The Saudi Heritage Commission announced on Thursday the discovery of archaeological finds dating from the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD in the south-west of the Kingdom.
The coins were discovered at archaeological sites on the island of Farasan, located about 40 km from the city of Jazan, according to the Saudi Press Agency.
The discoveries were made by a Franco-Saudi team in cooperation with the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.
The team unveiled rare pieces, including folded Roman armor made of copper ingots, and another type of armor known as “Lorica Ssquamata”, which was most frequently used in Roman times between the 1st and 3rd century.
The finds also include a garnet inscription for “Genos”, a famous figure in the history of the Eastern Roman Empire, and the head of a small stone statue.
The archaeological team carried out reconnaissance and exploration trips to Farasan Island in 2005 and identified locations with archaeological indicators, before excavations began on the island in 2011.
Previous explorations on the island carried out between 2011 and 2020 have led to several architectural and archaeological discoveries which show that these sites date back to almost 1400 BC.
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