Couple Discovered 3000-year-old Bronze-Age Sword While Strolling with their Metal Detector and it is ‘Still Sharp’

In a field in Forsinge, the western part of the large Danish island of Zealand, home to Copenhagen, a couple of amateur archaeologists, Ernst Christiansen and Lis Therkelsen, had taken their metal detector along during one of their evenings strolls when the machine alerted them to the presence of something 30 centimeters under the ground.

The pair started digging and eventually unearthed what seemed to be a tip of a sword. Recognizing the potential importance of the discovery, the two reburied the object and contacted Museum Vestsjælland.

They were joined by museum inspector Arne Hedegaard Andersen the next morning and together, they uncovered what the museum called “an incredibly well-preserved sword.”

The museum wrote in a press release:

“The sword is so well-preserved that you can clearly see the fine details. And it is even sharp.”

The museum believes that the sword dates to Phase IV of the Nordic Bronze Age or somewhere between 1100 and 900 BC. The 82-cm bronze sword with a 67-cm blade was still sharp, despite being over 3,000 years old.

The blade will be exhibited at a branch of the museum in the city of Kalundborg before being processed and cataloged. Apparently, Denmark is currently in the midst of a remarkable period when it comes to discovering antiquities from the past.

To name a few, some of the more notable recent discoveries have included the largest-ever find of Viking gold, an 1,100-year-old crucifix that may change the understanding of when Christianity came to Denmark, a hoard of 700-year-old coins, some 2,000 gold spirals used by sun-worshipping priest-kings during the Bronze Age, and a “lost” rune stone turned up in a farmer’s backyard.

As a matter of fact, the discoveries have been so overwhelming that the National Museum of Denmark has said that they have yet to process everything in a timely manner.