Dacian Bracelets - Dacians Background

Dacians Background

The Dacians lived in a very large territory, stretching from the Balkans to the northern Carpathians and from the Black Sea and the Tyras River (Nistru) to the Tisa plain, and at times as far as the Middle Danube.

Dacian civilization went through several stages of development, from the Thracian stage in the Bronze Age to the Geto-Dacian stage in the classical period that lasted from the 1st century BC to the 1st century AD. The Thracian stage is associated with the emergence of Thracian populations from the fusion of the local Chalcolithic stock with the incoming peoples of the transitional Indo-Europeanization Period. By the time of Bronze Age, and during the transitional period to the Iron Age, the cultures of this Carpathian area may be attributed to proto-Thracian and even Thracian populations—ancestors of the peoples known to Herodotus as the Agathyrsae and the Getae, and to the Romans as the Dacians (by Iron Age II). The culture of these nuclear groups were typified by military aristocracies.

In these early times the most specific motifs of the bracelets are the spiral and the horn, used to provide the warrior with both physical and deistic protection.

• The spiral motif (i.e. bracelets from Sacosu Mare, Firighiaz (now Firiteaz), Săcueni) is associated with solar cults. It might have been an inheritance of the local Chalcolithic culture, or an accentuated Mycenaean influence to the north of the Danube.
• The horn motifs (i.e. bracelets from Pipea, Biia (Şona), Boarta (Şeica Mare)) might have been brought by the intrusive stockbreeders (Proto-Indo-Europeans).

The 5th century BC is associated with the Dacian stage of art and it is the time of the La Tène period (Iron Age II) when Dacian culture flourished, especially in Transylvanian citadels. The Dacian art of Iron Age II has all the characteristics of a mixed style, with its roots in the Hallstatt culture (1200–500 BC). It is characterized by an accentuated geometry, a curvilinear style and plant-based motifs. At this time, besides their older local types, Dacians made all kind of bracelets that were common in the Roman Empire. But, there was a constant preference of Dacians for decorating the silver spiral bracelets with animals protome such as snakes and wolves.

The period of time between the 2nd century BC and 1st century AD is termed "Classic Dacian". At this time the Dacians developed the art of silverworking, and a style which may be described specifically as the Dacian style. It consists of older traditional local elements, dating back to Iron Age I, but also of elements of Celtic, Scythian, Thracian, and especially Greek origins. The bracelets of this art-form include silver arm rings, with ends in the shape of stylized heads of animals, and heavy spiral-shaped armlets with gilded ends adorned with palm-leaves, and ending in animal-heads.

The Classic Dacian period ends when parts of the Dacian State were reduced to a Roman province by the Roman Empire under Trajan, partly in order to seize its gold mines. After the Second Dacian War (105–106 AD) Romans claimed they had looted 165,000 kilograms (363,762 pounds) of gold and 300,000 kilograms (661,386 pounds) of silver in a single haul, as estimated by modern historians. This amount seems credible in terms of the Dacian exploitation of precious metals in the Apuseni Mountains along with trade payments and tributes from abroad. Its existence in only one spot (at Sarmizegethusa), suggests that there was a central control of precious metal circulation. According to the majority of historians this sort of monopoly of precious metals, and the Roman's forcible collection of Dacian gold objects, explains the scarcity of archaeological discoveries consisting of golden ornaments for the period between the 3rd century BC and the 1st century AD; however, the existence of the "Treasures of Dacian kings" has been confirmed by the latest archaeological finds of large gold spiral-shaped bracelets from Sarmizegetusa. It seems that the Romans did not find the entire royal treasure.