2,000-Year-Old Estate in Israel Yields Coin Cache
MODI’IN,
ISRAEL—A cache of silver coins was discovered during salvage excavations at a
2,100-year-old agricultural estate in Israel. The coins had been placed in a
crevice against a wall of the estate. Olive presses and wine presses suggest
that the family grew olive trees and vineyards. Ritual baths, vessels made of
chalk, and bronze coins minted by Hasmonean kings were also found.
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| (© Assaf Peretz, courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority) |
The Times of Israel reports that the 16 silver coins
include one or two tetradrachms or didrachms minted in the city of Tyre from
every year between 135 and 126 B.C. “It seems that some thought went into
collecting the coins, and it is possible that the person who buried the cache
was a coin collector,” said coin expert Donald Tzvi Ariel of the Israel
Antiquities Authority. Excavation director Abraham Tendler thinks that the
estate’s Jewish residents may have participated in the rebellion against Rome
in A.D. 66, based upon bronze coins found at the site. Hiding places connected
by tunnels to cisterns and storage pits were found under the floors of the
house. An opening in a ritual bath led to a hiding place that contained
artifacts that date to the Bar Kokhba rebellion, which occurred in A.D. 132. To
read about another coin cache dating to the time of the Bar Kokhba revolt, go
to "2,000-Year-Old
Stashed Treasure."
Resources : Archaeology Magazine, 07/06/2016.
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