archaeologist uncovers hoard of 1,300-year-old gold coins under a car park in Jerusalem .

 

1. I’ll grant you, the coins look very well preserved and the stamping looks awfully crisp.

   But let’s see… they date to the reign of an emperor who ruled from 610-641, before his lands were conquered in 614. If they were minted in the expectation of putting them into circulation, and then hidden from a conquering army less than 4 years later… they may have sat in a treasury for the entire time before they were squirreled away. The woman in the picture may be only the 3rd of 4th person to ever lay hands on those coins.
   So yeah, I could buy the idea that they are that old, yet have taken that little wear.

   Posted by GrumpyOldFart       12/23/2008  at  12:06 PM  

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