(Fox News) Israeli archaeologists have found buried treasure: more than 100 gold dinar coins from the time of the Crusades worth as much as $500,000. The joint team from Tel Aviv University and Israel's Nature and Parks Authority were working at Apollonia National Park, an ancient Roman fortress on the coast used by the Crusaders between 1241 and 1265, when they literally found a pot of gold. "All in all, we found some 108 dinars and quarter dinars, which makes it one of the largest gold coin hauls discovered in a medieval site in the Land of Israel," said Prof. Oren Tal, chairman of Tel Aviv University's Department of Archaeology. The Christian order of the Knights Hospitaller had taken up residence in the castle in Apollonia; the coins were buried on the eve of the site's downfall after a long siege by a large Muslim army. The coins were found on June 25, 2012, by TAU archaeology student Mati Johananoff. Once the archaeologists finish deciphering the coins and decoding their inscriptions, they will be transferred to a museum.
2012-07-13 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive