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A 2,100 - yr - sometime hoard of 160 coins has been notice at an archaeologic site in the Jordan Valley .
The coins particular date to the sovereignty of Alexander Jannaeus ( circa 103 to 76 B.C. ) , who was both a mellow priest and aking of the Hasmoneans — a dynasty of Judaic kings who govern a land that encompassed what is now Israel , the West Bank and part of other neighboring areas . This kingdom commence in 167 B.C. , when Jewish inhabitants of the orbit grow up against the Seleucid Empire and come after in taking over parts of it . During the first century B.C. , theRoman Republicconquered the Hasmoneans ' territory and allowed King Herod to establish his own realm .
A picture of the coin hoard, which dates back about 2,100 years to the Hasmonean dynasty.
The coins have eight pointed stars engraved on them and contain both Aramaic and Greek inscription , which give the name of Alexander Jannaeus and say the coin were strike in the twenty-fifth year of his sovereignty , the University of Haifa reported in a translatedstatement . This type of coin was minted in 80 or 79 B.C.
" It is a very unwashed coin type,“Shay Bar , an archaeologist at the University of Haifa who is leave the team , told Live Science in an email . However , Hasmonean coins are n’t typically institute in large hoard in the region , making this finding rare , he notice .
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(Image credit: Photo courtesy Shay Bar)
This photo shows where the coin hoard was find .
The archeological site where the coin hoard was discovered . It was once a room post for people travel to a fort in the Jordan Valley .
Why was the hoard left in the Jordan Valley?
archeologist found the hoard by a break up paries in the food preparation area of a building , which may suggest at why it was buried there . The construction was at the archaeological web site of Rujm es - Sia in the Jordan Valley , which was a way post for people traveling to the nearby Hasmonean fortress of Sartaba , the financial statement say .
However , why the cache was site there is unknown , Bar said .
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(Image credit: Photo courtesy Shay Bar)
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" The question of deposit aim is very operose to answer in archaeology , " Bar say . It may have been hidden during a tumultuous time , Bar say . It ’s also possible that it was n’t hidden at all ; it may have been part of a John Cash desk for people betray solid food , Bar said . Yet another possibility is that it was placed in the rampart as an offering or institution deposit , something that was rarely done at this point in metre , said Bar .
digging of the site and investigation of the remains are on-going . An analysis of the coin cache will be bring out in the future tense .
