Mikhail G. Abramzon^{a, b,#}, Leonid A. Belayev^a,##, Alexey N. Voroshilov^a,###, Evgeny Yu. Goncharov^c,####

^aInstitute of Archaeology RAS, Moscow, Russia
^bNosov Magnitogorsk State Technical University, Magnitogorsk, Russia
^cInstitute of Oriental Studies RAS, Moscow, Russia

^#E-mail: abramzon-m@mail.ru
^##E-mail: labeliaev@bk.ru
^###E-mail: voroshilov.aleksej@yandex.ru
^####E-mail: lowvolga@inbox.ru

Keywords: archaeology of the Syrian-Palestinian region, Jericho, excavated coins, currency, chronology.

The paper reports on the isolated coins found during the 2017, 2019–2020 excavations at the site of the Russian Museum and Park Complex in Jericho. 115 isolated coins were recovered from the site including one Seleucid, 10 Jewish; 16 Roman; 12 Byzantine; 22 Islamic; and 55 unidentified. The collection provides a good picture of the currency in Jericho. Moreover, the coins constitute a reliable numismatic pattern for whole Palestine from the end of the fourth century BC to the fifteenth century AD. The Jericho’s case is similar to coin finds, for example, from rural settlements in Palestine. Thus, the excavations at Khirbat el-Thahiriya gave a similar set of coins from Alexander Jannaeus to the Mamlūk period. Coins from Seleucids to Mamlūks came from Khirbat Burin and Khorbat ‘Ofrat. The excavations at Khirbet el-‘Aqd presented coins from the Persians, Ptolemies and Seleucids to the Mamlūks and Ottomans, i.e. from the 4th century BC to the 16th century AD. The coins from Seleucids to Umayyads came from Horbat Tarbenet. However, the Jericho excavations yielded an even more diverse numismatic range in terms of chronology and geography than the above parallels. The new numismatic material shows that the investigated site was most actively used in the Byzantine and Islamic period.

DOI: 10.31857/S0869606322020027