JERUSALEM, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Israeli archaeologists have discovered a silver coin in the West Bank that can be dated to about 1,900 years ago, Bar-Ilan University (BIU) in central Israel said on Monday.
Researchers from BIU and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem found the coin on the east bank of the Tekoa ravine in the Judean Desert, about 14 km south of Jerusalem.
The coin was founded along with other objects in two caves used as hideouts by Jewish rebels during the Third Jewish-Roman War, or the Bar Kokhba revolt in 132-136 AD against the Roman Empire.
One side of the coin bears a schematic facade of a temple, which likely represents the Second Jewish Temple in Jerusalem that was destroyed in 70 AD during the First Jewish-Roman War, it added.
On the other side of the coin is the symbol of four different plants that have been used during the Jewish celebration of Sukkot holiday, and around them is the inscription "For the Freedom of Jerusalem," said the university.
Israel occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which are claimed by the Palestinians, in the 1967 Middle East war. ■
