Homepage for UWB Portal News

Approximately 4,000 pieces of ammunition, a Panzerfaust anti-tank weapon, as well as ammunition containing hazardous white phosphorus were discovered last week by archaeologists from the Faculty of Arts at UWB. Police bomb disposal experts spent three days at the site helping to uncover and secure the finds. The ammunition was specifically German ammunition for aircraft-mounted MG-series cannons.

“Since it was not possible to precisely identify which of the ammunition contained white phosphorus, all of the ammunition found was destroyed. Its temporary storage and subsequent destruction would have posed too great a risk. The ammunition was therefore destroyed in a blasting pit,” said Jiří Matzner, spokesperson for the South Bohemian Police. For security reasons, the police did not disclose the exact location of the discovery.

According to the archaeologists, the finds are exceptional discoveries of at least national significance. They also uncovered aircraft-mounted cannons and machine guns. “Research of this kind really must be consulted with the Czech Police Pyrotechnic Service from the very beginning. Where the safety-related responsibilities of archaeologists end, specialists in explosive ordnance take over. This research, therefore, represents an exceptional and comprehensive undertaking. We are grateful for this cooperation, as it allows us to explore the archaeology of the Second World War conflict fully,” added archaeologist Tomáš Pancíř from the Faculty of Arts at UWB.

The two institutions will publish further details at a later date. The archaeologists must now document the remaining artifacts. They are also negotiating with the landowner about the next steps ahead of planned construction on the site.

This is not the first such cooperation in the South Bohemian Region. One example is a rescue archaeological excavation near Dolní Dvořiště, where archaeologists and bomb disposal experts likewise documented finds dating from the Second World War.