A victim of the Great Chief?

Machine translation of the original editorial information.

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Inside this issue

1. 18 · Treasure hunters versus gamekeepers
2. 20 · A dagger – a gem from beneath Charles Bridge
3. 36 · Return to the Land of Shadows

Historical introduction: prices, events and dates refer to the original publication.

Dear readers,

The latest issue of Detektor revue 2/2017 has left the printers and is on its way to your letterboxes and the usual outlets. And, as always, here’s a little taster to whet your appetite.

As usual, we begin with the ‘Artefact of the Month’ section, which this time features a plaque commemorating Finnish volunteers who fought on the side of Nazi Germany. Below is an interview with archaeologist David Daněček from the Central Bohemian Museum in Roztoky near Prague, entitled ‘A Sacrifice to the Great Chief?’, about the discovery of a unique 4,000-year-old treasure from the Únětice culture!

‘Metal detectors versus wives and girlfriends’ is the topic we put to treasure hunters in our regular ‘Poll’ column. A dream come true on four wheels. This is the apt and promising title our colleague Honza (DFX) gave to his article about the discovery of an amazing ‘garage find’ in Germany – a 1937 Opel Kadett K36. To gain a better mutual understanding of the views and attitudes of the two groups moving through our countryside – treasure hunters and hunters – whose interests often intersect, the article ‘Treasure Hunters versus Hunters’ by our contributor, the military historian and keen hunter Jan Škarka, should help. The search for artefacts takes many different forms – in the article ‘The Dagger – a gem from beneath Charles Bridge’, Sláva Voříšek introduces us to the long-standing tradition of St Nicholas’s Day diving and underwater searching in the Vltava River right in the heart of Prague.

‘The Unfortunate MiGs’ is the title of an article in which Wood describes how he continues his tireless search for MiG crash sites in our country. Acciho, our regular contributor and a master at unearthing unique, surprising stories and destinies buried in the layers of time, was inspired this time to investigate a postcard depicting, on the front, an airship shot down during the fighting of the First World War. The result is a gripping story entitled The Fate of the Citta di Jesi Airship. In the article ‘When you’ve got to, you’ve got to…’, Zuzka will convince you that even if you become completely hooked on our wonderful hobby, you can still manage it even with a whole brood of children in tow. The ‘Archaeological Snippets’ section introduces the earliest human ancestor, you will also read about the largest find of Bronze Age pottery in Moravia, learn about the unique discovery of hundreds of shoes from the Roman period, and discover a jug concealing groschen coins from the reign of Wenceslas IV. This instalment of our Advice Column is devoted to time-delay fuses. Return to the Land of Shadows – this is the somewhat mysterious title of another report by the experienced treasure hunter Luděk, in which he not only presents exceptional finds from a particularly fruitful site, but also recounts the sometimes unpredictable fortunes of his fellow treasure hunters. Collector Ivo Tomáš answers your questions in the regular column ‘The Button Collector’s Advice Corner’. Fans of short stories will certainly enjoy The Cornfield – another magical short story by Rovin. Those interested in military technology will certainly welcome another study by the military technology historian Jan Škarka, this time on the subject of the 3.7 cm UV vz. 38 (A7) cannon. And finally, we are all certainly looking forward to the seventh instalment of the diary kept by our fellow treasure hunter Jarda, who has been writing it since the 1990s – that is, from the pioneering days of metal-detecting in our country. We are republishing them under the title The Treasure Hunter’s Testament.