Volunteers’ dig nets rare gold coins

Israeli archaeologists have announced the discovery of a trove of early Islamic gold coins found during recent salvage excavations near the central city of Yavne.

The collection of 425 complete gold coins, most dating to the Abbasid period around 1,100 years ago, was an “extremely rare” find, Israel Antiquities Authorities archaeologists Liat Nadav-ziv and Elie Haddad said in a joint statement.

The trove, which was unearthed by young volunteers, also included hundreds of smaller clippings from gold coins that would have served as smaller denominations.