The hoard of Dacian jewellery found at Uileacu de Criș (Bihor County)

Abstract

The article presents the Dacian silver hoard found at Uileacu de Criş, Bihor County, composed of two necklaces, one made from a band, the other from a twisted bar, two rhombic plate fibulae kept fragmentarily, two pendants and a ring. According to custom, rhombic plate brooches represent the essential landmark in the dating of the hoard, but the proposed timeframes place them in different chronological phases: the years 75/50 BC-AD 25/30 (Kurt Horedt and Aurel Rustoiu) or 25 BC-AD 25 (Daniel Spânu). The attempt to date the rhombic plate brooches according to the association with other types of fibulae does not lead to a conclusive result. To clarify the dating of the hoard, we used the analysis of the necklaces and pendants in the broader context of adornments made with the two techniques: silver plates and twisted bars or wires. In conclusion, taking into account the methodological deficiencies and the changes in the chronology of Thasian tetradrachms, Dyrrhachium and Apollonia drachms and late Republican denarii, whose date of entry into Dacia goes down by about half a century the beginning of Dacian metalworking, it is found that the division of jewellery into clearly defined chronological groups is not possible. The hiding of the hoard from Uileacu de Criș could have taken place during the Augustan period, but the jewellery had been in use for several decades.