“Without a doubt, these are tools from the late Bronze Age, about 1,500 to 1,300 years before Christ, some of them used and still pretty sharp,” said archaeologist Mechthild Freudenberg, who is responsible for Bronze Age artefacts at an archaeological museum in the city of Schleswig.

The collection was discovered at the end of September by two people certified in the use of metal detectors and working with permission from the land owners, near the town of Fahrdorf an der Schlei. After they unearthed two bronze axes, they stopped digging and informed local officials.

So far, the team has discovered four axes, a spear and seven sickles, which have been spread across the field by agricultural activity through the years. But further down there are more objects that lay undisturbed.

Officials presume that the valuable objects were gathered together about 3,400 years ago for safekeeping, but never dug up again.