Pontius Pilate coins are small, bronze prutah coins minted by the Roman governor of Judea from 26-36 AD.  These coins included non-human Roman religious symbols like sacrificial ladles (simpulum) and augural wands (lituus), thus avoiding the prohibition against graven images but still being religiously offensive to the local Jewish population.  Coins dated LIZ are believed to be minted during year of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection.