[1][2] Ziridava is mentioned in Ptolemy's Geographia (c. 140) in the form Ziridaua (Ancient Greek: Ζιρίδαυα) as an important town in western Dacia, at latitude 48° N and longitude 46° 30' E[1][3] (he used a different meridian and some of his calculations were off).

[4][5] Unlike many other Dacian towns mentioned by Ptolemy, Ziridava is missing from Tabula Peutingeriana (1st–4th centuries), an itinerarium showing the cursus publicus, the road network in the Roman Empire.

[11] Since no inscription have been found to date, Ziridava is hypothetically located at one of the following sites in Banat (western Romania): Based on his analysis of Ptolemy's Geographia[1][3] and previously recorded data, Vasile Pârvan points out that Ptolemy had placed Ziridava in the extreme west of Dacia, near the middle Tisa River and identifies it, hypothetically, with the modern city of Cenad (Timiș), situated on the left bank of the Mureș, where Roman relics were found.

[13] Later on, during various civil works, other Roman archaeological materials were discovered: weights, tiles, coins of the emperors Claudius Gothicus, Aurelian, Marcus Aurelius Probus and Constantius II, ceramic fragments, capitals of columns, brooches, etc.

Based on material discovered accidentally at Cenadul Mare (Big Cenad), it is assumed that a Roman castra existed there, probably having the mission to supervise the transport on Mureş River.

[13] By contrast with the abundant Roman archaeological material, until date only a few Dacian pottery fragments were discovered accidentally and there is no information about the exact location of the findings.

[13] A Geto-Dacian walled city dating to Burebista's reign (82–44 BC) has been discovered at the archaeological site called 'Şanţul Mare ("Big Ditch"), 7 km from Pecica.

At least 16 archaeological horizons have been distinguished, starting with the Neolithic and ending with the Feudal Age (since the 12th century a cemetery existed in this place[4]) and with one of the clearest sequence of pottery development in Banat.

[14] A large collection of stone molds for metallurgy was found, along with inhumation cemeteries containing rich grave goods of gold, bronze and faience and amber beads.

Because of this unique location, the mound is heavily fortified, but it is not yet known whether it was naturally separated from the rest of the terrace by an older arm of the river or this type of fortification was done by people, artificially.

[5] The earliest research at Şanţul Mare was done in 1870 by Iosif Hampel and Floris Romer from National Antiquities Museum, Budapest and proved the extraordinary importance of the tell.

[17] The amateur archaeologist Ladislau Dömötör, a painting professor at a high school in Arad, continued with digs in 1898–1900, 1901 and 1902, and the majority of known Dacian artifacts, until new excavations started in the 1960s, came from these efforts.

[18] In 1910 a new campaign was started by the Cluj-based archaeologist Martin Roska, a pioneer of scientific archeology and the first that helped to clarify the chronological and cultural classification of the various horizons captured here.

That, and the fact that previous research was amateurish or poorly documented, triggered new major excavations in the 1960s under the leadership of archaeologist Ion Horaţiu Crişan, together with Egon Dörner.

This is a sure proof of the existence of social stratification,[5] with the wealthy (tarabostes) staying on the hillock, while the hovels of the free men (comati) lay in the surrounding areas.

[24] The excavations in 2005 have identified the Dacian and Late Bronze Age layers, and recovered charred remains of grains, animal bones and parts from a metal workshop.

During the Migration Period (3rd–10th century) the territory between the Tisa, Crişul Alb and Mureş was successively dominated by Sarmatians, Goths, Huns, Gepidae, Avars and Slavs.

[22] During medieval times (11th–13th century) the location of the settlement was used as a cemetery promontory, as shown by the multitude of graves and human skeletons discovered in a younger layer, during most archaeological campaigns.

[5] The Department of Archaeology at the Arad Museum Complex has a wide range of artifacts from the Dacian settlements and fortifications from the lower Mureş and Crişul Alb valleys, including Pecica.