Treasure of rare coins belonging to Abbasid era found in Sharjah

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

The local mission of Sharjah Archaeology Authority (SAA) announced on Tuesday that it had found a number of ancient Islamic coins in the Central Region, Sharjah. The coins are of rare silver dirhams dating back to the Abbasid Caliphate era, in addition to one copper penny.

These coins are among the first editions, bearing icons of that era that were ruled by five of the Caliphs, namely Caliph Abu Jaafar Al Mansur, Caliph Mohammad Al Mahdi, Caliph Harun Al-Rashid, Caliph Muhammad Al Amin and Caliph Abu Jaafar Abdullah Al Mamoun. Among the coins, a dirham bearing name of Mrs. Zubaydah (Umm Jaafar) - Harun Al Rashid’s wife.

Commenting on the discovery, Dr Sabah Aboud Jassim, Director General of the Sharjah Archaeology Authority said that these rare coins had been discovered during the excavation operations being conducted in the Central Region of the Emirate of Sharjah in September 2021.

“This new discovery confirms a large geographical range, which extends from Africa in the west, to the Transoxiana region in the east, and according to the administrative division of the Islamic world during the rule of the Abbasid Caliphate, and in particular the first Abbasid era,” he added.

The researchers confirmed that this new archaeological discovery dates back to an important era in the history of the Emirate of Sharjah in particular, and the emirates in general, in the second half of the second Hijri century, or since the first Abbasid era.

They refer to the commercial activity played by the coasts of the emirates and the Central Region of the Emirate of Sharjah in the international trade.

Minting of the discovered coins are believed that they had come from many of the main trade routes to the Arabian Gulf and the coast of the emirates in particular, which proves that the region was a major commercial hub at that time, and a route for the passage of convoys throughout the Abbasid state.

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