JERUSALEM—Archaeologists found a hoard of 264 golden coins in the ruins of an ancient building while excavating in Jerusalem yesterday, reports Bloomberg. The discovery may further explain the Persian invasion in the city 1,300 years ago.

“This is one of the largest and most impressive coin hoards ever discovered in Jerusalem, certainly the largest and most important of its period," according to archaeologist Doron Ben-Ami, who is heading the Israel Antiquities Authority dig outside the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City.

The coins all have the same date and image, of the Byzantine emperor Heraclius. Ben-Ami said that since no pottery vessel was discovered, they may have been hidden in a niche in the building’s walls. "One person collected these coins, hid them, didn’t use them, and after the Persian invasion could not go back and get them," he said.

The Persians invaded Jerusalem in 614 AD, destroying churches and monasteries, while under a short-lived Byzantine rule of 15 years.

The discovery of the gold coins comes one day after Israeli archaeologists found two ancient coins in the rubble of a separate dig at Jerusalem’s Temple Mount that they say is evidence of events that happened on the site more than 2,000 years ago.

"We are only at the start of the dig and are likely to find out more as we go along," Ben-Ami said. "It is a large amount of gold and it just looks amazing. This is not a negligible find. It is very rare."