Crusader gold cache found near Israeli coastal city

If you missed this…there are still treasures to be found in the Holy Land:

Excerpts from an article by Nir Hasson on haaretz.com

A gold cache, one of the largest ever found in Israel, was discovered last week in a dig in the Apollonia National Park, near Herzliya, heads of the archaeological project said.

The 400-gram gold stash, unearthed by a joint Tel Aviv University and Nature and Parks Authority team, is currently valued at over $100,000.

The excavation began three years ago as part of work to prevent the collapse of the cliff on which the Crusader fortress in the Apollonia park stands. Since then the diggers have discovered numerous findings shedding light on the Crusaders in general and on the last days of the 13th century fortress in particular.

Findings include hundreds of arrow heads and catapult stones from the battle in which the Mamluks conquered the castle from the Crusaders. In a landfill dug at the site diggers found shards imported from Italy and rare glass utensils.

The cache consists of 108 gold coins, 93 of them comprised of 4 grams of gold and worth about a dinar each and 15 coins worth a quarter of a dinar, comprised of 1 gram of gold each. The coins were minted in Egypt some 250 years before being buried in the fortress’ floor.

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