Treasure trove of 11th century gold coins unearthed from ancient Israeli harbor

#fatimid #israel #egypt #caesarea #goldcoins A group of divers belonging to the Marine Archaeology Unit in Israel has stumbled upon the largest hoard of gold coins ever discovered in the country. It seems nearly 2000 gold coins of the Fatimid period, or the eleventh century, were unearthed from the seabed of the ancient harbor in Caesarea National Park.
This information has been released by the Israel Antiquities Authority as reported on foxnews.com dated 17 February 2015. In the opinion of Kobi Sharvit, director of the Marine Archaeology Unit of the Israel Antiquities Authority, this could be the result of a shipwreck of an official treasury boat which was carrying taxes collected and was on its way to the central government in Egypt. The coins were probably meant to pay the members of the Fatimid military garrison that was stationed at Caesarea, Israel.
Another theory is that the coins could have belonged to a sunken merchant ship. The condition of the coins are good in spite of having been in the bottom of the sea for over 1000 years. This has been revealed by Robert Cole, an expert numismatist.
The five divers who have found the treasure have been called “model citizens” by the antiquities organization. In case they would have tried to remove them, or tried to sell them, they could have been imprisoned for up to five years.