When Zvika Pierre, Kobi Tuina, Avivit Fischler, Yoav Lavie and Yoel Miller, five divers, set out on a routine dive in the Mediterranean Sea, they never imagined that they would uncover the greatest treasure in Israeli history at a depth of 12 meters.
No fewer than 2,000 thousand-year-old gold coins were found under the sand, from the Fatimid period - a dynasty of Shiite rulers who operated about a thousand years ago in North Africa.
The divers thought they were looking at 'toy coins,' but as they got closer, they realized they were looking at 'storybook treasure.' They collected several coins and rushed back to shore, where they reported the discovery to the diving club director.
The director called the Maritime Archaeology Unit at the Israel Antiquities Authority, and they, with the help of the Authority's divers and metal detectors, uncovered the 2,000 coins in various sizes and weights. The coins bore the denominations: dinar, half dinar, and quarter dinar.
The director of the Maritime Archaeology Unit at the Israel Antiquities Authority, Yaakov Sharvit, said: "The discovery of such a large treasure trove of coins, which had such great economic value, points to several possibilities for its location on the seabed. It is possible that it was a ship that was wrecked there, transporting tax money that was on its way to the central government in Egypt.".
Sharvit raised another possibility: "Perhaps this is a treasury of coins intended to pay salaries to the Fatimid navy, which was stationed in Caesarea and protected the city. Another theory is that the treasury was the cash of a large merchant ship, which traded with coastal and port cities in the Mediterranean, and sank there.".
The Maritime Archaeology Unit at the Israel Antiquities Authority hopes that the archaeological excavations that will be conducted at the site will make it possible to complete the understanding of the entire archaeological complex, and in this way answer the many questions that still remain unanswered regarding the treasure.
Five years in prison
Robert Cole, a coin expert at the Israel Antiquities Authority, explained how the coins were preserved in such good condition: "The state of preservation of the gold coins is excellent. Despite having been at the bottom of the sea for about a thousand years, they did not require laboratory intervention for cleaning and preservation, because gold is a noble metal and is not affected by air or water. The gold coins that were discovered were in circulation even after the Crusader conquest, especially in the port cities, through which international trade took place. Several of the coins found in the assemblage were crooked and had teeth bite marks on them, evidence of a physical examination of the teeth, made by their owners or merchants.".
And what about the divers? Could they have taken the coins into their pockets? Yaakov Sharvit explains: "This is about exemplary citizenship and a group of gold seekers with hearts of gold, who love the country and its history. The Antiquities Law states that the coins belong to the state, and an offense for failing to report or removing antiquities from their place or trading in them is punishable by up to five years in prison.".
Sharvit added: "In this case, the divers reported the find, but in many cases the divers take the objects home, and thus important archaeological information that cannot be restored is lost forever. Therefore, the discovery of the treasure highlights the need to combine the development of the place as a tourist and diving site, with limiting diving at the site to only accompanied by supervisors or with guides from the diving club.".
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