A hoard of 16 rare silver coins dating to 135-126 BC (Hasmonean period) has been found by a team of Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologists in Modi’in, a city located about 19 miles (30 km) west of Jerusalem.
The cache of silver coins found in the ruins of an ancient estate house in Modi’in, Israel. Image credit: Assaf Peretz / Israel Antiquities Authority.
“The cache may have belonged to a Jew who hid his money in the hope of coming back to collect it, but he was unlucky and never did return,” said Dr. Abraham Tendler from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), director of excavations.
“It is exciting to think that the coin hoard was waiting here 2,140 years until we exposed it.”
The coins in the hoard are shekels and half-shekels (tetradrachms and didrachms).
They bear the profiles of Hasmonean king Antiochus VII Sidetes and his brother, king Demetrius II Nicator.
Dr. Tendler and his colleagues believe the coins were minted in the city of Tyre.
“The cache contains one or two coins from every year between 135–126 BC, and a total of nine consecutive years are represented,” said Dr. Donald Tzvi Ariel, Head of IAA’s Coin Department.
“It seems that some thought went into collecting the coins, and it is possible that the person who buried the cache was a coin collector. He acted in just the same way as stamp and coin collectors manage collections today”.
“The findings from our excavation show that a Jewish family established an agricultural estate on this hill during the Hasmonean period,” Dr. Tendler added.
“The family members planted olive trees and vineyards on the neighboring hills and grew grain in valleys.”
“An industrial area that includes an olive press and storehouses where the olive oil was kept is currently being uncovered next to the estate. Dozens of rock-hewn winepresses that reflect the importance of viticulture and the wine industry in the area were exposed in the cultivation plots next to the estate.”
“The estate house was built of massive walls in order to provide security from the attacks of marauding bandits.”
The archaeologists also unearthed a large number of bronze coins. They bear the names of Hasmonean kings such as Yehohanan, Judah, Jonathan, and Mattathias and his title: ‘High Priest and Head of the Council of the Jews.’
“The finds indicate that the estate continued to operate throughout the Early Roman period,” the scientists said.
“The Jewish inhabitants of the estate meticulously adhered to the laws of ritual purity and impurity: they installed ritual baths (miqwe) in their settlement and used vessels made of chalk, which according to Jewish law cannot become ritually unclean.”
Evidence was discovered at the site suggesting that the residents of the estate also participated in the first Revolt against the Romans that broke out in 66 CE.
The coins that were exposed from this period are stamped with the date ‘Year Two’ of the revolt and the slogan ‘Freedom of Zion.’
The estate continued to operate even after the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE.
“It seems that local residents did not give up hope of gaining their independence from Rome, and they were well-prepared to fight the enemy during the Bar Kokhba uprising,” Dr. Tendler said.
“During the excavation we saw how prior to the uprising the inhabitants of the estate filled the living rooms next to the outer wall of the building with large stones, thus creating a fortified barrier.”
“In addition, we discovered hiding refuges that were hewn in the bedrock beneath the floors of the estate house. These refuge complexes were connected by means of tunnels between water cisterns, storage pits and hidden rooms.”
“In one of the adjacent excavation areas a miqwe of impressive beauty was exposed; when we excavated deeper in the bath we discovered an opening inside it that led to an extensive hiding refuge in which numerous artifacts were found that date to the time of the Bar Kokhba uprising.”
