Dacology () is a branch of Thracology which focuses on the scientific study of

Dacia Dacia (, ; ) was the land inhabited by the Dacians, its core in Transylvania, stretching to the Danube in the south, the Black Sea in the east, and the Tisza in the west. The Carpathian Mountains were located in the middle of Dacia. It thus ro ...

and Dacian antiquities and is a regional and thematic branch of the larger disciplines of

ancient history Ancient history is a time period from the History of writing, beginning of writing and recorded human history through late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the development of Sumerian language, ...

and

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

. A practitioner of the discipline is a Dacologist. Dacology investigates the range of ancient Dacian culture (

language Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

religion Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...

art Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

, and

ethics Ethics is the philosophy, philosophical study of Morality, moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates Normativity, normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches inclu ...

) from c. 1000 BC up to the end of Roman rule in the 4th-7th centuries. It is directly subordinated to Thracology, since Dacians are considered a branch of the

Thracian The Thracians (; ; ) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Southeast Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied the area that today is shared between north-eastern Greece, ...

s by most mainstream research and historical sources. Other theories sustain that the Daco-Thracian relation is not as strong as originally thought and as such Dacology has the potential to evolve as an independent discipline from Thracology.

History

One of the first mentions of the term Dacology was made by the historian Radu Vulpe at the 2nd ''International Congress of Thracology'' in September 1976 in connection with the Romanian historians Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu and Ion I. Russu. The ''Romanian Thracology Institute I.G Bibicescu'', part of

Romanian Academy The Romanian Academy ( ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life. According to its bylaws, the academy's ma ...

, was founded in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

in the same year.Archäologien Europas: Geschichte, Methoden und Theorien By Peter F. Biehl, Alexander Gramsch, Arkadiusz Marciniak One of his first directors was the thracologist Dumitru Berciu (1907–1998). The related term Thraco-Dacology also exists, alluding to Thraco-Dacian, and one of the first uses is also from around 1980, in the Romanian government archive. The term ''Dacologist'' has been negatively affected by the association with protochronism. Some researchers prefer to call themselves Thracologists instead of Dacologists. This choice of title is made in the context of their research being focused on the Dacians and without necessarily promoting a strong connection between the Thracians and Dacians.

Dacologists

Researchers who have been noted in the field of Dacology include: * Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu * Ion I. Russu * Radu Vulpe * Andrei Vartic

International Congress of Dacology

There have been 11 editions of the ''International Congress of Dacology'' organized so far. However, they have been organized by the controversial Dacianist group around Napoleon Săvescu, thus making the term Dacology synonymous with Protochronism in this ambiance.

References

Bibliography

* * * * *

External links

Nationalism and the Representation of Society in Romanian Archaeology

La plecarea lui Andrei Vartic
{{Dacia topics Historiography of Dacia Archaeology of Romania Dacian archaeology