The coins are of the pre-1916 denga denomination, and were found hidden within a small, ceramic jug decorated with engobe buried in a shallow pit near the city’s trading district.
The analysis found that the crannog started out as a circular wooden platform, measuring at around 23 meters across, and topped with brushwood.
Tyrian’s costly nature comes from the difficulty of its creation - made in a process similar to that of tekhelet, the blue dye traditionally used in Judaism to color strings of the tzizit.
Professor Ibrahim Mustafa, head of the archaeological mission and director of the Central District, stated that initial restoration work for the artifacts has already started.
The cup is decorated with red, green, turquoise, and blue enamel, all arranged in geometric patterns, including fish scales and tower motifs that are believed to represent the wall itself.
According to the study, the grave predates the Black Death burial pits from medieval Europe by approximately 800 years.
The discovery comes as part of an ongoing study using CT scans to order to analyze the remains of six different mummies, the oldest of which dates back approximately 2,300 year.
