SEVENTH-CENTURY COINS IN THE PALESTINE EXPLORATION FUND COLLECTIONS.

Coins provide a useful historical source for the momentous events that look place in Palestine during the seventh century A.D., but relatively few have been properly published in excavation reports. This article catalogues 21 Byzantine and 10 Arab-Byzantine coins from the PEF collections, all of which are previously unpublished, including a number from excavations at Jerusalem, Nessana, Gezer and Kafr Harib. Apart from their intrinsic interest as individual coins, they provide some useful information on the coinage in circulation immediately before the Arab conquest and in the early years of Arab rule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]