Authorities said Monday they seized dozens of rare ancient coins dating to the Second Temple period, many bearing ancient Hebrew inscriptions, from a Palestinian vehicle at the Hizma checkpoint near Jerusalem in a suspected antiquities smuggling attempt.
The driver, a hospital doctor, is suspected of attempting to smuggle the coins from the West Bank into Jerusalem.
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Silver coins seized from Palestinian doctor
(Photo: Yoli Schwartz, Israel Antiquities Authority)
Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologists were called to the scene after a box containing the coins was discovered in the vehicle. After confirming that the coins were ancient, the suspect was detained by inspectors from the Israel Antiquities Authority’s Unit for the Prevention of Antiquities Theft and taken in by police for questioning.
Most of the seized coins were minted by Jewish rulers who governed the land during the Second Temple period and during the revolts against the Romans around two millennia ago, including the Hasmonean kings John Hyrcanus I and Alexander Jannaeus.
Alongside these, coins from the Great Revolt of the Jews against the Romans were also seized, including pure silver shekels from Years 2 and 3 of the revolt, bearing the ancient Hebrew inscriptions “Shekel of Israel” and “Jerusalem the Holy.”
In addition, bronze coins from Year 4 of the revolt were found in the box, bearing an image of the Four Species used during the festival of Sukkot.
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Some of the ancient coins seized from the doctor
(Photo: Yoli Schwartz, Israel Antiquities Authority)
The Bar Kokhba Revolt was also represented among the seized coins by bronze coins bearing the name of the revolt’s leader, “Shimon (Bar Kokhba),” and on the reverse the inscription “Year Two of the Freedom of Israel.”
According to Ilan Hadad, the inspector in charge of the antiquities commerce, “The origin of the coins is suspected to be antiquities looting carried out using metal detectors. Some of the coins were cleaned by unskilled staff, causing irreversible damage, while others, which may have been excavated recently, have not yet been cleaned.
"In my assessment, the coins were intended to be sold in Israel to parties engaged in the illegal antiquities trade or to collectors holding antiquities from dubious sources, and it is possible that some would have made their way to auction houses abroad. We intend to carry out further investigative actions to trace the source of the coins and their intended destination.”
Trading in antiquities without a permit, as well as bringing antiquities from the West Bank into Israel without a permit, are criminal offenses under Israeli law. The Antiquities Authority added that searching for antiquities without a license using a metal detector is a criminal offense in Israel, punishable by up to three years in prison.
“We witness every day the expansion of a reprehensible phenomenon,” says Dr. Amir Ganor, director of the Antiquities Theft Prevention Unit. "Ancient coins from all historical periods are looted and detached from their context and from antiquities sites by individuals using sophisticated metal detectors. Every ancient coin has tremendous value for the study of the country’s past when found at a site and within its archaeological context. Once a coin is looted and removed from its context, the ability to reconstruct the past through it is irreversibly lost."
"In recent years, thousands of metal detectors have flooded Israel without supervision", adds Dr. Ganor. "Some individuals are tempted to use these devices to search for treasures at antiquities sites, which is an illegal act prohibited by law. Unfortunately, the coins seized this week were, allegedly, looted for financial gain, removed from their context, and we will never know to which archaeological site or historical narrative they once belonged.
"The State of Israel must restrict by law the marketing and sale of metal detectors, which are used as destructive tools through which entire chapters of history are erased.”
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Ilan Hadad, the inspector in charge of the antiquities commerce with an ancient shekel
(Photo: Emil Aljam, Israel Antiquities Authority)
According to Heritage Minister Rabbi Amichai Eliyahu, “Those who loot antiquities are attempting to destroy our identity and to deny our historical connection to this land. We are engaged in a fight against the illegal trade in antiquities and are working to bring the looters to justice. I commend the Border Police officers and the Inspectors of the Antiquities Theft Prevention Unit for their determined action.”
The new exhibition “Criminal Past – Antiquities Theft in Israel and the Fight Against It,” mounted by the Israel Antiquities Authority at the Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel in Jerusalem, displays hundreds of antiquities seized during criminal investigations in recent years, including rare coins.