Anyone passing through the Archaeology Wing of the Israel Museum stops and looks at this glittering wonder: about 2,600 coins of pure gold (24 karat) — the largest gold cache ever discovered in Israel — displayed in a specially-designed showcase. “People just stand and look at the gold coins with a wide smile,” says Dr. Haim Gitler, Chief Curator of Archaeology at the Israel Museum, who co-curated the exhibit with Dr. Robert Kool, a senior curator from the Israel Antiquities Authority. “This gold treasure is so extraordinary that that it awakens their imagination. People ask themselves what it was meant for and what was supposed to happen with all this gold.” The gold treasure was discovered in early February this year on the seabed near Caesarea by divers who had set off for an entirely routine dive. They called in specialists from the marine archaeology unit of the Israel Antiquities

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