But researchers told the newspaper the
minting dates of the coins in the cache have been matched to
the period in which Joseph was recorded to be in Egypt.
"A thorough examination revealed that
the coins bore the year in which they were minted and their
value, or effigies of the pharaohs [who ruled] at the time
of their minting. Some of the coins are from the time when
Joseph lived in Egypt, and bear his name and
portrait," said the
newspaper report.
The report carried an explanation of
the discovery by a team involving researcher Sa'id Muhammad
Thabet:
"Studies
by Dr. Thabet's team have revealed that what most
archeologists took for a kind of
charm, and others took
for an
ornament or adornment,
is actually a coin. Several [facts led them to this
conclusion]: first, [the fact that] many such coins have
been found at various [archeological sites], and also [the
fact that] they are round or oval in shape, and have two
faces: one with an inscription, called the inscribed face,
and one with an image, called the engraved face – just like
the coins we use today," said the report.
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The newspaper called the find
"unprecedented" and said, "The researchers discovered the
coins when they sifted through thousands of small
archeological artifacts stored in [the vaults of] the Museum
of Egypt."
The Egyptian newspaper noted that the
Quran indicates clearly "that coins were used in Egypt in
the time of Joseph."
The report continued, "Research team
head Dr. Sa'id Muhammad Thabet said that during his
archeological research on the Prophet Joseph, he had
discovered in the vaults of the [Egyptian] Antiquities
Authority and of the National Museum many charms from
various eras before and after the period of Joseph,
including one that bore his effigy as the minister of the
treasury in the Egyptian pharaoh's court…"
The report continued, "According to
Dr. Thabet, his studies are based on publications about the
Third Dynasty, one of which states that the Egyptian coin of
the time was called a deben and was worth
one-fourth of a gram of gold. This coin is mentioned in a
letter by a man named Thot-Nehet, a royal inspector of the
Nile bridges. In letters to his son, he mentioned
leasing lands in return
for deben-coins and agricultural produce."
The report explained that other texts
from the Third, Sixth and Twelfth Dynasties also talk about
coins.
"The archeological finding is also
based on the fact that the inscribed face bore the name of
Egypt, a date, and a value, while the engraved face bore the
name and image of one of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs or
gods, or else a symbol connected with these. Another telling
fact is that the coins come in different sizes and are made
of different materials, including ivory, precious stones,
copper, silver, gold,
etc." the newspaper reported.
The museum research uncovered 500 of
the coins "carelessly" stored in boxes.
One even had the image of a
cow "symbolizing
Pharaoh's dream about the seven fat cows and seven lean
cows, and the seven green stalks of grain and seven dry
stalks of grain," the report said.
"Joseph's name appears twice on this
coin, written in hieroglyphs: once the original name,
Joseph, and once his Egyptian name, Saba Sabani, which was
given to him by Pharaoh when he became treasurer. There is
also an image of Joseph, who was part of the Egyptian
administration at the
time," the report said.
