Top archaeologist Georgi Kitov has jumped to the defence of a controversial film that Discovery Channel is shooting in Bulgaria on Thracian culture.

"They were very lucky to witness and shoot the discovery of a gold mask, a gold ring and vessels! These are pictures that may bring them a Pulitzer prize! Some may say the gold is worthless, but the team has the right to go all out in their search for the sensational," Kitov, often dubbed the Bulgarian Indiana Jones, said.

The film came under harsh criticism earlier in the week by Kitov's fellow headline-grabbing colleague and rival Prof Nikolay Ovcharov.

Ovcharov claims the film concentrates exclusively and only on the Thracian gold treasures, which distorts the original idea of giving a full picture of the Thracian culture.

The change in the concept, Ovcharov says, came with the replacement of the British team with Americans.

"It is as if the Thracians were born to create their gold treasures and die. And then comes Georgi Kitov to discover them," Ovcharov, who is known for the excavation works at Perperikon sanctuary in Southern Bulgaria, told journalists, lashing at his colleague.

Kitov shrugged off the criticism as "friendly fire".

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