CAIRO — The Egyptian archaeological mission of the Supreme Council of Antiquities operating in the city of Esna in Upper Egypt has recently discovered a cache containing coins from different historical decades of the Islamic era, in addition to parts of molds to mint and weigh coins.

In a Sept. 11 statement published by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities on its Facebook page, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Mostafa Waziri said that this discovery may indicate the existence of a mint and weighing house in the city of Esna.

He noted that the archaeological mission will work on uncovering this house in the coming period.

The head of the Central Administration of Antiquities in Upper Egypt at the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, Mohamed Abdel Badie, said in the same ministry statement, “The archaeological mission began its work on the site last year in the part located directly behind the Temple of Esna, until it found this huge number of coins, which included a gold coin dating back to the era of Al-Aziz Billah Bin Al-Mu’izz Li Din Allah Al-Fatimi [a Fatimid ruler], and 286 silver coins dating from the reign of 19 different kings and sultans of the Mamluk era during different historical periods.”