On Wednesday, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) unveiled the discovery of a rare silver coin, estimated to be around 2,500 years old, found in the Judean Hills.
This finding is considered one of the earliest instances in Israel providing evidence of the societal shift towards the use of coins.
The artifact dates to a couple of centuries, approximately, after the introduction of coinage.
However, its user might not have been aware of its nature, as the coin had been intentionally cut in half, indicating potential use as “hacksilver” – a form of pre-monetary currency based on weight.
Hacksilver, or hacksilber, consisted of small pieces of silver with no specific shape, obtained from broken jewelry, discarded vessels, dulled knives, and the like.
It served as a form of currency before the advent of coins, Haaretz reported.
Transactions involving hacksilver would be based on weight, where specific weights of these silver fragments were exchanged for goods such as camels, textiles, bags of exotic cinnamon, and so forth.
The rare coin, or rather its bisected remnant, was unearthed during a salvage excavation conducted prior to roadworks in Tzur Hadassah.
Semyon Gendler, the acting Judean district archaeologist with the IAA, made the discovery within a house dating back to the First Temple era, also known as the Persian Period.
Written by B.C. Begley
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B.C. Begley 