Twenty centuries after the invading Roman legions robbed all the gold they could find in the ancient kingdom of Dacia, treasure hunters using state-of-the art technologies are hot on the trail of the fabulous treasure trove King Decebalus hid in 106 AD and the Romans never found.

The French archaeologist Jerome Carcopino, a world-renowned Dacian expert, has estimated that Decebalus’s hidden treasure amounted to 165,000kg of gold and 350,000kg of silver. The value of the treasure has made it worth the risk for some to undertake illegal digs near Sarmizegetusa, the ancient Dacian capital in Romania’s Orastiei Mountains. The quest has resulted in a flood of illegally dug-up Dacian gold onto the international art smugglers’ market. In recent years, 33 illegal excavations of archaeological sites, commissioned by international robbers, have been uncovered by the authorities in Hunedoara county.