A survey conducted by archaeologists ahead of an elevator construction project in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem resulted in the discovery of a small jug containing gold coins that was buried about a thousand years ago, Live Science reports.
According to the media outlet, the jug in question was "not much bigger than a coffee cup”, with the coins – four in total - contained within dated to "between the years 940 and 970".
"This is the first time in my career as an archaeologist that I have discovered gold, and it is tremendously exciting," said David Gellman, archaeologist with the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) and director of the excavation.
1,000-year-old Fatimid-era gold coins found in Jerusalem, per Israel Antiquities Authority @AntiquitiesIL pic.twitter.com/ESVEaOP0By
— Oren Kessler (@OrenKessler) November 9, 2020
Robert Kool, a coin expert at IAA, also explained that the coins were well-preserved and did not even require cleaning to identify them, with the cache possibly representing “someone's entire savings, or perhaps just a fraction of a family's wealth, depending on who stashed it away”, as the media outlet puts it.
"Four dinars was a considerable sum of money for most of the population, who lived under difficult conditions at the time," Kool said. "It was equal to the monthly salary of a minor official, or four months' salary for a common laborer."
