Quote:I hope the finder got one as a reward.
and...since she was a volunteer does she get to keep a couple of the coins
probably not
Not in Israel; all ancient artifacts found in Israel (including coins) are property of the State. This was a licensed archaeological dig; these coins will wind up in a museum.
Quote:
the first thing I thought of when she was holding those coins was oh my god she should be wearing gloves holding those.
A bit of perspective is in order. The
CNN article on the same story shows a pic of the coins still in the ground. These coins have been buried in
dirt for 1400 years; they'd have been washed after they were found, to get the dirt off. A little bit of handling like that isn't going to hurt them.
Quote:Wow...look at the condition of those!
An arid climate is good for coins.
The desert climate does help preserve copper coins, but these coins are fine gold; they'd look just as good, wherever or whenever they were dug up. You could bury a modern gold bullion coin in your backyard, come back in 1400 years and it would still look much the same as when you buried it. Heck, if the dinosaurs had made gold coins, we'd be able to find them in just as good condition.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
Posted 12/23/2008 2:15 pm
or dump them on the table! 
