Two Dacian gold bracelets in the possession of the National Museum of Romanian History (MNIR) were recently scanned as part of a project for the 3D digitization of these special archaeological items, illustrative of Dacian goldsmithing, initiated by the museum institution.

“Made with a rare craftsmanship, the spiral gold bracelets discovered in the Orastiei Mountains area are symbols of artistic refinement and power in pre-Roman Dacia. Decorated with palmettes and zoomorphic protomes, these artifacts were not just jewelry, but true pieces of prestige – testimonies of a civilization that combined Hellenistic influences with its own cultural identity. They offer us a historical perspective on the Dacian royalty, the resources they possessed and the complexity of the artistic and craft imagination of Dacian culture and civilization,” the MNIR said in a Facebook post.

The two artifacts are already available on the museum’s website, and the bracelets can also be admired within the MNIR’s Historical Treasure exhibition.

According to MNIR, the 3D digitization of gold artifacts involves specific difficulties, caused by material reflections and shape sensitivity, which is determined by the malleability of gold. In the case of spiral bracelets, even small variations in positioning can lead to discrepancies between sets of images, affecting the coherence of the 3D model.

Bracelets with such shape and decoration were most often made of silver. The known specimens were generally recovered as single/unpaired occurrences – part of hoards, being discovered both in the intra- and extra-Carpathian space. Gold specimens are currently known exclusively from the Orastiei Mountains area, near the sacred area on Dealul Gradistii, from where they were poached in the early 2000s. The police estimate that at least 24 such gold bracelets have been discovered, declared to have been found in five hoards, along with gold and silver coins.