'Extremely rare' 3,000-year-old sword discovered in Germany is so well preserved it SHINES, archaeologists say

Daily Mail ^ | June 16, 2023 | Lauren Haughey

[SunkenCiv]

·The ancient weapon was dug up in the small German town of Nördlingen
·Experts were shocked to find how shiny it was despite laying in a burial site
·They are unsure where the sword was made or who the people are at this grave

Archaeologists have stumbled upon an extremely rare Bronze Age sword at an ancient burial site in Germany.

The weapon, believed to be 3,000 years old, was dug up in the small town of Nördlingen just last week.

Experts were shocked it was so well preserved that it actually shined, despite laying in a grave of three people.

The three bodies included a man, woman and teenager, with researchers left puzzled over whether they were related...

While experts believe it was difficult to create, they are convinced it was a real weapon, designed for sharp cuts...

Swords from Nördlingen often belonged to the 'Urns' during this period- distinguished by their custom of cremation during the late Bronze era.

While Urnfield culture is believed to have first appeared in northern Italy and eastern-Europe, this reached various other countries...

They received their name from their distinctive bell-shaped beakers, decorated in horizontal zones by finely toothed stamps.

The decorated pots are almost ubiquitous across Europe, and could have been used as drinking vessels or ceremonious urns.

Believed to be originally from Spain, the Beaker folk soon spread into central and western Europe in their search for metals.

Textile production was also under way at the time and people wore wrap-around skirts, tunics and cloaks...

The dead were cremated or buried in small cemeteries near settlements.

This period was followed by the Iron Age which started around 650 BC and finished around 43 AD.

[SunkenCiv]

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• Discovery of Bronze Age child's shoe suggests perennial problem of toddlers dropping their things stretches back 3,000 years [02/24/2023]
• Sword Mistaken For Replica Is Actually An Ancient 3,000-Year-Old Weapon [01/25/2023]
• Archaeologists Unearth 3,000-Year-Old Wishing Well in Germany [01/22/2023]
• Bronze Age gold belt with 'cosmological' designs unearthed in Czech beet field [10/30/2022]
• Czech scientists reveal striking look of a Bronze Age woman from Bohemia [06/02/2022]
• We Thought We Knew What These Ancient Daggers Were Used For, But We Were Wrong [05/10/2022]
• Research finally answers what Bronze Age daggers were used for [05/02/2022]
• Central European prehistory was highly dynamic [12/12/2021]
• 4000-year-old sword found in Finland [3700 years] [10/12/2021]
• Exploring the life story of a high-status woman from isotope data in Hungary's largest Bronze Age cemetery bronze age cemeteries [10/12/2021]
• 'Europe's oldest battle' in Germany's Tollense Valley 3,250 years ago may actually have been a brutal MASSACRE of 1,400 Bronze Age merchants [10/26/2020]
• Cryptic Nebra sky disk might not be so ancient after all, say scientists [09/05/2020]
• Mysterious 5000 year-old sword discovered... [03/26/2020]
• 5,000-year-old sword discovered in Venice [03/01/2020]
• What Europe's most ancient battlefield reveals [10/09/2017]
• Unexpected and Gruesome Battle of 1250 BC Involved 4,000 Men from Across Northern Europe [03/25/2016]
• "Early Bronze Age battle site found on German river bank" [05/22/2011]
• Early Bronze Age battle site found on German river bank [05/22/2011]
• Ancient Germany's Metal Traders [05/06/2012]
• Archaeologists find bones from prehistoric war in Germany [10/11/2008]
• Celestial Bronze Age disc recovered [10/04/2002]
• Bronze Age observatory to be rebuilt in Germany [09/15/2002]

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks algore!

[Red Badger]

So, the ‘finder’ is now KING OF GERMANY!....................

[Tell It Right]

Photo of the young man holding the sword 3,000 years ago:

[BenLurkin]

[Red Badger]

Swords from Nördlingen often belonged to the 'Urns' during this period- distinguished by their custom of cremation during the late Bronze era.

So, that's where we get the idea of putting peoples ashes in 'Urns'....................

[one guy in new jersey]

Brian Williams?

[Fiji Hill]

Nördlingen is the site of a battle in 1634, during the Thirty Years War, in which the Spanish army destroyed the Swedish army.

[Red Badger]

Cosmoline...................

[one guy in new jersey]

Looks like a bad-ass weapon.

[woodbutcher1963]

Conan the Barbarian

[wally_bert]

Having an ancient sword is no basis for supreme executive power.

[woodbutcher1963]

I’m being oppressed...

[Red Badger]

BiteMe Biden..............

[Red Badger]

Tell that to the Brits...............

[dfwgator]

I mean, if I went around saying I was an emperor just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, they’d put me away!

[dfwgator]

Who are the Britons?

[ClearCase_guy]

[gibsonguy]

Excalibur

[one guy in new jersey]

That fictitious fellow wielded a two-handed broadsword, IIRC.

This looks like a one-handed sword.

Not much less lethal, though, probably.