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Israel’s ancient underwater treasure
BBC ^ | 9 November 2017 | Breena Kerr

Posted on 11/10/2017 7:32:08 AM PST by SJackson

In 2015, divers discovered a hoard of more than 2,000 gold coins on the ocean floor off the coast of Caesarea – the largest stash ever found in the region.

On an overcast morning in February 2015, Zvika Fayer was scuba diving off the ancient Israeli port town of Caesarea when he saw a glimmer on the sand.

He’d gone diving in the area dozens of times before, and loved it for the teeming fish and scattered remains of shipwreck cargo and pottery that he sometimes glimpsed on the ocean floor. Many of Israel's underwater archaeological zones are open to divers, and Caesarea was one of Fayer’s favourite spots.

A violent storm the previous night had battered Israel’s west coast, stirring up the ocean floor and changing the underwater topography. As Fayer dove deeper to investigate the shimmering object he’d seen, he was aware of another storm on the way. As an experienced diver, he’d felt confident going out that morning. But now the winter sky was beginning to darken, the breeze changing.

As he got closer, Fayer reasoned that the gleam must have been a discarded sweet wrapper, perhaps the chocolate coins that look like pirate doubloons. But as he swept the sand away and picked the item up, he saw that he was wrong. This wasn’t a piece of foil; it was a real gold coin with Arabic script on both sides.

“I was astonished when I saw that both sides of the metal were gold,” he said.


(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...


TOPICS: Israel; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: godsgravesglyphs

1 posted on 11/10/2017 7:32:08 AM PST by SJackson
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To: dennisw; Cachelot; Nix 2; veronica; Catspaw; knighthawk; Alouette; Optimist; weikel; Lent; GregB; ..
Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume

If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.

..................

2 posted on 11/10/2017 7:32:35 AM PST by SJackson (The Pilgrims—Doing the jobs Native Americans wouldn’t do !)
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To: SunkenCiv

ping


3 posted on 11/10/2017 7:34:47 AM PST by SJackson (The Pilgrims—Doing the jobs Native Americans wouldn’t do !)
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To: SJackson
As he got closer, Fayer reasoned that the gleam must have been a discarded sweet wrapper, perhaps the chocolate coins that look like pirate doubloons

That's funny. Before I read that, that was my first impression, Chanukah gelt.


4 posted on 11/10/2017 7:39:12 AM PST by Ezekiel (All who mourn(ed!) the destruction of America merit the celebration of her rebirth.)
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To: SJackson

I hope they gave the man a finders fee as a reward for his honesty.


5 posted on 11/10/2017 7:39:52 AM PST by stars & stripes forever (Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. Psalm 33:12)
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To: SJackson

Cool, cool, cool!


6 posted on 11/10/2017 7:41:01 AM PST by Rebelbase (There are only two genders. The rest are mental disorders.)
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To: Ezekiel

Used to love receiving them for 8 crazy days of Chanukah.

Oy! lots of Gelt......


7 posted on 11/10/2017 7:48:24 AM PST by ncfool (America Reborn 1/20/2017. Lets make sure we don't screw up,the opportunity to MAGA.)
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To: stars & stripes forever

There was no reference to it. I certainly would have operated far differently than he did. I am assuming he has just turned over a many million dollar treasure to the government?


8 posted on 11/10/2017 7:49:32 AM PST by MSF BU (Support the troops: Join Them.)
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To: MSF BU

many millions just for the weight of the gold... the fact of them being ancient coins.. makes them FAR more valuable.

he will get nothing, mark my words.


9 posted on 11/10/2017 7:52:05 AM PST by TexasFreeper2009
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To: SJackson; vette6387; HarleyLady27; left that other site; flat; unkus; SkyPilot; mazda77; ZULU; ...

A gift from God.


10 posted on 11/10/2017 7:58:11 AM PST by ExTexasRedhead
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To: SJackson

Probably dropped overboard a boat by William Devane....


11 posted on 11/10/2017 8:00:38 AM PST by Hot Tabasco
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To: Ezekiel

A gift from Hanukkah Harry!


12 posted on 11/10/2017 8:05:14 AM PST by HombreSecreto (The life of a repo man is always intense)
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To: ncfool; HombreSecreto; Phinneous; left that other site

His initial thoughts are interesting and amusing because this find was in Israel, so it turned out that a pile of Chanukah gelt became real gold coins.

The alchemy of chocolate. Who knew? So what’s not to love! The golden ticket, heh.


13 posted on 11/10/2017 8:26:59 AM PST by Ezekiel (All who mourn(ed!) the destruction of America merit the celebration of her rebirth.)
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To: SJackson

As an OLD metal detector guy (think White’s BF “Ghost Towner”), I found this an interesting and enjoyable article. Thanks for posting it.


14 posted on 11/10/2017 8:28:43 AM PST by Oatka
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To: Ezekiel

Such a deal!


15 posted on 11/10/2017 8:35:40 AM PST by HombreSecreto (The life of a repo man is always intense)
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To: TexasFreeper2009

I’ll bet that he took care of that sort of stuff before he called the government.


16 posted on 11/10/2017 10:26:15 AM PST by skimbell
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To: stars & stripes forever

There were five divers, not just the one mentioned. They got government awards and lots of honors from the Druze community. Haven’t heard of cash rewards.


17 posted on 11/10/2017 10:33:31 AM PST by jjotto ("Ya could look it up!")
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To: TexasFreeper2009

Oh well, I hope he is satisfied with having their ‘gratitude’ and ‘warm wishes’. Me...I’d be researching means to get rid of them a little at a time...


18 posted on 11/10/2017 7:17:17 PM PST by MSF BU (Support the troops: Join Them.)
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To: SJackson; StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; decimon; 1010RD; 21twelve; 24Karet; ...
Thanks SJackson.

19 posted on 11/10/2017 11:11:38 PM PST by SunkenCiv (www.tapatalk.com/groups/godsgravesglyphs/, forum.darwincentral.org, www.gopbriefingroom.com)
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