Nadine Ross, a British volunteer for Israel's Antiquities Authority, holds coins she helped unearth during excavations in Jerusalem December 22, 2008.Posted on 12/22/2008 7:58:22 AM PST by BGHater
Excavations have unearthed a hoard of more than 1,300-year-old gold coins under a car park by the ancient walls of Jerusalem, the Israeli Antiquities Authority said on Monday.
Archaeologists said the discovery of the 264 coins, in the ruins of a building dating to about the 7th century, the end of the Byzantine period, was one of the largest coin hoards uncovered in Jerusalem.
"We've had pottery, we've had glass, but we've had nothing like this," said British archaeologist Nadine Ross, who found the hoard under a large rock on Sunday, in the fourth and final week of a trip to Israel.
"It's very, very exciting," she said, cupping hands full of bright yellow coins that looked in mint condition.
The coins date back to the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius who ruled from AD 610 to 641. On the obverse side they bear a likeness of the emperor wearing military garb and holding a cross in his right hand. On the reverse is the cross.
Archeologists said they were minted at the beginning of Heraclius' reign, before the Persians conquered Byzantine Jerusalem in AD 614.
"This is one of the largest and most impressive coin hoards ever discovered in Jerusalem -- certainly the largest and most important of its period," said a statement from site directors Doron Ben-Ami and Yana Tchekhanovets.
Nadine Ross, a British volunteer for Israel's Antiquities Authority, holds coins she helped unearth during excavations in Jerusalem December 22, 2008.
(Excerpt) Read more at uk.news.yahoo.com ...
ping.
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Very cool !!
Wow! Those suckers are going to go for a lot more than the spot price! (847/0z today)
Wish they had a close-up of the coins.
“In 610 by Heraclius, who sailed to Constantinople from Carthage with an icon affixed to the prow of his ship.[30] Following the ascension of Heraclius, the Sassanid advance pushed deep into Asia Minor, also occupying Damascus and Jerusalem and removing the True Cross to Ctesiphon.[31] The counter-offensive of Heraclius took on the character of a holy war, and an acheiropoietos image of Christ was carried as a military standard.[32] Similarly, when Constantinople was saved from an Avar siege in 626, the victory was attributed to the icons of the Virgin which were led in procession by Patriarch Sergius about the walls of the city.[33] The main Sassanid force was destroyed at Nineveh in 627, and in 629 Heraclius restored the True Cross to Jerusalem in a majestic ceremony.[34] The war had exhausted both the Byzantine and Sassanid Empire, and left them extremely vulnerable to the Arab forces which emerged in the following years.”
I'm just waiting for the spin on history that will come from the Palestinians claiming their gold was stolen.
I hade it when I hide cash, and forget where I hid it.
The Roman emperor Flavius Heraclius was the first Christian ruler to confront the Muslims, but his generals failed him. They lost the Battle of the Yarmuk in 636, which resulted in the loss of Jerusalem the next year.
As exotic as this find is, I feel like I know the mind of the guy who stashed this. Civilizations rise and fall, cities crumble to dust, but when things get weird, folks will always horde gold.
Yep. I wonder if he died comfortably of old age, not needing his stash, or if he died a penniless refugee, unable to retrive them?
Every time I hear an archaeologist on some special say how gold and gems are cool but they get way more excited to dig into a dung pit becaue that's where they'll find a thimble or button and that's the real treasure I chuckle. Those items are usually the more scientifically worthy but they can't expect me to believe they really wouldn't love to be the one to discover a great big golden idol or something!
What do you want to bet that when she turned the rock over and saw the coins she instinctively spun her head around to see if anyone was looking.
I have located your handsome stash with a special edition of Oogle Dirt however I will need a advance on your reward to deal with certain copy write laws. Please forward by wire transfer to Escrow Officer # oicu812...
LOL. Bucking for a retirment room at club fed? Three hots and a cot, free medical care,...
At 75 I have already achieved that and more...
Congratulations.
This is impossible because we all know the Muzzies have owned that patch of dirt forever.
< / historic revisionism>
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