately handed over to state authorities according to Romanian law. They are now in the custody of the Mureș County Museum. Archaeologists plan to explore the find site thoroughly in the hopes of discovering the remains of a Dacian settlement or fortification that might help explain the burial of the jewels.

* This article was originally published here