"We are only thinking that they were confiscated [by the Germans] from the Hereros and Namas and buried there," the Director of the National Museum of Namibia, Esther Mwoombolah-//Goegoses, told The Namibian.

She said the rifles were being restored, but there was still no definitive answers on where they had come from.

Once they were cleaned and restored, the rifles might be loaned to other museums in the country, she said.

The rifles were found by workers digging the foundations of the new RCC headquarters in January this year.

When the architects saw the rifles, they notified the National Museum of Namibia, which sent experts to determine if the find was of any historical importance.

Besides the rifles, some ox-wagon wheels and axes were also found On the day of the find, amateur archaeologist Peter Reiner said the rifles looked about 100 years old and included Martini-Henry and Mauser rifles, double-barrelled shotguns and even more ancient muzzle-loaders.

It was believed that the arms were destroyed and dumped there by German colonial authorities in the early 1900s, after their war against the Hereros and Namas.