The hoard of silver coins dating to the Hasmonean period (126 BCE) were discovered during excavations carried out by the Israel Antiquities Authority near Modi‘in. The treasure was hidden in a rock crevice, up against a wall of an impressive agricultural estate that was discovered during the excavation there.

The director of the excavations, Avraham Tendler, noted that the hoard  consists of shekels and half-shekels (tetradrachms and didrachms) that were minted in the city of Tyre and bear the images of the king, Antiochus VII and his brother Demetrius II. The find that consists of 16 coins, contains one or two coins from every year between 135–126 BCE, and a total of nine consecutive years are represented. The archaeologists also uncovered ruins of an estate connected with wine production in the region, as dozens of rock-hewn wine-presses were exposed in the cultivation plots next to the estate.

(after The Jewish Press)