Journal of Science and Arts Volume 23, Issue 1, pp. 251-262, 2023 https://doi.org/10.46939/J.Sci.Arts-23.1-b03 Chemistry Section ORIGINAL PAPER THE STRUCTURAL, MORPHOLOGICAL AND ELEMENTAL CHARACTERIZATION OF A SICA SCABBARD DISCOVERED AT BURIDAVA OVIDIU VASILE UDRESCU 1,3 , DENIS AURELIAN NEGREA 2 *, CONSTANTIN AUGUSTUS BARBULESCU 3 , ADRIANA GABRIELA SCHIOPU 4 *, MARIAN CATALIN DUCU 4 , SORIN GEORGIAN MOGA 2 _________________________________________________ Manuscript received: 09.01.2023; Accepted paper: 25.02.2023; Published online: x30.03.2023. Abstract. In 2019, on one of the most important dacian archaeological sites (Ocnița, Vâlcea County, Romania), in a tomb dug into the rock, along with various weapons, ceramics, bones, etc. there was also discovered a fragmentary sica scabbard. As a consequence of the lack of information on solely such iron-made objects, the urgent need to obtain as much information as possible regarding this type of military equipment was mandatory. Thus we applied different characterization methods aimed at obtaining results regarding the inner structure assembly of the scabbard, the chemical composition and the elemental distribution of the material the scabbard was made of, in order to better understand the technique used by the dacian blacksmiths. With the help of optical macroscopy, energy dispersive - X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (EDXRF), X-ray CT scanning, scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) we tried to reconstruct how the scabbard was made, and how it survived until present times. Keywords: dacian weapons; scabbard; sica; chape; Buridava; XRF; X-Ray CT; SEM- EDS. 1. INTRODUCTION Although the systematic research at the dacian Buridava from Ocnița, Vâlcea county started as early as 1961 [1], the resumption of the systematic archaeological research by the University of Pitesti starting from 2016 also led to the carrying out of the first interdisciplinary research on metallurgy [2]. Even if it is considered the most important dacian settlement south of the Carpathians for the 1 st BC – 1 st AD centuries [3], so far this has been reported for inventory items consisting mainly of household items (various pottery, tools), jewelry. Unfortunately, until now, the importance of this settlement has not been seen and implicitly not analyzed from the point of view of the dacian military equipment discovered here, and this passive attitude towards the research of this field must change. 1 University of Pitesti, Interdiciplinary Doctoral School, 110040 Pitesti, Romania. E-mail: vasile.udrescu@upit.ro . 2 University of Pitesti, Regional Center of Research & Development for Materials, Processes and Innovative Products Dedicated to the Automotive Industry, 110040 Pitesti, Romania. E-mail: denis.negrea@upit.ro ; sorin.moga@upit.ro . 3 University of Pitesti, Departament of Theology, Letters, History and Arts, 110254 Pitesti, Romania. E-mail: constantin.barbulescu@upit.ro 4 University of Pitesti, Department of Manufacturing and Industrial Management, 110040 Pitesti, Romania. E-mail: gabriela.plaiasu@upit.ro ; catalin.ducu@upit.ro . *Corresponding authors: denis.negrea@upit.ro ; gabriela.plaiasu@upit.ro .