Ciubotă, Viorel et al. (szerk.): Episcopia greco-catalică de Mukacevo documente 2. (Satu Mare, 2012)
L. Marta: Glitter and Splendour int he Nothern Capital of the Dacian sin Mala Kopanya
Mala Kopanya / Мала Копаня pliers and chisels leave no doubt that these buildings were the workshops of craftsmen and smiths working the bronze and the iron. Large amount of farming tools point to the blacksmiths from Mala Kopanya who made tools for the farmers of the fortress and for those in the open setdements nearby. A large number of weapons that suggest numerous fighters were discovered inside the fortification (spears, swords, arrows, daggers, shields). Two large silver fibulae (brooches) seem to distinguish the rank of the warrior elite. The living standard and the aspirations of the ruling elite are attested by several amphorae made in Greek towns on the Black Sea. They are the containers for luxury wines, bought at great expense and brought with no litde effort across the Carpathians. The intense levels of trade which were observedat this tribal centre in north-western Dacia is attested by the Absida (locuinţa nr.7). Reconstituire realizată de V.V. Moijes. Апсида (житло No7). Реконструкція В.В.Мойжес'а. The apse (house nr 7). Reconstruction made by V.V. Moijes. diverse origins of coins found during excavations in Mala Kopanya.Field-walking revealed a large number of Roman coins and various Celtic coins; or Greek coins issued by colonies on the Adriatics. Numerous coins found on the surface of the fortress belong to the Medieşu Aurit type. The large number of these coins suggests that the type of coins used by north-western Dacians was produced in Mala Kopanya. The right to mint coins is a sign of political independence. Therefore, we can say that the great fortress of Mala Kopanya was an important political centre in north-western Dacia, where the local elites used to strike their own coins. The placing of the fortification was not random, as it has a special strategic position. It controlled the north to south road that passed through the main gorges crossing the Northern Carpathians - including the Verecke gorge (entided “Gate of peoples”). At the same time the fortress of Mala Kopanya used to control the traffic on the Tisa River, utilised to transport salt from historical Maramureş to the Pannonian Plain up till the late Middle Ages. Funerary remains are very rare in the classical Dacian period. In the interwar period however, a villager discovered warrior accoutrements of the first century A.D., which suggested the existence of a cemetery in Malaya Kopanya. Professor V. Kotigorosko could locate the source of the pieces on a hill in the vicinity of the fortress, but the surveys carried out there revealed
