When you buy through links on our web site , we may earn an affiliate commissioning . Here ’s how it works .

Archaeologists come upon a cache of Bronze Age artefact while doing routine resume employment in a field in the Czech Republic .

The bronze objects — which include eight weapon closed chain , two pin , eight axis and one spearhead — were found near Budyně nad Ohří , a Ithiel Town about 35 miles ( 56 kilometers ) northwest of Prague , Radio Prague Internationalreported .

A person holds two Bronze Age ax handles over a table covered with a red cloth that holds additional bronze artifacts

The Bronze Age hoard includes ax handles as well as arm bands.

Researchers forecast that most of the item , which they get using metallic element sensing element , date to around 1600 B.C.

" Most items are characteristic of the Middle Bronze Age , with only one ax belong to the other period,“Martin Trefný , an associate professor at the Museum of the Říp Region and the University of Jan Evangelista Purkyně and the curator of the hoard , told Live Science in an email . One ax is even erstwhile and see to the Early Bronze Age .

" Axes could have been used as tools or weapon system . The latter function also applies to the spearhead , " Trefný said . " Bracelets were forearm ornament , and pins serve either to fasten clothing or , for illustration , to style woman ’s hair . "

A selection of metal objects

Related:‘Jackpot ' of 2,000 early - medieval coins discovered by hiker in Czech Republic

archeologist continue unclear about why the hoard was swallow up , but they have purport three possibilities .

" In the first casing , the stash are presume to have a votive purpose , signify they served as offerings to deities , " Trefný said . " In the second case , we verbalize of an economic subprogram , where cache are interpreted as , for example , storage for manufacturers of the given items . "

The coin hoard, amounting to over $340,000, was possibly hidden by people fleeing political persecution.

or else , the bury item could think over " a crisis billet , where it was necessary to veil the particular , for example , from enemies , " he said .

— Medieval belted ammunition buckle of ' flying lizard ' feeding frog get wind in Czech Republic may be from unnamed pagan religious cult

— Bronze Age ' gem ' was craft with extraterrestrial alloy

A vessel decorated with two human-like faces (one is shown above).

— most 8,000 medieval coins and 7 Bronze Age swords unearth in Germany

The hoarded wealth could be worth " millions of crown , " Trefný told Radio Prague International . ( One million Czech tip , or koruna , is about $ 42,500 . )

" All the items testify to the technical onward motion of bronze casters and processor in Central Europe 3,500 years ago , " Trefný told Live Science . " The composition of the hoard also conduce to read the warfare , foxiness technique and contemporary fashion of the time . see that hoard might have a ritual significance , they can also unwrap a bit about the contemporary religion . "

A gold raven�s head with inset garnet eye and a flattened gold ring with triangular garnets sit on a black cloth on a table.

In the " near future , " these found items will be on display at the Podřipské Museum , located about 30 mile ( 50 klick ) due north of Prague , Radio Prague International reported .

a decorated green sword

A strawberry-shaped bronze spoon with a circular handle on a white background.

Circular alignment of stones in the center of an image full of stones

Three-dimensional rendering of an HIV virus

Remains of the Heroon, a small temple built for the burial cluster of Philip II at the Museum of the Royal Tombs inside the Great Tumulus of Aigai (Aegae)

a close-up of a handmade stone tool

a wrecked car underwater

an illustration of a base on the moon

An aerial photo of mountains rising out of Antarctica snowy and icy landscape, as seen from NASA�s Operation IceBridge research aircraft.

A tree is silhouetted against the full completed Annular Solar Eclipse on October 14, 2023 in Capitol Reef National Park, Utah.

Screen-capture of a home security camera facing a front porch during an earthquake.