Rare provincial of Antoninus Pius found by Israeli soldier

See here for the story.

 

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"It should be stressed that antiquities are national treasures. It is forbidden to actively seek them, and any chance finds must be reported to the authority".

 

"Some 1,800 years ago, a traveler was making his way through the Carmel area and a coin fell from his pocket."

They had pockets back then?

 

“This is an opportunity to call on any members of the public who have found coins or any other ancient artifacts to report them to the Israel Antiquities Authority . . .We will come and transfer the find to the National Treasures Department . . . It should be stressed that antiquities are national treasures. It is forbidden to actively seek them, and any chance finds must be reported to the authority.”

Which, of course, virtually guarantees that most ancient coins discovered in Israel immediately disappear into the black market and are never reported or made available to scholars for study.

 

Not quite pockets, as we know them, but Roman garments could have what they called a "Sinus" which was a hollow fold made into a garment into which objects could be put. A sinus was usually in the upper front portion of one's clothing, as on your chest. Unlike our pockets they could be found on any part of the garment, not just at the sides on our hips or over the rear of our hips. Often a sinus was a temporary fold and not all that secure as the previous owner one day discovered. By the way, sinus comes directly from Latin into English for cavities located in our face for drainage purposes. In classical Latin it often means an indentation on a coast line, so a bay or bight.

 

I agree that the "national treasure" stipulation will cause most finds to be unreported. A policy including reasonable compensation, such as in the UK, would appear to be a much more successful one.

 

Must be all of those LRB's with desert patinas...