A small clay urn containing four pure gold coins more than 1,000 years old, from the Early Islamic period, was uncovered in archeological excavations by the Israel Antiquities Authority as part of the Jewish Quarter Development Company's plan to build an elevator that will make the Western Wall plaza accessible from the quarter..
According to Dr. Robert Cole, a currency expert at the Israel Antiquities Authority, "This is the first time in fifty years that a gold treasure from the Fatimid period has been discovered in an ancient city in Jerusalem. In the large excavations conducted by Prof. Benjamin Mazar in the Old City after the Six Day War, five caches of coins and jewelry from the period, south of the Temple Mount, were discovered. "