Send Gift Baskets to Hunedoara, Romania

Sânpetru (Saint Peter) hill near the castle and surrounding villages has been discovered with Stone Age tools. From the Iron Age onward, the area was rich in iron extracted by Thracian tribes. It was located close to Hunedoara and supplied by the iron produced here to provide the Dacian fortresses of the Orăştie mountains, including Sarmiszegetusa, which became the center of religious and political power for Dacia. Near the castle on Sânpetru Hill, remains of eight Dacian iron furnaces have been found. Several Dacian and Roman imperial coins were discovered at the site, testifying its importance.

As Dacia became a Roman province around 106 AD, the iron-rich region drew the attention of the Romans, who built furnaces to exploit it. “Villa Rustica” emerged in Teliuc, a Roman fortification on Sanpetru hill, the outpost of the famous legio XIII Gemina with its main castrum at Apullum in Dacia. 

Other Roman artifacts were discovered in the city area and Pestis, where remains of a Roman village were found. There was also a new capital city for the Roman province of Dacia in the vicinity, Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa.

As a result of the Roman military and administrative retreat during the Migration Period, there are no significant historic sites in the region. However, it is possible that iron activity continued. Goths, Huns, Slavs, Pechenegs, Magyars, and Cumans, made significant contributions to the ethnic makeup of the region.

The ethnicity of Transylvania’s population before the Hungarian conquest is a topic of ongoing scholarly debate (see Origin of the Romanians). Minor political feuds (ruled by knjazes) developed after 1000 as part of the Kingdom of Hungary. Pechenegs and Cumans held political power south of the Carpathians, and Hunedoara served as a buffer zone for the Hungarian Crown. Over time, the Vlach populations in the nearby mountains developed an original Highlander culture. Woodlanders dominated the area’s demographics, and their land is called “ara Pădurenilor” (Woodlanders Country). Additionally, there were many German Saxon colonists brought by the Hungarian Crown after the Mongol Invasion and Romani immigrants from India.

Known as Hungnod in 1265, the city was an important hub for leather tanning and wool processing. Hunedoara became an important center for iron extraction and processing in Transylvania. “Corpus Inscriptiorum Latinorum” refers to a resident as “netas ibi, ubi forum nascitur,” which means “born where iron was born.” The town industry was essential for manufacturing weapons and tools for the region.