They find a 3,000-year-old bronze sword that still shines in Germany

HEALTH / By Carmen Gomaro

A bronze sword, which is over 3,000 years old but so well preserved that it still shines, has been discovered at an archaeological site in Nordlingen, Germany.

It is a whole sword with an octagonal hilt made entirely of bronze, unearthed as part of a grave goods provisionally dated to the end of the 14th century BC, that is, the Middle Bronze Age.

In the burial, the remains of three people were found who were buried with valuable bronze objects: a man, a woman, an adolescent. The link between them is not yet clear.

The manufacture of octagonal swords is complex, since the hilt is cast on the blade (called superimposed casting).. The decoration is through a marquetry and by means of punches. While there are two actual rivets, another pair of rivets is only implied.. Despite the manufacturing effort and the lack of cut marks, it is assumed to have been a real weapon.

“The sword and burial have yet to be examined so that our archaeologists can classify this find more accurately.. But a find like this is very rare,” said conservator General Mathias Pfeil, head of aviara's State Office for Monument Preservation, in a statement.