The Gold Spirals: & The Looting of Dacian Treasure

Between 1996 to 2001, hoards of archaeological artifacts were looted in Transylvania and illicitly trafficked. The looters focused on a region centered in the Carpathian Mountains which served 2,000 years ago as the fortified spiritual-capital of the ancient Dacian tribal kingdom. Most valued and rare were massive golden spiral bracelets, twenty-four in all, heretofore-unknown to the archaeological world. Many sold in six figures sums to European and American collectors. The Gold Spirals saga highlights the dedication of a few individuals antiquarians and police officials in Romania Europe and the North America. Over more than a decade, they remained dogged and passionate in bringing the guilty to justice and in seeking to recover treasures central to Romanian cultural identity.