Treasure Hunt Turns into Archaeology

The Dacian realm, at the peak of its extension, which lasted from King Burebista to Decebal, coevals with Caesar and Trajan, encompassed broad parts of the Eastern Danube-Carpathian Region. One of the most important political and sacred centers of this realm was Sarmizegetusa Regia (S.R.). The remains of the ancient city are located in an inaccessible mountain region in Southern Transylvania and are part of a broader archaeological complex which was included in UNESCO`s World Heritage Programme in 1999. After a series of spectacular golden coins discoveries made by inhabitants of the near-by villages, the Emperor Francis II/I ordered 1803 the beginning of excavations which were carried forward until 1804. Though their interest was mainly orientated on the golden coins, the officials and the military involved in the campaign soon developed a so to speak "proto-archaeological" interest for their corpus of finds. On the basis of their reports, lists, drawings, and maps, that are to be found today in the state archives in Vienna, Cluj-Napoca and Budapest, the actions of that time can be reconstructed very accurately. The documents have an outstanding importance for the modern archeological research, running by now for about 90 years. They offer the chance of a profound comprehension of the finds we see today and therefore a decisive break-through in the research of this place crucial for our knowledge about Dacian history and culture. At the same time, these documents open up an insight on the conception of history and the historical patterns of interpretation of several social groups in the Habsburg Empire around the year 1800 and highlight the spiritual environment in which archaeology was conceived in whole Europe as scientific discipline. The project aims to reconstruct the campaigns of the years 1803 and 1804. Furthermore the statements and methods of the involved persons are to be embedded in their scientific-cultural context. Finally investigations about the whereabouts of the findings are to be made. Most important result of the project will be a monograph with the title "Treasure Hunt Turns into Archaeology. The Rediscovery of the Dacian Capital Sarmizegetusa Regia in Transylvania under Emperor Francis II/I" This book (ca. 700 p.) shall introduce the results (chapter 5-7 = 400 p.) of the project team (two PreDoc reseachers and the project leader), moreover, in the form of additional contributions made by nine cooperation partners from Austria and Romania (archaeologists as well as historians, specialised both in ancient and in modern history), the subject- matter shall be embedded in a broader historical context thereby considering the research history to S.R. since 1803/1804, as well as ongoing perspectives on the study, preservation and particularly protection of the monuments against still occurring attempts at treasure hunts.

In 1803/4 the fiscal authorities of the Grand Principality of Transylvania, a realm of the Hungarian crown ruled by the Habsburg Empire, conducted an excavation campaign in the ruins of Gr?di?tea Muncelului which are located in the Or??tie Mountains. Today the place is identified as the Dacian imperial residence of Sarmizegetusa Regia. Several thousand original documents of the Habsburgs administration in German, Latin, and Hungarian now kept in the national archives in Vienna, Buda- pest, and Cluj-Napoca inform us about these events. The documents were selected, deciphered, transcribed, translated, and incorporated into the webbased project database.Following the review of this archival material it was possible for the first time to gain a clear picture of where exactly on the hill of Gr?di?te the excavation campaign of 1803/4 took place and what results were achieved. This information is of outstanding importance to future archaeological research on the history of the place and of the Dacians in general. Secondly, the project disclosed exciting details on the hoard discoveries of gold staters of the posthumous Lysimachos and the Koson-type in the area of the Or??tie Mountains and highlights the need for a reevaluation of the historical context of these coins. Thirdly, the interest of the elites of Transylvania for patriotic antiquities (vaterländische Altertümer) is clearly expressed in the texts studied. Several members of these elites were studied in greater detail as case studies, making the project an important contribution to the history of the study of antiquity (Altertumskunde) in the Habsburg Empire.In addition to these main targets mentioned already in the application the project had a variety of results in aspects that first arose in the course of the project: 1.) The project was able to identify a uniform narrative traceable in all parts of Transylvania that defined the manner in which the finders of a treasure reported about the circumstances of its discovery; 2.) The documents analyzed provide far- reaching insights into the complex interactions of the administrative system of the Grand Principality;3.) A further prominent and previously uncharted legal aspect of the project is the development of law of treasure trove in early modern Transylvania; 4.) The documents evaluated in the project reveal tensions in the relationship between the emperor, the Viennese court and the central institutions of the Habsburg Empire on the one hand and the Transylvanian nobility on the other hand; 5.) A particularly fascinating aspect of the project is the possibility to portray the life of the simple country people in early modern Transylvania from the perspective of micro or everyday day history.These project issues are treated in three monographs: the first publication discusses the history of the excavation campaign, the second the official examination of the circumstances of the two treasure finds from 1802/3, the third comprises an annotated edition of a treatise from 1812 on the Koson-coin written by the official Kenderesi. Additionally, several articles were written: on the Koson and Lysimachos staters; on the fiscal procurator Török, one of the protagonists of the excavation campaign; on a further Transylvanian gold treasure discovered in 1796 in the area surrounding Cluj/Klausenburg; on Transylvanian treasure law; and on the ancient testimony for the Dacian toponym Sarmizegetusa.