The longest iron sword ever excavated in Japan, as well as a bronze mirror, were unearthed by archaeologists in city of Nara on January 25, local officials said.

Nara City officials said a shield-shaped copper mirror and a serpentine sword were buried in clay at the Tomio Maruyama Kofun, Japan’s largest circular burial mound, built in the latter half of the 4th century.

The mirror measured 64 cm long and about 31 cm wide. Its patterns make it a “bronze mirror like no other,” according to city officials.

The sword measured 2.67 meters (8.75 ft) long, making it “the largest iron sword in Japan” and the “oldest example of a meandering sword”, officials said.

Nara City said all the relics unearthed at the burial site can be considered to be the “greatest masterpieces of domestic handicraft production technology in the early Kofun period (4th century).” Credit: Nara City via Storyful