MIDEAST-ISRAEL-JERUSALEM-ANTIQUITY-HOARD

An employee at the Israeli Antiquities Authority displays a hoard of gold coins which was found in the ?Givati car park? excavation outside Jerusalem old city?s walls on December 22, 2008. The large cache of 264 gold coins was discovered among the ruins of a very large and impressive building which is being uncovered in Jerusalem that dates to about the seventh century CE (end of the Byzantine period-beginning of the Umayyad period). According to Dr. Doron Ben-Ami and Yana Tchekhanovets, directors of the excavation at the site on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, this is one of the largest and most impressive coin hoards ever discovered in Jerusalem ? certainly the largest and most important of its period. AFP PHOTO/MENAHEM KAHANA