Nice day at the beach, indeed. “Yotam Dahan, a resident of the Western Galilee community of Klil, stumbled upon six kilograms (around 13 lbs.) of ancient coins lumped together while camping at Habonim Beach.“ Photo shows the 1,700-year-old coins found at the HaBonim Beach in the eastern Mediterranean, about 25 km south of the northern Israeli city of Haifa. (Photo by the Israel Antiquities Authority via Xinhua) https://www.israelhayom.com/2021/08/13/man-discovers-1700-year-old-coins-on-camping-trip/
Given these places, and majority of Italy and Greece have been continually inhabited since antiquity, imagine the trove of artifacts still buried under modern buildings and houses that we could never excavate, or at least for the foreseeable future.
I'm sure there will be many more finds. I'm wondering if the sea level has risen since the 4th century. Probably so because we can deduce from the water level at Alexandria, which has concealed the coastline statues and building foundations in several fathoms of water.
That's amazing. Article says 4th century, apparently LRBs. I hope they can be cleaned up but they are in rough condition. Would make a nice display like that with the bag and all in a museum. Maybe a recreation of the trade vessel they allude to it coming from.
While the outer portions of the mass is a conglomeration of corroded coins, the center might yield some coins in decent condition. It all really depends on how much water, its salinity and air was able to penetrate the mass. Coins are being found individually and in hoards in that region on an on-going basis. It seems that conflicts, such as those in Syria and Iraq are accompanied by discoveries of ancient and modern coins. I know that coins are being found by individuals using metal detectors in Syria. It is very likely happening in surrounding countries. Then, there was the discovery of a group of decadrachms of Alexander III found off the coast of Gaza a couple of years ago. I am sure there will be continuing discoveries, some of a significant nature, in the future.
The Israel Antiquities Authority does a better job than some neighboring countries in my opinion. The popular press tends to spin Israeli finds either politically or religiously but the underlying archaeology is usually pretty good. The work of Gabriela Bijovsky, an archaeologist and numismatist with the IAA, is a fine example.
That's where the devil is in the details. The very nature of hoard discoveries tends to create situations where attribution of coins is next to impossible. Aside from publicized discoveries, such as the posted article about the mass of bronze coins found on the Israeli beach, other finds are shrouded in mystery, at least for the buyer and probably the seller as well, who is usually serving as a secondary seller to collectors. However, this is understandable. The people who find ancient coin hoards, or other archeological finds, are often people who are poor and often living in dire circumstances. It is easy to see that having information regarding a hoard's provenance, including its location, would be the least of their concerns. Also, a finder might want to keep the location a secret, not wishing to divulge a hoard's location for fear of others, including local authorities, who often do not act in the public's interests. Such is the situation for many of the ancient coins that grace our collections, especially those that come to the market, through eBay, dealer's lists and auctions as newly discovered coins.
