SCIENCE & TECH: A Hanukkah Miracle: Cache of 2,000-Year-Old Coins Found in Israel

During a recent series of excavations in the Jordan Valley of Israel, a team of archaeologists from the University of Haifa truly hit the jackpot, both figuratively and literally. Making a most extraordinary discovery, the archaeologists unearthed a large collection of rare coins that date far back into antiquity.

Just how far back? According to the discoverers, these coins are actually more than 2,000 years old. This dates them back to the time when the ancient Kingdom of Judea was ruled by the royal line of the Hasmonean dynasty (from 140 BC to 37 BC).

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