Another Hanukkah Miracle . . .

‘Miracle’ hoard of Hasmonean coins discovered during Hanukkah in Jordan Valley dig

In what they called an “archaeological Hanukkah miracle,” a University of Haifa team discovered on Friday a rare hoard of some 160 coins, dating from the Hasmonean period, during a dig in the Jordan Valley, the university said Sunday.

The coins were discovered in what is thought to have been a roadside station, on what was then a main road along Nahal Tirzah that ascended to the Alexandrion Fortress, also known as Sarbata, north of Jericho in what is now the West Bank.

The coins were dated by experts to the reign of “King Alexander Jannaeus, whose Hebrew name was Jonathan… He reigned from 104–76 BCE. He was the son of Johanan Hyrcanus, [and] the grandson of Simon the Hasmonean (brother of Judah Maccabee),” the statement said, noting that the Alexandrion Fortress, near where the coins were discovered, was built by Jannaeus.

“The students and volunteer excavators were very excited to find such a Hasmonean hoard, especially during the Hanukkah holiday,” the researchers said.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/miracle-hoard-of-hasmonean-coins-discovered-during-hanukkah-in-jordan-valley-dig/