Dacology (Romanian: Dacologie) is a branch of Thracology which focuses on the scientific study of Dacia and Dacian antiquities and is a regional and thematic branch of the larger disciplines of ancient history and archaeology. A practitioner of the discipline is a Dacologist. Dacology investigates the range of ancient Dacian culture (language, literature, history, religion, art, economics, and ethics) from c. 1000 BC up to the end of Roman rule in the 4th-7th centuries. It is directly subordinated to Thracology, since Dacians are considered a branch of the Thracians by most mainstream research[1] and historical sources.[2] Other theories sustain that the Daco-Thracian relation is not as strong as originally thought[3][4] and as such Dacology has the potential to evolve as an independent discipline from Thracology.