24.2.2008 He discovered copper nuggets in the field

Over three thousand years old objects were discovered thirteen years ago by the searcher Vladislav Pícha in Písce Hory and near Křtětice in the Vodňany region. He managed to find prehistoric copper nuggets, fragments of bronze tools and ceramic amphorae full of copper ingots.

Pícha subsequently received ten thousand from the region. That's about a tenth of the estimated price of the objects. He was honest and handed over the objects to the Pracheň Museum in Písek. This is the rarest find to date that an archaeology enthusiast from Krajíček in Strakonice has managed to make.

The forty-six year old finder has been fascinated by archaeology since primary school. Finding artefacts has become his hobby. At first he collected pieces of pottery and found out their age, later he focused on objects from the Second World War.

He found the mushrooms near Křtětice while walking through a ploughed field. They were almost visible at a glance, sticking out of the dirt. Finds of manes are not entirely unique. Two years ago, for example, archaeologists made such a discovery on Biskupské náměstí in Olomouc. From layers dating back to the first half of the 10th century, archaeologists recovered two iron axe-shaped greaves, which were probably used as pre- and post-Moravian currency in the Great Moravian and post-Moravian periods.

Pícha did not hesitate and immediately contacted the archaeologists. He was worried that farmers with machinery would enter the fields and damage the greaves. He behaved in an exemplary manner. He left the find intact so archaeologists could document it.

This was appreciated at the time by archaeologist Jiří Fröhlich of the Prácheň Museum, because the finder made it possible to carry out regular archaeological research on the objects that were in the ground. Among the most significant were later identified by experts as a two-ear amphora and forty copper ingots, which date from around 1300 BC. The vessel was broken into pieces, but archaeologists glued it back together.

According to archaeologists, this treasure was probably hidden by a merchant or craftsman as a semi-finished product for making weapons, jewelry or craft tools. "Since copper ore was very rare in our area, the copper found probably came from the Alps, where it was smelted right away," Fröhlich said at the time.

In addition to this beautiful find, Pícha had previously discovered, for example, a fragment of a Celtic buckle. He always goes out into the fields and watches to see if he can spot anything.

Sources: www.npu.cz, www.rozhlas,cz, www.denik.cz, www.idnes.cz,