A collection of dozens of ancient coins was seized after a suspected smuggling attempt from the West Bank into Israel last month, the Israel Antiquities Authority said Monday.

Most of the coins date back approximately 2,000 years. Some were minted by Hasmonean kings (in the second or first centuries BCE), others by Jewish rebels during the Great Jewish Revolt (66-73 CE) or the Bar Kochba Revolt (132-136 CE). The collection also includes many Roman coins.

Amir Ganor, the director of the IAA’s theft prevention unit, says that looters use sophisticated metal detectors to find ancient coins and take them from antiquities sites — and from their historical context.

“It is important to understand that every ancient coin has tremendous value for the study of the country’s past when found in situ and within its archaeological context,” Ganor said. “Once a coin is looted and removed… the ability to reconstruct the past through it is irreversibly lost.”

According to the IAA statement, the coins were found in the car of a Palestinian doctor who works in an Israeli hospital, during an inspection as he crossed into Israel at the Hizma checkpoint just north of Jerusalem on February 20.

As Border Police officers checked the vehicle, they found the coins in a small box and called the IAA. The driver was taken in by the police for questioning and is suspected of attempted antiquities smuggling from the West Bank into........

© The Times of Israel