Tzilla Eshel News Today

A new study of ancient silver hoards from Israel and Gaza suggests that metal was used as currency in the Bronze Age, hundreds of years earlier than previously suspected.

Expert says the transition to economical method based on silver coins presents many advantages and sheds light on the economic development of the entire region

The new findings by Israeli archeologists precede by 500 years what was thought to be the use of such coins.

University of Haifa and Hebrew University archaeologists find silver pieces from Anatolia that reveal robust trade routes and currency use 500 years earlier than previously thought

The use of coins as a means of payment was known in Mesopotamia as early as the third millennium BC - Click the link for more details.

Archeologists from the University of Warsaw were aghast when they recently concluded many of the ancient Roman coins they had examined were contemporary first

“Counterfeit” Bronze Age Currency Analyzed HAIFA, ISRAEL— Live Sciencereports that while a student at the University of Haifa, Tzilla Eshel analyzed the chemical composition of 35 silver hoards unearthed in Israel and dated to the Bronze Age, when the region, then known as Canaan, was ruled by Egypt. The metal, which was valued by its weight and used as currency, is not naturally found in the region. Eshel determined that items in eight of the hoards dated to the end of the period ...

Counterfeiting and forgery – making exact copies of real currency or documents – is against the law everywhere. However, the payoffs can be so lucrative that the practice continues despite ever-increasing security measures, and those who are good at it – i.e. don’t get caught – are often considered to be artists. While generally associated with coins and paper money, a new study found that counterfeiting’s origins date back to the time when chunks of precious metal were used for exc...

A Shortage Caused the Widespread Creation of Fake Silver A severe shortage of silver was identified in the Levant during the first Iron Age, between 1200-950 BC. At this time the tribes of Israel settled in Canaan and began to melt silver with a high percentage of copper. An article in Jerusalem Post says small percentages of silver were mixed with other substances such as arsenic, which perhaps made the pieces look like solid silver, however, this fake silver was a “deliberate forgery,�...