Thousand-year-old Fatimid gold found in excavation in Jerusalem

 

Israeli archaeologists have discovered a thousand-year-old burial in the center of the city of Jerusalem.  It was determined that the burial with gold coins belonged to the Fatimids.

According to the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), the burial was revealed during excavations near the Western Wall (Wailing Wall), one of the sites considered sacred to Jews.

It was stated that the coins contained in a small jug were preserved almost perfectly and deciphered by numismatic experts as soon as they were cleaned.

1000 years ago

 Accordingly, the coins minted between 940 and 970 coincide with a period of quite radical political changes.

 During this period, control of Jerusalem was under the Sunni Abbasid caliph who lived in Baghdad, but lost it to its North African rival, the Shiite Fatimid dynasty.  The Fatimid Dynasty also lost its power in the 12th century and came to an end.

The first burial found in the last 50 years

 IAA experts state that this is the first Fatimid burial found in the last 50 years.  The last previous burial was found shortly after the 6-Day War in 1967.  After that war, Israel took East Jerusalem under its control and immediately annexed it.

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