The coins, believed to have been forged about 1,000 years back, were found by divers exploring an ancient harbor

Feb 18, 2015 08:32 GMT  ·  By
Thousands of gold coins recovered from the waters off the coast of Israel
2 photos
   Thousands of gold coins recovered from the waters off the coast of Israel

These past few weeks, nearly 2,000 ancient gold coins were recovered from the waters off the coast of the town of Caesarea in Israel. The coins, shown in the photos accompanying this article, are believed to have been forged about a millennium ago.

In a statement, the Israel Antiquities Authority details that the ancient coins were all pulled from the seabed of an ancient harbor and represent the single most impressive find of this kind in the country. Simply put, they are the first proper treasure thus far unearthed in Israel.

How the coins were discovered

Historians and archaeologists with the Israel Antiquities Authority explain that the first gold coins were found by a group of divers exploring the underwater remains of the ancient Caesarea harbor on the Mediterranean coast of Israel.

This harbor in Israel was built by Herod the Great sometime between the years 25 and 13 BCE and remained a popular trading and sailing center all through the late Roman and even the Byzantine era.

Interestingly enough, the divers who chanced to come across the gold coins that were eventually proven to be part and parcel of an ancient treasure say that, when they first laid eyes on them, they assumed that they were forgeries.

After they figured out that the coins were the real deal, they alerted the Israel Antiquities Authority and underwater archaeologists were sent to further inspect the discovery site. As mentioned, the researchers ended up recovering almost 2,000 coins.

The coins are very well preserved

Specialists who have had the chance to examine them say that these ancient coins pulled from the ancient Caesarea harbor in Israel are surprisingly well preserved given the fact that they spent a millennium buried in the local seabed.

Thus, it appears that many of the coins still sport teeth marks that they most likely acquired when they were closely inspected by merchants looking to make sure that they were not being offered fake money.

The coins come in different denominations and historians say that most of them were minted in Egypt and North Africa during the time of the Fatimid Empire. More precisely, they were forged during the reigns of the Fatimid caliphs Al-Ḥākim and Al-Ẓāhir, who ruled between A.D. 996 and A.D. 1036.

It is believed that the coins ended up on the floor of the Mediterranean Sea following a shipwreck. However, underwater archaeologists are yet to discover the remains of their supposed parent vessels in the waters off the coast of the town of Caesarea.

“There is probably a shipwreck there of an official treasury boat which was on its way to the central government in Egypt with taxes that had been collected," explains Kobi Sharvit with the Israel Antiquities Authority.

Furthermore, “Another theory is that the treasure was money belonging to a large merchant ship that traded with the coastal cities and the port on the Mediterranean Sea and sank there.”

The coins were found by divers exploring an ancient harbor
The coins were found by divers exploring an ancient harbor

Photo Gallery (2 Images)

Thousands of gold coins recovered from the waters off the coast of Israel
The coins were found by divers exploring an ancient harbor
Open gallery