Iraqi archaeologists unearth Abbasid gold coins

Iraqi archaeologists have found 32 gold coins dating back to the late Abbasid era at the ancient city of Anbar, northwest of Baghdad, archaeologists said yesterday."Excavations...yielded a treasure of gold coins dating back to the period of the Abbasid Caliphate Al-Nasur-Leddin-Allah," Mahab Al Bakri, an expert at Iraq's antiquities and heritage department told Reuters television on Tuesday.

Donny George, head of excavation operations at Iraq's antiquities department, said, "During our work at Saqlawiya in the ancient city of Anbar, one of the important sites in the middle parts of the country, we found a quantity of gold coins dating back to several periods from the Abbasid time. "Among the things discovered were a collection of artefacts and gold, silver and copper coins and pieces of pottery...A complete residential area with walls and roads was also discovered," he added.