The Israel Antiquities Authority found nine coins, including a gold coin, dating back to the Abbasid Caliph Harun al-Rashid era, in the ancient city of Yavneh, which is located in the occupied territories of the southern coastal plain.
Israeli media said that the history of the coins dates back to the Abbasid era, which is 1,200 years old, and was found in a broken vessel of clay and clay, and included rare pieces from North Africa and others issued by Caliph Harun al-Rashid; the discovery showed that the area was ancient in ancient times.
And the Israeli "Walla" website said that the authority's archaeologists were surprised when digging for the establishment of a residential area, by finding a small pottery jug containing nine gold coins.
He added that the coins belong to an ancient Islamic era, which is the ninth century AD (the second Hijri century), as I discovered at the same site a large industrial facility that was active hundreds of years ago, according to the same source.
The Israeli Haaretz newspaper quoted academic Robert Cole, a money expert at the Israel Antiquities Authority, as saying that explorers thought the coins belonged to the Umayyad era, but he recognized them and asserted that they belonged to the Abbasid era.
He added that archeology is not an accurate science, especially for Islamic archeology in Israel, and added, "We still do not always know what we find."
Cole added, however, that in contrast, the coins are considered an accurate science, as they are very specific and carry a written history and information about the authorities that minted the currency, and the currency that was found dates back approximately 80 years after the end of the Umayyad rule in 750 AD (132 AH).
Gold was not used in Western Europe between the eighth and thirteenth centuries, according to an archaeologist's statement to the Israeli newspaper, but it was widely used in the Byzantine Empire and the Islamic world due to the active international trade at that time.
"Gold coins were the hallmark of international trade, and there was a very advanced tax system, and gold had an important role in the local economy, especially in the international economy," Cole told Haaretz.
Among the currencies also a gold dinar belonging to the Aghlabid dynasty (800-909 AD / 183-296 AH) who ruled North Africa during the Abbasid era, and that dinar is a rare currency in the Arab Mashreq and Levant.
In the other part of the site discovered in Yavneh, the remains of a large industrial facility from the Persian era were discovered between the fourth or fifth century BC, apparently used in the manufacture of wine, where ancient grape seeds were found, according to the same source.
Politics and effects
In a recent article by British journalist Jonathan Journal, he considered that recent discoveries of antiquities in Israel in the past year are not far from politics, as archeological findings announced by the Israeli authorities reinforce ideas shared by fundamentalist Christians and ultra-Orthodox Jews, to provide archaeological evidence to support the Old Testament; Which is supportive of an ancient and connected Arab presence in the region.
Although religious belief should not require archaeological evidence, according to the author's article published in the "Asia Times", this determination to find material evidence is gaining a political face related to the identity of Israel and trying to consolidate Jewish claims to the Holy Land.
Thus the archaeologist's shovel is used as a tool of politics, according to the author who quotes what was written by Professor of Palestinian Studies at the University of London, Nur al-Din Masalha. He says that any attempt to discuss the historical aspects of the Torah in Israel is tantamount to undermining Jewish nationalism, according to the reconciliation book in 2013 entitled "The Zionist Bible." ".
The Israeli army has an archeology unit responsible for excavations in most parts of the West Bank, the lands Israel occupied in 1967, and according to the peace agreement, the status of the West Bank - and the artifacts therein - are negotiated in subsequent peace talks, but until then, military archaeologists continue Dig - and grant exploration permits to Israeli academics - in the West Bank and the occupied territories, according to a previous report by the American NPR website.
According to Israeli archaeologist Rafi Greenberg, who is active with a left-wing group of archaeologists critical of Israeli excavations in the West Bank, the Israeli authorities do not publish a list of fossils or a list of discoveries or their locations, and in return all these data are kept as state secrets.