This article covers the history and bibliography of Romania and links to specialized articles.
Prehistory
34,950-year-old remains of modern humans with a possible Neanderthalian trait were discovered in present-day Romania when the Peștera cu Oase was uncovered in 2002. In 2011, older modern human remains were identified in the UK and Italy but the Romanian fossils are still among the oldest remains of Homo sapiens in Europe, so they may be representative of the first such people to have entered Europe. The remains present a mixture of archaic, early modern human and Neanderthal morphological features.

The Neolithic-Age Cucuteni area in northeastern Romania was the western region of the earliest European civilization, which is known as the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture. The earliest-known salt works is at Poiana Slatinei near the village of Lunca; it was first used in the early Neolithic around 6050 BC by the Starčevo culture and later by the Cucuteni-Trypillia culture in the pre-Cucuteni period. Evidence from this and other sites indicates the Cucuteni-Trypillia culture extracted salt from salt-laden spring water through the process of briquetage.

Dacia
The earliest written evidence of people living in the territory of present-day Romania comes from Herodotus in Book IV of his Histories, which was written in c. 440 BC; He writes that the tribal confederation of the Getae were defeated by the Persian Emperor Darius the Great during his campaign against the Scythians. The Dacians, who are widely accepted as part of the Getae described earlier by the Greeks, were a branch of Thracians who inhabited Dacia, which corresponds with modern Romania, Moldova, northern Bulgaria and surrounding nations.

The Dacian Kingdom reached its maximum expansion during the reign of King Burebista between 82 BC and 44 BC. Under his leadership, Dacia became a powerful state that threatened the regional interests of the Romans. Julius Caesar intended to start a campaign against the Dacians due to the support that Burebista gave to Pompey but he was assassinated in 44 BC. A few months later, Burebista was assassinated by his own noblemen. Another theory suggests he was killed by Caesar's friends. Burebista's powerful state was divided into four and was not reunified until 95 AD under the reign of the Dacian king Decebalus.