An image of the 3,000-year-old octagonal sword found in Bavaria, Germany. (Archäologie-Büro Dr Woidich)

A bronze sword that is more than 3,000 years old and so well-preserved that it "almost still shines" has been discovered in southern Germany, as per a press release from the Bavarian State Office for Monument Protection (BLfD).

The state office detailed that the sword was discovered last week during excavations in Nördlingen, which is located halfway between Nuremberg and Stuttgart, and it is thought to have been made during the middle of the bronze era, at the end of the 14th century BC.

The sword has an octagonal hilt and was found in a grave where three persons were interred simultaneously with bronze objects: a man, a mother, and child, according to (BLfD). It was yet unclear whether or how the three were linked to one another.

Prof Mathias Pfeil, the head of the BLfD, explained that “the sword and the burial still need to be examined so that our archeologists can categorize this find more precisely. But we can already say that the state of preservation is extraordinary. A find like this is very rare.”

Swords from the time period are uncommon, although they have been discovered in burial mounds that were excavated in the 19th century or as individual findings, according to the BLfD.