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‘Atiqot 78 (2014)
ISBN 2948-040X
The Coins from the al-Wata Quarter, Safed (Zefat)
(pp. 139–142)
Robert Kool
Keywords: Galilee, Hâret al-Wata, numismatics
Thirty-one coins, two of silver and the remainder of bronze and copper, were recovered from the al-Wata quarter in Safed (Zefat). Nineteen of the coins were identified. The earliest are two intrusive coins from the Byzantine period (fourth–second half of the sixth centuries CE). The remaining coins are mostly low-value Mamlūk copper denominations (thirteenth–fourteenth centuries CE), including two identical ‘fesse’
fulus
of Lājīn. In addition, an irregularly-shaped dirham fraction was found. Such small silver fractions were minted in large quantities during Baybars’ reign at his Damascus mint and apparently circulated widely in medieval Syria. The latest coin is a silver
para
from the Ottoman period (seventeenth century CE).