(ETH) – Israeli archaeologists have just discovered a small jar containing 1,000-year-old coins in the old city of Jerusalem. According to the report from CBN News, the discovery was made while working on an elevator installation project.
The report reveals that the find was made by the Company for the Reconstruction and Development of the Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem and was initiated to make the elevator installation in the Western Wall Plaza accessible for visitors to the Jewish quarter. While working n this project Israel Antiquities Authority inspector Yevgenia Kapil reportedly discovered the jug during preliminary digging at the site back in October.
CBN stated that after excavation director David Gellman examined and the contents of the jar he was shocked by what he saw inside. “To my great surprise, along with the soil, four shiny gold coins fell into my hand. This is the first time in my career as an archaeologist that I have discovered gold, and it is tremendously exciting,” Gellman said in a statement.
These rare 1,000-year-old coins date back to a time when the Holy Land was under Islamic control. “The coins were in excellent preservation and were immediately identifiable even without cleaning,” According to Israel Antiquities Authority’s coin expert, Dr. Robert Kool.
“The coins date from a relatively brief period, from the late 940s to the 970s CE. This was a time of radical political change, when control over Eretz Israel passed from the Sunni Abbasid caliphate, whose capital was Baghdad, Iraq, into the hands of its Shiite rivals—the Fatimid dynasty of North Africa, who conquered Egypt, Syria, and Eretz Israel in those years. The profile of the coins found in the juglet is a near-perfect reflection of the historical events.”