3,000-year-old octagonal sword discovered in Bavaria - still shining like new

Archaeologists have discovered a sword from the Middle Bronze Age in Nördlingen, Germany. It dates back to the late 14th century BC and is in such good condition that it still retains its original lustre! It is an extremely rare find, not only in its age, shape, material and condition, but also in its undisturbed original context.

The sword was lying in an undisturbed and undamaged burial mound. Most of the barrows from this period had been looted repeatedly in the past; many of the swords known today were looted from barrows in the 19th century. Those that have been archaeologically recovered and examined are unfortunately isolated finds and often no longer have a context, probably from ritual deposits.

The Nördlingen sword was removed from a grave that contained the skeletal remains of an adult male, an adult female and a young boy, in addition to other rare bronze and other artefacts. They were buried with rich grave goods. However, no direct evidence of a family relationship or any other connection between these individuals has yet been documented; this is the subject of further research.

The sword hilt is octagonal in shape. It was made by casting the hilt over the blade, a rather complex process. It is decorated with carved geometric patterns and inlays. Despite the difficulty of manufacture and the absence of traces of the hilt, it can be assumed that it was a real weapon. The centre of gravity at the front of the blade suggests that it was balanced and intended primarily for chopping. It has already been established in the past that there were two separate main areas of distribution for octagonal swords: southern Germany on the one hand, and northern Germany and Denmark on the other.

"A comparison of casting techniques and decoration shows that some octagonal swords from the north are probably replicas of South Germansword moulds, while other swords may be genuine imports or products of itinerant craftsmen," explained general curator prof. Mathias Pfeil, head of the Bavarian State Heritage Office. "The sword and the grave still need to be examined so that our archaeologists can classify this find more precisely. But we can already say that the state of preservation is extraordinary! Such a find is very rare," he added.

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Roman Němec

Sources: theguardian.com, schwabische.de, blfd.bayern.de