Divers find trove of gold coins off Israeli coast

CAESAREA, Israel, Feb. 17 (UPI) -- A group of amateur scuba divers shocked archaeologists when it discovered a hoard of 2,000 ancient gold coins off the coast of Israel.

A recent winter storm shifted sands off the coast of Caesarea in recent weeks, unearthing the trove of coins dating back about 1,000 years. The harbor city dates back to the days of King Herod the Great about 2,000 years ago.

The Israel Antiquities Authority searched the site and helped uncover the find. The divers initially thought the coins were toys.

"Despite the fact they were at the bottom of the sea for about a thousand years, they did not require any cleaning or conservation intervention from the metallurgical laboratory," Robert Cole, a numismatist with the Israel Antiquities Authority, said in a statement.

The oldest coin was minted in 9th-century Italy. Most were minted in North Africa and Egypt between 996 and 1036.

"There is probably a shipwreck there of an official treasury boat, which was on its way to the central government in Egypt with taxes that had been collected," Kobi Sharvit, director of the Marine Archaeology Unit of the Israel Antiquities Authority, said of how the coins got to be on the ocean floor. "Perhaps the treasure of coins was meant to pay the salaries of the Fatimid military garrison, which was stationed in Caesarea and protected the city."

It's also possible the coins were on a merchant ship that sunk.