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Rare gold coins and a golden earring have been discovered in the ancient Mediterranean port of Caesarea in northern Israel—possibly left and never recovered as Crusaders conquered the area 900 years ago.

The cache [Credit: Clara Amit, Israel Antiquities Authority]

The Israel Antiquities Authority announced the find on Monday of a small bronze pot holding 24 gold coins and the earring.

According to the authority, it was found between two stones in the side of a well in a house in a neighbourhood that dates back some 900 years, during the Abbasid and Fatimid periods.

The directors of the excavation, the IAA's Peter Gendelman and Mohammed Hatar, said the coins in the cache date to the end of the 11th century.

Convex-shaped gold coin ‘nomisma histamenon’ of the Byzantine Greek emperor Michael VII  Doukas (1071 – 1079 CE) [Credit: Yaniv Berman/Caesarea Development Corporation]

That makes it possible "to link the treasure to the Crusader conquest of the city in the year 1101, one of the most dramatic events in the medieval history of the city", an IAA statement said.

"According to contemporary written sources, most of the inhabitants of Caesarea were massacred by the army of Baldwin I (1100–1118), king of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem," it added.

"It is reasonable to assume that the treasure's owner and his family perished in the massacre or were sold into slavery, and therefore were not able to retrieve their gold."


IAA coin expert Robert Kool said "one or two of these gold coins were the equivalent of the annual salary of a simple farmer, so it seems that whoever deposited the cache was at least well-to-do or involved in commerce".

Caesarea was constructed in the first century BC by King Herod at a time that Judea was part of the Roman empire.

Source: AFP [December 03, 2018]

Israeli researchers say an inscription on an ancient ring discovered near Jerusalem may include the name of Pontius Pilate, the Roman official who Biblical accounts say sentenced Jesus to death.

The ring bearing the name of Pontius Pilate was found at Herodium, an archaeological site near Jerusalem and Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank [Credit: Menahem Kahana/AFP]

It would be a rare example still in existence of an inscription with the name of the man believed to have sent Jesus to his crucifixion.

The researchers recently announced their analysis of the inscription on the ring -- which was actually found some 50 years ago -- in Israel Exploration Journal. The journal is published by the Israel Exploration Society and the Institute of Archaeology at Jerusalem's Hebrew University.

They say the copper-alloy ring, dated to around 2,000 years ago and used to apply a seal, was found at Herodium, an ancient palace built by King Herod near Jerusalem and Bethlehem, today located in the occupied West Bank.

The palace later became a fortress for Jewish rebels fighting the Romans.

An inscription in Greek letters reads "of Pilatus", while the ring also depicts a wine vessel known as a krater.

Views and cross-section of finger ring that may have belonged to Pontius Pilate [Credit: drawing: J. Rodman; photo: C. Amit, IAA Photographic Department, via Hebrew University]

The researchers say it is unlikely that the ring belonged to Pilate himself, though possibly to a member of his administration or someone else entirely.

"Since the inscription on the ring reads ‘of Pilatus’, the first association that comes to mind is Pontius Pilatus, the prefect of the Roman province of Judaea 26–36 CE, under Emperor Tiberius Caesar," they write.

It adds however: "Since the name Pilatus is rare, it is not inconceivable that this ring belonged to Pontius Pilatus himself. However, we think it implausible that a prefect would have used a simple, all-metal, copper-alloy personal sealing ring with a motif that was already a well-known Jewish motif in Judaea before and during his rule."

The Israel Museum says the only other object from Pilate's time bearing his name is a stone with an inscription found in Caesarea, today located in Israel along the Mediterranean coast.

The stone is part of the museum's collection.

Source: AFP [December 02, 2018]

A rare 9,000-year-old stone mask was recently unveiled by the Israel Antiquities Authority. This fascinating and rare stone mask, which dates to the Neolithic period, was discovered several months ago and is currently being studied by experts of the IAA and the Geological Survey of Israel.

The 9,000-year-old stone mask discovered in the southern Hebron Hills area of the West Bank in early 2018  [Credit: Antiquities Theft Prevention Unit/Israel Antiquities Authority]

Information received at the IAA’s Antiquities Theft Prevention Unit at the beginning of 2018 led to the recovery of the impressive stone mask. The Head Staff Officer of Archaeology Department of the Civil Administration in Judea and Samaria Mr. Hananya Hizmi was informed on the finding of the mask. An investigation revealed the probable archaeological site in which the mask was originally found, in the Pnei Hever region of southern Har Hevron. Its characteristics, in addition to other findings from the contexts in which it was discovered, testify that the mask is 9,000 years old – dated to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period.

According to Ronit Lupu of the IAA Antiquities Theft Prevention Unit, “The mask is a unique finding in the archaeological world. It is even more unusual that we know which site it came from. The fact that we have information regarding the specific place in which it was discovered makes this mask more important than most other masks from this period that we currently know of.” The mask is made of pinkish-yellow limestone, carefully shaped with stone tools to resemble a human face. Four holes were drilled along the perimeter of the mask, probably in order to tie it – possibly to the face of a living person, or maybe to a pole or other designated artifact in order to display it. According to Lupu, “Discovering a mask made of stone, at such a high level of finish, is very exciting. The stone has been completely smoothed over and the features are perfect and symmetrical, even delineating cheekbones. It has an  impressive nose and  a mouth with distinct teeth.”

The rare stone mask dates to the Neolithic period [Credit: Clara Amit/Israel Antiquities Authority]

Dr. Omry Barzilai, head of the IAA Archaeological Research Department, said that “Stone masks are linked to the agricultural revolution. The transition from an economy based on hunting and gathering to ancient agriculture and domestication of plants and animals was accompanied by a change in social structure and a sharp increase in ritual-religious activities. Ritual findings from that period include human-shaped figurines, plastered skulls, and stone masks.”

Ancestor worship was practiced during this period. “It was part of the ritual and retention of family heritage that was accepted at the time,” says Ronit Lupu. “For example, we find skulls buried under the floors of domestic houses, as well as various methods of shaping and caring for the skulls of the dead. This led to plastering skulls, shaping facial features, and even inserting shells for eyes. Stone masks, such as the one from Pnei Hever, are similar in size to the human face, which is why scholars tend to connect them with such worship.”


There are currently fifteen known masks in the world that date from this period, of which only two were discovered in a clear archaeological context – meaning: we know which site they came from. The remaining masks are in private collections throughout the world, which makes it more difficult to study them. The importance of this new mask stems from the fact that it has been traced to an archaeological site that can be studied. The site can help us understand the material culture, everyday world in which the mask was produced, probably for purposes of worship.

The mask from Pnei Hever joins other masks attributed to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period discovered in the southern Hebron Hills – Judean Desert area. Discovering the mask from Pnei Hever strengthens the assumption that the southern Hebron Hills area was a center for producing stone masks, and most likely also for ritual activities in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period.

Dr. Omry Barzilai and Ronit Lupu of the IAA will present the initial research of the mask tomorrow (Thursday, 29 November 2018) at the Israel Prehistoric Society annual meeting to be held at the Israel Museum.

Source: Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs [November 28, 2018]