It’s a mistake to hire amateurs, as the archaeologist found to his great distress. One of his new staff came running in one day, all excited. He had just paid a local a great deal of money for an extremely valuable coin. As he said, “I’ve never seen one like this before, and I’ve been looking in museums for thirty years. It’s a genuine Egyptian coin marked 100 B.C.-solid gold!” The director of the expedition sighed wearily and fired him. Why?
REVEAL THE ANSWER
The amateur was swindled. No authentic coins are dated B.C. because no one knew then that the era would eventually be called B.C. In fact, before is an English word, and English hadn’t been developed.