A bronze sword made more than 3,000 years ago has been unearthed in Germany and is so well preserved that it “almost still shines,” authorities say.

The Bavarian state office for the preservation of historical monuments says the sword, believed to date back to the late 14th century BC (mid-Bronze Age), was found during excavations last week in Noerdlingen, between Nuremberg and Stuttgart in southern Germany.

It has an octagonal bronze hilt and comes from a grave in which three people – a man, a woman and a child – were buried in quick succession with bronze objects, the Bavarian office said in a statement this week.

It remains unclear whether the three people were related to each other and, if so, how.

German officials say the 3,000-year-old sword is a “very rare” discovery. (Supplied: Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation)

“The sword and the burial still need to be examined so that our archaeologists can classify this find more precisely,” said the head of the office, Mathias Pfeil.

“But we can already say that the state of preservation is extraordinary. A find like this is very rare.”

Swords from that period are rare, but they have emerged from burial mounds opened in the 19th century or as individual finds, the office said.

The sword was found among bones in a grave in Germany. (Source: Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation)