Măgura Călanului Hill, located north of Călan city and having a very good morphological exposure from all directions and especially from the Streiului meadow, it is archeologically recorded until now through traces/settlements of the Early Bronze Age (Coțofeni culture, 3500-2500 BC, on the southern slope of the hill and on the territory of Sântămăria de Piatră village) and La Tène (Dacian culture – stone quarry at the top of the hill and on the northern slope).
It is possible that a small circular fortification also dates from a period before the Dacians; it is located in the point “La Peşteră” (At Cave), reported only in one article (Article, Pl. I.3), but not archaeologically researched so far, without excluding the potential link with the support- activities of the stone quarry.
Public archaeological information about the traces of the Coțofeni culture is extremely few and they refer mainly to descriptions and similarities of the ceramic material with that of other areas.
(https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=668725)
https://centers.ulbsibiu.ro/ccpisc/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Luca.pdf.
It is often found on the exposed southern slope and covered only with grass species, as small fragments of raw pottery of color from reddish to gray, usually in overlapping layers.
Although the limestone quarry from Măgura Călanului was probably known by the locals from ancient times, the first mentions of the ancient exploitation are the indirect ones. Their appear only at the beginning of the 19th century, in connection with the stone from the Dacian fortresses, having as context the discovery, by the authorities, of the ruins of Grădiștea de Munte and other nearby fortresses.
About the stone quarry and the limestones extracted from here it was rarely written in scientific papers, generally in connection with the archaeological research of the Dacian fortresses. Visual identifications and some petrographic analyzes were made that indicated this site as a (main) source of stone for the blocks of the fortresses from Șureanu mountainous area.
Although registered in the National Archaeological Repertory under the name of the Archaeological Site of Călan – Măgura Călanului (RAN 87433.03 code) with archaeological evidence belonging to the Coțofeni and Dacian cultures (link) and although the ancient stone quarry is the best preserved in Romania and intrinsic correlated with monuments that are part of the UNESCO List, it has not been declared a historical monument so far and has not benefited from preservation and/or valorisation programs.
Knowing the special value of this site from historical documentary evidence and following the independent common research from 2011-2018 (Articol), in 2019 DACICA Foundation makes the first official request for classification of the Dacian quarry from Măgura Călanului as a historical monument (link), still unanswered at the time of March 2021.
