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Ocnele Mari: Salt Mines, Spa and Rich History
Ocna means salt mine and this vast resource (a layer that's 600 metres thick) has made Ocnele Mari famous, as have its spa and ancient ruins. Ocnele Mari is a town from the south-central part of Romania, built in a depression at an altitude of about 320 metres.
This place has had inhabitants since the Stone Age and archaeologists have discovered evidence that 2000 years ago a Dacian fortress, Buridava, was found here and it was even mentioned in the writings of the famous Greek historian Ptolemeu.
Near the ruins of Buridava experts uncovered a necropolis, where many archaeological artefacts were found, mostly pottery and an important storage room for cereals. In the same spot a fountain was also discovered and local legends say that it was built in very remote times and that is was used to power up some sort of old sewage system that brought the water to the local settlements.
The most important discovery at Ocnele Mari is a couple of ceramic artefacts with "BUR" etched on them, either related to the name Buridava or even to the great Dacian ruler Burebista. Also, on some other pottery items archaeologists found the inscriptions "REB" and "MARK", which seemed to have been made by geto-dacians.
The name Ocnele Mari was first mentioned officially in a document signed by the ruler Mircea cel Batran and written between 1402 and 1418. In fact the area where Ocnele Mari is today was exploited by the Cozia Monastery, that sold the salt for profit, with the approval of Mircea cel Batran. Salt was extremely important in the Middle Ages, bringing an important profit to any state, in this case Tara Romaneasca.
The exploitation of this then very useful resource was carried out with the aid of enslaved gipsies, which were at that time the only slaves from the country.
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