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GOLAN HEIGHTS—BBC News reports that 44 gold coins were found in the ancient wall of a residential building at Banias, a Byzantine site in the Golan Heights. The coins are thought to have been hidden during the Muslim conquest of the area in A.D. 635. “We can imagine the owner concealing his fortune in the threat of war, hoping to return one day to retrieve his property,” said Yoav Lerer of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA). Some of the coins were minted during the reign of the emperor Phocas, between 602 and 610, but must of them date to the reign of his successor, Heraclius (r. A.D. 610–641), added IAA numismatist Gabriela Bijovsky. To read about tenth-century Islamic coins unearthed in Jerusalem, go to "Money Talks."
