Israeli teenagers who volunteer at an archeological dig have traced hundreds of gold coins that were stuck in a clay film for more than a millennium.
The 425-pound 24-carat gold coins date from the Abbasid caliphate period in the 9th century and would have been a significant amount at the time, said Robert Kool, a coin expert at the Israel Antiquities Authority.
“For example, with such a sum, a person could buy a luxury home in one of the best neighborhoods in Fustat, the enormously wealthy capital of Egypt in those days,” he said.
The treasure was discovered last week at an excavation site in central Israel where a new neighborhood is being planned.
The director of the excavation, Liat Nadav-Ziv, said: ‘The person who buried this treasure 1,100 years ago had expected him to pick it up and even fasten the ship with a nail so that it would not move. We can only guess what prevented him from returning to collect this treasure. ”
It is believed that the area had workshops at the time the treasure was hidden. The identity of the owner is a mystery.
“It was great,” said Oz Cohen, one of the volunteers who found the treasure. ‘I dug into the ground and watched as I dug out the ground, seeing what very thin leaves looked like. When I looked again I saw that these were gold coins. It was really exciting to find such a special and ancient treasure. ”
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