8. 7. 2008 Treasure from Bernartice

He apparently originally went out with a metal detector to look for World War II coins. But he found a different treasure, namely 16th-century artifacts. He discovered several dozen copper ribs and an 18k gold apron.

The finder was honest and gave the treasure to the Hussite Museum in Tábor. Experts determined that the depot dates back to the sixteenth century.

"The raw material used to make the objects originated in the Alpine regions. Copper ribs were used to make various objects. At that time, golden aprons decorated women's hair," said Rudolf Krajíc, an archaeologist at the Hussite Museum in Tábor.

They have not published the name of the finder, in fact they do not even know him. The treasure was brought to the museum by a man who said he was carrying something for the archaeologists. "It is not the usual way, but a young man came to us and said he was carrying something. But he added that he absolutely did not want to be associated with what he was handing over. So we don't know who he was. He just gave us a vague description of the location of the find, Krajic said.

He said it was the discovery of one or a group of searchers with metal detectors who scour the terrain looking for war items. The substrate is believed to have been hidden by a trader three and a half thousand years ago. Archaeologists believe the trader, who travelled halfway across Europe with it, deposited it at Bernartice and it remains a mystery why he did not use it further.

The museum immediately established cooperation with specialised departments such as the Assay Office to determine the purity of the gold. Archaeologists had to thoroughly clean and preserve the copper ribs. Only then could the public see them.

František Janda was in charge of the conservation, which took six months of work. First, I will dissolve the clay in distilled water and, depending on the distortion of the objects, we will choose the next method of conservation. We will definitely preserve the patina in order to keep the objects in their truest form," Janda explained.

The local mayor, Pavel Souhrada, was really surprised by the discovery and at first did not even want to believe it. "About three years ago, the site was surveyed during construction and nothing was found. Suddenly, Mr Krajíc from the museum told me what had been found. It's beautiful," Souhrada said at the time.

Sources: www.ceskatelevize.cz, www.denik.cz