Chanukah comes early! Maccabean silver coins found in Judean desert
The box, found in a crack in the Muraba‘at Cave in the Darageh Stream Nature Reserve, was hidden 2,200 years ago.
Israeli researchers have made a remarkable and timely discovery in the Judean Desert. Just days before the festival of Chanukah, they have unearthed a wooden box containing 15 silver coins, dating to the time of the Maccabean revolt.
The precious items, found in a crack in the Muraba‘at Cave in the Darageh Stream Nature Reserve, were buried some 2,200 years ago. The upper part of the box was full of packed earth and small stones and underneath was a piece of purple woolen cloth covering the 15 silver coins arranged with pieces of sheep’s wool.
According to Dr. Eitan Klein, who studied the coins, it’s likely that people hid their possessions in the Judean desert until a certain danger was gone, such as those detailed in the Books of the Maccabees.
Among the dangers for Jews at the time was the plundering of the Jerusalem Temple treasures by Antiochos Epiphanes IV (“The Wicked”) who reigned the Seleucid Kingdom, including Judea.
Other threatening incidents to Jews that could have led to the coins being hidden were the destruction of the Jerusalem city wall in the years that led up to the Hasmonean Revolt, or the religious decrees imposed on the Jews in 167 BCE.
Antiochos IV, who was the uncle of Ptolemy VI reigned who reigned over Egypt, launched a campaign of repression against Jews, which led to the Maccabean Revolt.
The coin hoard has since been researched, and it will be exhibited to the public over Hannukah in the Hasmonean Museum in Modi‘in, in the context of Israel Heritage Week that takes place on Hannukah.
“It is interesting to try to visualise the person who fled to the cave and hid his personal property here intending to return to collect it. The person was probably killed in the battles, and he did not return to collect his possessions that awaited almost 2,200 years until we retrieved it. This is an
absolutely unique find, presented the first clear archaeological evidence that the Judean Desert caves played an active role as the stage of the activities of the Jewish rebels or the fugitives in the early days of the Maccabean Revolt, or the events that led up to them,” Dr. Klein said.
Amir Ganor, Director of the excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority said that the excavations carried out by the Israel Antiquities Authority in the Judean Desert over the past six years has “proved itself, in that thousands of archaeological artifacts have been saved from destruction and plundering, including parts of biblical scrolls, arrowheads from the Bar Kochba Revolt, a 10,500-year-old basket, and more.”
The silver coins were excavated in May, and have been researched since. They will be exhibited to the public over Hannukah in the Hasmonean Museum in Modi‘in, in the context of Israel Heritage Week.
The excavation was carried out in the framework of the Judean Desert Excavation and Survey Project which is run by the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Archaeological Office for the Military Administration of Judea and Samaria, in cooperation with the Ministry for Jerusalem and Heritage.
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