A rare discovery was made during salvage excavations in the Judean Foothills outside of Jerusalem: a fragment of a silver coin dating to the sixth or fifth century BCE, not long after coins began to circulate in the ancient world. It is among the earliest coins ever found in Israel. Likely minted somewhere in the Aegean, the coin bears a stamped impression on one face. This was the standard minting procedure for the earliest coins; only later were embossed images produced on both sides. The coin was intentionally cut in half at some point in antiquity, suggesting the metal may […]
