Spain: gold/silver coins found in Murcia

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Archeologists in Murcia (SE Spain) have found a total of 423 gold and silver coins from the times of the Moors (Al-Andalus). They will soon be exhibited at a museum in the city (Museo de Santa Clara). Some more info is here:

http://www.laverdad.es/agencias/20121029/mas-actualidad/cultura/monedas-andalusies-sido-halladas-calle_201210292242.html
(Spanish article, no photos)

http://www.euroweeklynews.com/news/item/110167-400-gold-and-silver-moorish-coins-found
(Short English text with photo, but no coin details)

Christian

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Andalusian Coins found in a street in Murcia

Murcia, Oct 29 (EFE). - Four hundred twenty-three gold and silver pieces from the Andalusian era found at Jabonerías street 18 in Murcia during an archaeological excavation were presented today by the Minister of Culture and Tourism of Murcia, Pedro Alberto Cruz.

The treasure was located in a small jar of pottery in one of the alcoves of the remains of a tenth to fifteenth century Moorish house.

The treasure consists of 347 gold pieces and 76 silver dirhams, together with five small gold items that could be part of jewelry ornaments.

The coins will be exhibited at the Museum of Santa Clara de Murcia, "whose subject and environment fits perfectly with the provenance of these coins," said Cruz.

The Minister said that "this is a first class archaeological jewel that fits perfectly into the consideration that at archaeological treasures have so-called", ie those sets of coins made intentionally hidden, abandoned or lost accidentally its owner.

Cruz said that "it is the largest number of Andalusian coins documented so far in our region" and, moreover, "the find with the highest percentage of gold pieces, even if it is mostly coins, "he said.

In this regard, he noted that its heterogeneity, with coins of the Caliphate, the Taifa kingdoms, the Almoravids and Fatimids probably issued in Sicily and North Africa, "also marks the singularity of this treasure as compared with earlier finds".

He continued: "The closest reference in this regard is the treasure found in 2005 in the ancient city of Begastri (Cehegín), dating back to the eleventh century and consisting exclusively of 237 silver coins along with some pieces of jewelry".

The cleaning process and detailed study of the treasure has barely begun, and, in any case, it may come upon other details of a metallurgical and chronological character.

According to the professionals responsible for the excavation, the archaeological characteristics of the reservoir where it was buried seem to correspond to a collapse of the house built in the late tenth century, followed by an episode of flooding that sealed this level, at the end of the eleventh century.

Above this level, a new house rose in the first half of the twelfth century, broadly maintaining the original layout of the previous. It is, Therefore, the treasure was concealed in the late eleventh century.

Source: Laverdad