Archaeologists in Israel have announced that a trove of early Islamic gold coins has been unearthed near the city of Yavne during recent excavations.

Al Arabiyya reports that most date to the Abbasid period roughly 1100 years ago. Israel Antiquities Authorities archaeologists Liat Nadav-Ziv and Elie Haddad said the find of 425 gold coins was “extremely rare”. They said, “Finding gold coins, certainly in such a considerable quantity, is extremely rare. We almost never find them in archaeological excavations, given that gold has always been extremely valuable, melted down and reused from generation to generation.”

The trove, found in a clay pot, was unearthed by youth volunteers. Al Arabiyya reports that it also included hundreds of smaller pieces from gold coins that the archaeologists said would have served as smaller denominations.

According to Robert Kool, a coin expert with the Antiquities Authority, the coins date from the late 9th century. He said the era was believed to be the golden age of the Abbasid Caliphate. Kool said he hoped the coin discovery would be able to reveal more about a period of which very little is known.

The finding is one of the largest of it’s kind.

Umm Muhammed Umar