If you hold on to your life, you will lose it…

The city of Bet She’an was destroyed by an earthquake in 749. The enormous pillars came crashing down and the city was left in ruins. This is how the archeologists found it.

Sometimes the archeology tells a story.

There is one particular pillar that had fallen over, but not completely. It was stopped by a piece of wall. Under the pillar the archaeologists found a cracked skull attached to a skeleton tightly holding a clay jar. The jar was filled with gold coins.

It can be assumed that this man was trying to escape the city with all of his money. Certainly he could have run faster without the pot of coins slowing him down. Perhaps he would have made it to safety.

The archeologists actually used the pot of coins to date the earthquake. The most recent coins were minted in 749, thus dating the earthquake accordingly.