First-Century Ritual Bath Discovered in Jerusalem
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL—A mikveh, or Jewish ritual bath, dating to the first century A.D. was discovered in an underground cave in southern Jerusalem during the construction of a preschool. The walls of the bath were covered in plaster and decorated with images of a boat, palm trees, plants, and a symbol that may be a menorah, and Aramaic inscriptions that had been incised or written with mud or soot. “There is no doubt that this is a very significant discovery. Such a concentration of inscriptions and symbols from the Second Temple period at one archaeological site, and in such a state of preservation, is rare and unique and most intriguing,” Royee Greenwald and Alexander Wiegmann of the Israel Antiquities Authority said in a press release. The images were removed and are being conserved in Israel Antiquities Authority laboratories because they are so sensitive that exposure to air damages them. To read about a similar discovery, go to "A Surprising Find Under the Living Room Floor."
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