Posted on 09/21/2025 6:52:51 PM PDT by fidelis
Archaeologists found a 1,600-year-old coin hoard dating to the final Jewish revolt against Romans.
Archaeologists have unearthed a rare hoard of 1,600-year-old copper coins in Galilee, and the coins may have been stashed there during the last known Jewish revolt against the Romans.
Researchers found the 22 copper coins in a crevice within a tunnel complex deep underneath a settlement known as Hukok. The tunnels were used by Jews as a hiding place in two early rebellions against the Romans: the Great Revolt (A.D. 66 to 70) and the Bar-Kochba (also spelled Bar-Kokhba) Revolt (A.D. 132 to 135). However, the newfound coin hoard didn't date to either of those rebellions, the archaeologists found.
Instead, the coins had depictions of the emperors Constantius II (ruled from A.D. 337 to 361) and Constans I (reigned from A.D. 337 to 350). These dates indicate that the coins were hidden during the Gallus Revolt (A.D. 351 to 352), an often-overlooked rebellion that was the last Jewish revolt against the Romans, according to the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA).
"This shows that hundreds of years after these tunnels were dug out, they were reused," Uri Berger, an archaeologist at the IAA, and Yinon Shivtiel, a professor at Zefat Academic College and an expert in cave archaeology, said in an IAA statement. "The hoard provides — in all probability, unique evidence, that this hiding complex was used in one way or another during another crisis — during the Gallus Revolt — a rebellion for which we have only scant historical evidence of its existence."
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
Me too. We can be pretty sure he or she intended to come back at some point (and would have if they could have), but what happened to them? Killed in battle? Captured and sold into slavery or executed? Exiled away from the land? Who knows.
Great discovery! I got a vintage widow’s mite from Jerusalem some years ago. I love ancient artifacts from the promise land.
That’s great; I’ve only got a plastic replica of one. I’ve heard that intact “Widow’s Mite” coins are relatively uncommon because they were so small and thinly made that they tended to corrode away to nothing if they were not in a well protected place.
Yeah. Mine is in bad shape. I made it into a type of necklace. I’m pretty sure it is one that the Christ held himself. Grin.
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