The Dacian Fortress of Căpâlna (Săsciori Commune, Alba County) – In Search of Lost Time (1999-2019)

Abstract

The present paper deals with a recovered hoard of gold Hellenistic style jewellery, stolen in 2001 from the Dacian fortress of Căpâlna, archaeological site and UNESCO monument from Romania. After 7 years of illegal trafficking of the artefacts on the black market of antiquities, the Romanian law enforcements recovered the hoard from Germany, with the generous support of an expert from Frankfurt am Main. The items come from a Western Balkan workshop around the inhabited by the Danubian Celts, located on the northern territory of Serbia and the western part of nowadays region of Banat (Romania). Nevertheless, one should not completely exclude the possibility that the items were made in a roving workshop on the territory of South-western Dacia. The technique used and the style of decoration prove the assimilation of late Hellenistic and Italic influences. The composition of the gold alloy is similar to the one used by jewellers in the late Hellenistic and Roman imperial periods. An important detail is the reconstruction of the ”discovery circumstances” inside of the protected area of Căpâlna fortress, by the archaeological poachers from Deva (Hunedoara County). During the judicial and forensic investigations, from 2006 to 2018, the members of the law enforcement observed the ”evolution” of the actual state of the monument. The conclusion is that during the twelve years since the fortress was a UNESCO monument, its protection and scientific promotion was minimal.

Keywords

• dacian fortress
• căpâlna
• alba county
• penal investigations
• poachers pits
• destruction
• ignorance
• recovered artefacts