OF ROMANS, DACIANS AND ROMANIANS Cătălin N. Popa Faculty of Archaeology, University of Leiden, The Netherlands Emily R. Hanscam Department of Archaeology, Durham University, United Kingdom Abstract: The Romans and Dacians both played an important role in Romanian nationalism and in the construction of the modern Romanian identity. Their rela- tionship is complex and frequently in conflict, as the political climate determined which mythical ancestor was seen as advantageous at the time. We suggest that the Roman ancestry was fundamental for the initial stages of Romanian nation and state-building, providing Romanians with a noble origin and a connection to Western Europe. As the Romanian state grew more mature throughout the 20 th century, emphasis shifted to the Dacians, giving the nation even deeper, prehistor- ic roots which doubled as a claim to territory. In this article we explore the histor- ical process of how the Romans and Dacians have endured together in Romanian popular imagination. Keywords: Romans, Dacians, Romanians, Iron Age, antiquity, archaeology. Cătălin N. Popa, Faculty of Archaeology, University of Leiden, Einsteinweg 2, 2333 CC Leiden, The Netherlands, Original scholarly article pcatalinn@yahoo.com UDC: 94(=13) Emily R. Hanscam, 930”638”(498) Department of Archaeology, Durham University, Received: 11.11.2019. South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, United Kingdom, Accepted: 01.02.2020. e.r.hanscam@durham.ac.uk