Islamic-Era Gold Coins Unearthed in Jerusalem’s Old City

News November 10, 2020

(Dafna Gazit, Israel Antiquities Authority)
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Juglet Islamic Coins
(Dafna Gazit, Israel Antiquities Authority)

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL—According to a statement released by the Friends of the Israel Antiquities Authority, a 1,000-year-old jug containing four gold coins was unearthed during a project to install an elevator at Western Wall Plaza. Coin expert Robert Kool said the dinars were minted during a time of political upheaval between A.D. 940 and 970. Two of the coins were struck in central Israel’s city of Ramla during the rule of the Sunni Abbasid caliphate, whose capital was in Baghdad. The other two were minted in Cairo several years later, when the region was ruled by the Fatimid dynasty of North Africa. The value of the coins equaled the monthly salary of a minor official, or a laborer’s wages for about four months, Kool added. To read about past excavations along the Western Wall, go to “Front Row Seats.”

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