A cache of ancient Germanic weapons dating to the second century, which experts are calling one of the most significant Czech archaeological finds in recent years, is set to go on exhibit next month at the Chomutov Museum in Hradečná, north Bohemia.

But not without a little controversy.

Jaroslav Zvurský, the local man who originally found them in the Krušné Mountains while searching for World War II relics with his metal detector, is facing some criticism for removing the objects and keeping them in his basement for six months before turning them over to museum curators.

"We are grateful to Mr. Zvurský for bringing us the items," says Lenka Ondráčková, an archaeologist at the museum. "However, the fact the he did not call the archaeologists and instead removed the items from the ground prevents us from discovering the circumstances under which the arms were buried. ... To dig out the items was an elementary mistake."

Zvurský, who is not facing any official sanction for his actions, says he did nothing wrong.

"I knew from the start what the items were. The law says one has to give such finds to the state, and that's what I did," he says.

Worshipping gods

A team of experts has spent the past year and a half restoring the ancient artifacts, which consist of one metal sword, four shield pieces, five shield holders and 11 spearheads.

The significance of the items is that they might finally lead scholars and archaeologists to prove that Germanic tribes established ritual grounds in different parts of the country where they would hold large sacrifices for the gods they worshipped. Never before has so many such artifacts been found in one area.

Experts lean toward the ritual-ground theory because the weapons were found in an area where there was no settlement in the past; the place is too high up at the foothills of the mountains.

"If we can confirm that this was a place where members of the local Germanic tribe came to sacrifice arms to their gods, then we can speak of this as the first such discovery in the Czech Republic," says Ondráčková.

Zvurský, a 35-year-old private entrepreneur, found the weapons in 2004.

"I was simply lucky when I came across the items," he recalls.

"I never expected to find anything of such historical value in the area. Sure, this place used to be popular with road thieves, but that was in the 14th and 15th centuries, nothing like the second century. For me, searching for things of the past is a hobby. I have never found anything as valuable as this."

There are no hard laws regulating whether people can search for artifacts on their own in the wilderness, other than that significant finds must be reported to the government.

Still, Ondráčková and other archaeologists say it's a problem in the Czech Republic because amateurs more often than not upset the integrity of important archaeological sites.

"Sadly, searching for items of the past with metal detectors in the Czech Republic is extremely widespread," she says. "Such persons come to all famous locations and behave in a very ruthless way in an effort to find something. We are really desperate," says Ondráčková.

The last time a similar discovery was made in the Czech Republic was back in the 1950s in Sendražice, near Kolín in east Bohemia, when nine items of Germanic origin were found.

On that occasion, too, experts were unable to validate to any great extent why the arms were placed there, though similar theories to the Krušné Mountains find were floated back then, too.