Israeli archaeologists announced Monday the discovery of a treasure trove of Islamic gold coins that lay buried in a clay pot for more than 1,000 years. The discovery came during excavations in the city of Yavne, in the central district of Israel.
"The treasure was hidden buried in a clay pot and contains 425 coins, most from the Abbasid period. The person who buried it 1,100 years ago must have hoped to recover it , and even closed the pot with a nail," they explained in a statement Liat Nadav-Ziv and Elie Haddad, the archaeologists in charge of the excavation and members of the government body Israel Antiquities Authority (AAI).
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"Finding this amount of gold coins is extremely rare. We hardly ever find them in archaeological excavations. Since gold has always been extremely valuable, it was melted and reused, from generation to generation. These coins are made of pure gold. , so they do not rust with air, they have been found in excellent condition, as if they had been buried yesterday ", they add.
The hidden treasure contained dinars of gold, but also some 270 small pieces of dinars cut to serve as bargains. The discovery, they believe, may be indicative that there was international trade between this area and other more remote areas.
The discovery was made by two 18-year-old teenagers who participated as volunteers in the excavation: "I dug in the dirt," said Oz Cohen, one of them, "and sees what looked like thin leaves." “When I looked again, I saw that they were gold coins. It was really exciting to find an ancient and special treasure. "
Israeli archaeologist Shahar Krispin brushes off discovered gold coins.AP Photo / Sipa Press, Heidi Levine
AAI coin expert Robert Kool notes that "it is extremely rare to find treasures from the Abbasid period in excavations in Israel, especially gold coins. This one, from the late 9th century BC, is one of the oldest found. the coins are 24 karat gold and the total weight of the treasure is 845 grams, a significant amount of money in those days . "
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With that sum, he estimates, its owner could have bought a luxurious house in the best neighborhoods of Fustat, the capital of Egypt at the time.
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Oct. 8, 201801: 48"Most of the coins date from that century, when the Abbasid Caliphate stretched from Persia in the east to North Africa in the west, and whose center of government was in Baghdad, present-day Iraq.
"Cutting gold and silver coins was used routinely in the monetary system in Islamic countries after 850 BC , when bronze and copper coins suddenly disappeared," Kool explains.
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The discovery has been one of the largest ancient coin deposits found in Israel. In 2015, amateur divers found around 2,000 gold coins off the coast of the ancient port city of Caesarea dating back to the Fatimid caliphate of the 10th and 11th centuries.
"Hopefully the treasure study will give us more on a period we still know very little about," Kool said.
With information from AP and EFE.
