Sharjah Archaeology Authority has discovered ancient silver dirham coins minted one millennium ago. A local team from the Sharjah Archaeology Authority in the central region of Sharjah found the coins. These coins were minted in Morocco, Persia, Al-Rai, the Khorasan region, Armenia, and Transoxiana in the late 8th to early 9th century AD, or 154-199 AH of the Hijri period in the Islamic calendar.
These several Islamic coins, dating back to the Abbasid Dynasty bear the iconography of five caliphs from the period —Caliph Abu Jaafar Al Mansour, Caliph Mohamed Al Mahdi, Caliph Haroun Al Rashid, Caliph Mohamed Al Amin, and Caliph Abu Jaafar Abdullah Al Maamoun.
The Islamic coins were stored in an Abbasid-style pot dating back to the 9th or 10th century AD. They also include a silver ‘dirham-link’ of Lady Zubaida (Umm Jaafar), the wife of Haroun Al Rashid.
The discovery documents a crucial period in the history of Sharjah and the UAE during the Abbasid dynasty and highlights the commercial activity taking place in the UAE and Sharjah’s central region. It also confirms the early presence of the Abbasid Dynasty in the region, noting that some coins were found in an Abbasid-style pottery jar.
The coins, which travelled along several key trade routes to the Arabian Gulf and the UAE, confirm that the region was an important trading centre during that period.
It is not the first time the authority has discovered something like this. Earlier in February, archaeologists at Sharjah Archaeology Authority unearthed a treasure trove of 409 coins in Mleiha.
