Jerusalem (AFP)
Israeli archaeologists on Monday said they had found four pure gold coins in the Old City of Jerusalem that were minted over a thousand years ago, a rare find testifying to a time of political upheaval in the region.
The Israel Antiquities Authority (AIA) said the coins were discovered during excavation work near the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest place of prayer.
The coins, contained in a small jug, "were in excellent preservation and immediately identifiable even without cleaning them," AIA antique coin specialist Robert Kool said in a statement.
The pieces date from the late 10th century AD (940-970), "a time of radical political change", in and around Jerusalem, Kool said.
During this period, the ruling Sunni Abbasid Caliphate, which was headquartered in Baghdad, lost control of Jerusalem to its rival, the Fatimid dynasty which will rule from Cairo for more than two centuries.
"This is the first time in fifty years that a gold cache from the Fatimid period has been discovered in the Old City of Jerusalem," Kool said.
Israeli archaeologists last discovered Fatimid-period gold shortly after the 1967 Six Day War, which saw Israel take control of East Jerusalem, the Palestinian part of the city, from Jordan, before to annex it.
© 2020 AFP